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polluters over people act
Tlaib Blasts Republicans as 'Servants' of Big Oil After House Passes Pro-Polluter Bill
"This bill wraps climate denial and corporate giveaways into one tidy, toxic package as the world burns," said the Michigan Democrat. "I urge my colleagues in the Senate to not take this legislation up."
Mar 30, 2023
Climate campaigners and congressional Democrats on Thursday called out House Republicans for approving energy legislation that would, as U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib warned, "put polluters over people" by "further poisoning of our air and water."
The lower chamber passed the GOP-led Lower Energy Costs Act (H.R. 1) with a 225-204 vote mostly along party lines: The only Republican who opposed it was Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) and the only Democrats who supported it were Reps. Henry Cuellar (Texas), Jared Golden (Maine), Vincente Gonzalez (Texas), and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.).
"It's hard to overstate the catastrophic impact H.R. 1 would have on our public lands and our ability to address the most severe effects of the climate crisis."
"This bill is nothing more than a cheap political stunt to pad the profits of the same greedy oil and gas companies that are gouging my residents at the pump and poisoning the air they breathe and the water they drink," said Tlaib (D-Mich.), noting that her constituents "are sick of respiratory issues, their children developing asthma, the unbearable odor, and the other public health impacts of pollution."
Highlighting Big Oil's historic 2022 profits, Tlaib continued:
The same oil companies that donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to House Republicans made nearly half a trillion dollars in profits last year alone, but their servants across the aisle don't think that's enough.
Residents know the truth is clear: Health protections for you and your family aren't making gas expensive, corporate greed is. Oil and gas companies have gotten away with price gouging and stock buybacks that enrich their shareholders but make everything less affordable for the rest of us, and they don't plan to stop. And Republicans are helping them to keep doing so.
This bill wraps climate denial and corporate giveaways into one tidy, toxic package as the world burns. I urge my colleagues in the Senate to not take this legislation up. I hope congressmembers on the other side of the aisle get serious about tackling climate change. People are dying and we are running out of time.
Several other House Democrats also spoke out against what critics have dubbed the "Polluters Over People Act," with Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (Mass.) saying on the floor: "Americans know that securing our future means investing in clean energy. Families know their health depends on it. Economists know our prosperity depends on it. And the Pentagon knows our national security depends on it. It's only MAGA Republicans who don't understand our future depends on a thriving clean energy economy."
\u201cThe decisions we make today will impact future generations and could condemn my entire generation to a lifetime of suffering, putting us on a path towards an unlivable future.\n\nI'm voting NO on H.R.1, and I encourage all of my colleagues to do the same.\u201d— Congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost (@Congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost) 1680188293
The vote came a day after Democratic Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Jacky Rosen (Nev.), and Jon Tester (Mont.) along with now-Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) joined with Republicans to send a House-approved resolution that would gut federal water protections to President Joe Biden's desk, despite his threat to veto the measure.
The administration also "strongly opposes" H.R. 1 in its current form and said in a policy statement earlier this week that Biden would veto the bill, adding: "It would raise costs for American families by repealing household energy rebates and rolling back historic investments to increase access to cost-lowering clean energy technologies. Instead of protecting American consumers, it would pad oil and gas company profits—already at record levels—and undercut our public health and environment."
However, it seemed unlikely Thursday that the GOP energy bill will even get a vote in the divided upper chamber, with Senate Majority Leader Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) declaring on the floor that H.R. 1 is "a giveaway to Big Oil" and "dead on arrival."
\u201cWe expected fossil fuel stooges @RepCuellar @RepGonzalez @RepGolden to vote for the #PollutersOverPeople Act, but are disappointed in @RepMGP for joining them. \n\nThis bill is a massive giveaway to Big Oil. The American people and our planet deserve better.\nhttps://t.co/4O92DgZduM\u201d— Friends of the Earth (Action) (@Friends of the Earth (Action)) 1680202800
Still, climate action advocates—many of whom have lost some faith in Biden due to his administration's recent approval of ConocoPhillips' Willow oil project in Alaska—stressed the dangers of H.R. 1 and urged federal Democrats to block it.
