Republicans in the US House of Representatives are seeking steep funding cuts for the Environmental Protection Agency and US Department of the Interior as part of a new appropriations bill for fiscal year 2024.
The legislation, which proposed a 39% reduction in the EPA's budget from the prior year, would claw back money intended for the agency's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund created through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA). It would also require Interior to hold quarterly onshore oil and gas lease sales.
The proposal "reins in wasteful Washington spending and bureaucracy," including by "rightsizing agency funding levels," House Appropriations Committee Republicans said in a summary of their bill released July 12.
Committee Democrats blasted the legislation, saying it would exacerbate climate change. These responses foreshadowed likely pushback to the proposal if it reaches the Democrat-controlled Senate in its current form.
"House Republicans have proposed an appropriations bill that completely debilitates our response to the climate crisis," Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member, said in a news release. "This destructive bill promotes dirty energy [and] hastens the decline of our ecosystems."
Spending targets
The legislation would provide $6.17 billion to the EPA in fiscal year 2024, a $3.96 billion reduction from the prior-year enacted level and $5.91 billion below President Joe Biden's request. The proposal would rescind $7.8 billion in prior appropriations for the IRA's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which aims to deploy clean energy and climate projects in low-income and disadvantaged communities.
It would also repeal the Biden administration's recent Waters of the US rule and prohibit funding for the EPA to implement and enforce its "good neighbor" rule, which was published in 2023 to curb nitrogen oxide emissions from power plants and industrial facilities.
Agencies would also be barred from finalizing effluent limits for steam electric generating facilities and using the federal government's social cost of carbon estimate in cost-benefit analyses. Furthermore, the bill prohibits EPA from approving Clean Air Act waivers for the State of California to set its own vehicle emissions standards.
Turning to Interior, the bill proposed $14.3 billion in funding for fiscal year 2024, down by $677 million from the prior year and $3.4 billion less than Biden requested.
The legislation would require Interior to conduct oil and gas lease sales in the Alaska region and the central and western Gulf of Mexico planning areas. Interior must also hold quarterly onshore oil and gas lease sales under the appropriations bill and publish a 2024-2029 Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas leasing program that selects the same number and description of sales as the 2023-2028 plan.
The GOP proposal also blocks funds for federal wind energy leasing activities in Idaho until the Government Accountability Office completes a report on potential adverse effects from wind power development. It also prohibits leasing for offshore wind activities in Florida until certain conditions are met, according to a release from appropriations committee Democrats.
Mineral access, outlook for bill
The House Republicans' bill also seeks to expand access to critical minerals. The proposal would block funding to enforce certain Bureau of Land Management withdrawals in Minnesota. The legislation also reinstates certain mineral leases in the Superior National Forest and would permit ancillary mining activities in federal areas with or without the discovery of valuable mineral deposits.
The EPA-Interior spending bill marks another attempt by House Republicans to counteract key Biden administration climate objectives.
GOP House lawmakers proposed major cuts to US Department of Energy clean energy programs and IRA investments in a fiscal year 2024 spending bill for the DOE and related agencies. After failing to do so through a debit limit bill, House Republicans recently mounted a new attempt to roll back key IRA incentives through new legislation from the House Ways and Means Committee.
But Senate Democrats have rebuffed such efforts in the past, and Biden has repeatedly threatened to veto legislation to undo his clean energy and climate policies.
S&P Global Commodity Insights produces content for distribution on S&P Capital IQ Pro.
