Never missing an opportunity to make life easier for extractive industries, House Republicans passed a suite of bills this week to boost development and dismantle environmental protections across millions of acres of federal land.
“From energy in Alaska to minerals in Minnesota, the bills under this rule empower our domestic producers,” Fischbach said in a speech on the House floor. “The Biden administration is leaving America at a disadvantage while adversaries like China work to expand their global influence. We cannot let this happen. We can be both good stewards of our public lands and take advantage of the many resources they provide.
across more than 13 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve on Alaska’s North Slope. It also requires the Interior Department to reissue all Trump-era oil and gas leases in Alaska’s fragile Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which the Biden administrationacross 225,000 acres of national forest land adjacent to Minnesota’s iconic Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Their passage, mostly along party lines, followed hours of fiery debate on the House floor, during which Republicans accused Democrats and the Biden administration of advancing the agenda of “radical environmentalists,” and Democrats condemned the GOP as being beholden to polluters and special interests.
Rep. Joe Neguse repeatedly stressed that Westerman and other Republican colleagues were mischaracterizing what the rule does. HuffPost believes news should be accessible to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay for it. We rely on readers like you to help fund our work.goes directly toward supporting the impactful journalism that we will continue to produce this year. Thank you for being part of our story.It's official: Donald Trump will face Joe Biden this fall in the presidential election.