"Even after Big Oil brought in over $400 billion in profit last year, their allies in Congress are racing to stuff their pockets with more giveaways at the public's expense," said Jordan Schreiber of Accountable.US. "It's hard to overstate the catastrophic impact H.R. 1 would have on our public lands and our ability to address the most severe effects of the climate crisis. We applaud both the Senate Majority Leader and President Biden for their pledges to stop this disastrous bill from ever becoming law."
Noting that "in 2022, Chevron alone raked in $6.3 million per hour and the five largest Big Oil corporations made a record $200 billion in profits," People's Action campaigner Sophia Cheng concurred that "Leader Schumer must hold firm to defeat this bill and President Biden must follow through on his commitment to veto any version of this dangerous policy."
The GOP push for the so-called Lower Energy Costs Act, spearheaded by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), comes after climate campaigners and progressives in Congress last year thrice defeated Manchin's "dirty deal" on permitting reforms.
"We stopped Manchin's dirty energy deal, and we will stop this heinous package that endangers frontline environmental justice communities," Grassroots Global Justice's Adrien Salazar vowed Thursday. "To deter the worst impacts of climate change requires a full phaseout of fossil fuels immediately, and we call on our climate champions in the Senate to uphold their promise to stand with our communities, oppose this terrible bill, and fight for real climate solutions that protect and invest in communities."
\u201cJust now, the @HouseGOP passed H.R. 1, the #PollutersOverPeople Act 225-204. This is a reflection of the #FossilFuel industries\u2019 influence over elected officials who have backed a bill that will increase profits for Big Oil & Gas and fails to act on climate, jobs, and justice.\ud83e\udd2c\u201d— Climate Justice Alliance (CJA) \ud83c\udf3b (@Climate Justice Alliance (CJA) \ud83c\udf3b) 1680193199
Louisiana Bucket Brigade executive director Anne Rolfes specifically called out the House majority leader for this "outrageous assault on ordinary people in Louisiana in defense of big business," while adding that it's "no surprise coming from Steve Scalise."
"We are one of the most polluted states in the country, with cancer risks that are skyrocketing. People should understand that Scalise has introduced this bill at this moment explicitly to make the destruction of our coast easier," Rolfes said. "The oil and gas industry has a plan to build over a dozen gas export terminals along the Louisiana coast. That's what this bill is about. He wants to make that happen faster. Does this make sense for a state being destroyed by hurricanes? Absolutely not. This bill puts all of us in danger of more flooding via coastal destruction, and only serves Scalise's greedy ambitions."
"If industry were so good for our state, we would long ago have led the nation in health, education, and other meaningful categories. Instead, we remain mired in poverty, mired in pollution, and mired in dysfunctional and disgusting politics that prioritizes the destruction of our state," she added. "Steve Scalise and the Louisiana representatives who voted for this bill should be ashamed."
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House GOP's Energy Package Slammed as Harmful 'Giveaway to Big Oil'
H.R. 1 "contains more hidden costs that we can count, including more energy waste, more pollution, and a more dangerous future for our kids and grandkids," said one critic.
Mar 27, 2023
As House Republicans prepare to vote on H.R. 1 this week, environmental advocates warned Monday that the sprawling package of fossil fuel-friendly legislation would worsen the climate emergency and biodiversity destruction while saddling U.S. households with higher energy bills.
H.R. 1, misleadingly titled the "Lower Energy Costs Act" and dubbed the "Polluters Over People Act" by opponents, consists of 15 separate bills and a pair of resolutions. As GOP lawmakers made clear at a legislative hearing held last month and through recent amendments, they're seeking to dismantle a wide range of regulations to boost fossil fuel production and exports despite scientists' unequivocal warnings about the need to prohibit new coal, oil, and gas projects to avert the worst effects of the climate crisis.
