February 27, 2025

Reconciliation Priorities

We’re pleased both the House and Senate are focused on energy policies in the budget reconciliation process. As the legislative process continues to take shape, it’s important that energy remains atop the priority list and fulfills the promise of a “big, beautiful bill.”

Unleashing American Energy: President Trump’s Executive Order on Unleashing American Energy has a clear focus of increasing production on federal lands and waters, which is particularly important for communities across the West. While the Interior Secretary implements the order, Congress has a critical role to play in providing clear law that prioritizes federal leasing, permitting, and NEPA reform in order to implement the president’s energy dominance agenda.

Unraveling the Methane Tax

We’re also pleased last week to see Congress use the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to claw back the overreaching regulations of the Biden Administration. We’re grateful to Rep. August Pfluger (TX-11) and Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) for championing CRA bills that overturn the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Waste Emissions Charge (WEC) rule (H.J. Res. 35 and S.J. Res 12).

Completing the job: While the Biden rule is overturned, the flawed methane tax still remains in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The rule incorrectly imposed an inflated methane tax by purposefully overestimating companies’ emissions by as much as 2 ½ times actual emissions. We urge Congress to take the next step and include removal of WEC when repealing parts of the IRA. If the IRA remains as-is, EPA still has the obligation to impose a methane tax, and a future anti-oil-and-gas president could likewise implement an equally burdensome rule.