Environment America explained Monday that if approved, the sweeping proposal introduced earlier this month by Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) would, among other things:
- Expand oil and gas drilling on public lands and in the ocean;
- Speed the construction of polluting projects, including gas pipelines, while limiting the ability of the public, private landowners, and states to weigh in;
- Expand mining without requiring companies to clean up or compensate communities for toxic mining waste;
- Exempt many sources of pollution, including petroleum refineries, from some Clean Air Act and hazardous waste requirements;
- Undo bipartisan reforms to the Toxic Substances Control Act;
- Lower the rates companies must pay for extraction on public lands and allow non-competitive lease sales; and
- Repeal programs that cut energy waste, including the Methane Emissions Reduction Program and rebates for energy-efficient and electric home appliances.
"This bill leads America in so many wrong directions at once, it's making me dizzy," said Lisa Frank, executive director of Environment America's Washington, D.C. legislative office.
"Instead of protecting the great American outdoors, it gives our public lands away to oil, mining, and gas companies," Frank pointed out. "Instead of cleaning up toxic pollution, it guarantees more drilling and more spilling, on land and in our oceans. And instead of slowing climate change or helping Americans save energy, it increases our dependence on dirty, expensive fuels."
"It's 2023. We have so many better options available to us, from the sun shining down on our roofs to the wind blowing off our shores and across our plains," she added. "Congress should reject this outdated and unnecessary push to sacrifice our lands, waters, and health in the name of energy production."
"Given how unpopular its provisions are, it's not surprising H.R. 1's authors also seek to limit public input and legal challenges to wrongheaded energy projects."
Included in the package is a resolution "expressing the sense of Congress that the federal government should not impose any restrictions on the export of crude oil or other petroleum products" and a bill that would "repeal all restrictions on the import and export of natural gas."
Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.)—chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, and Grid Security—argued last month that such measures are necessary because President Joe Biden and Democrats on the panel "have advocated for reinstating the crude oil export ban" that was originally enacted in 1975 and rescinded by congressional Republicans and then-President Barack Obama in 2015.
Last year, the Biden administration suggested—but never followed through on—resurrecting the federal ban on crude exports, a move that progressive advocacy groups urged the White House to make to bring down U.S. fuel prices.
While Duncan insisted that "lifting the export ban... has lowered prices," research demonstrates that precisely the opposite has occurred.
Since 2015, oil and gas production in the Permian Basin has surged while domestic consumption has remained steady, triggering a huge build-out of pipelines and other infrastructure that has turned the U.S. into the world's top exporter of fracked gas—intensifying planet-heating emissions, harming vulnerable Gulf Coast communities already overburdened by pollution, and exacerbating pain at the pump.
Matt Casale of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) said Monday that H.R. 1 "hands taxpayers the bill for expanded fossil fuel extraction and toxic waste clean-up, takes resources away from global warming solutions, and limits Americans' freedom to save energy in their own homes."
"Given how unpopular its provisions are, it's not surprising H.R. 1's authors also seek to limit public input and legal challenges to wrongheaded energy projects," said Casale, who directs PIRG's environmental campaigns.
"Our over-reliance on fossil fuels continues to hold us all over a barrel," he continued. "This bill looks for short-term fixes by doubling down on the energy sources of the past but contains more hidden costs that we can count, including more energy waste, more pollution, and a more dangerous future for our kids and grandkids. To protect ourselves now and in the future, we need to think beyond short-term solutions and take steps to end our fossil fuel dependence once and for all."
"To protect ourselves now and in the future, we need to think beyond short-term solutions and take steps to end our fossil fuel dependence once and for all."
Much to the chagrin of voters who put him in office, Biden has not been an enemy of the fossil fuel industry. His administration approved more permits for oil and gas drilling on public lands in its first two years than the Trump administration did in 2017 and 2018. Just two weeks ago, the White House ignored the scientists it claims to respect and rubber-stamped ConocoPhillips' massive Willow oil project.
Nevertheless, H.R. 1 even includes a resolution expressing disapproval of Biden's 2021 decision to revoke the presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline―part of the GOP's push to blame what they deride as "rush-to-green energy policies" for skyrocketing gas prices, a narrative that obscures Big Oil's profiteering amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, as the GOP's deficit hawks threaten to withhold their support for raising the nation's debt limit unless Biden agrees to devastating social spending cuts, the Congressional Budget Office found that H.R. 1 would increase the federal deficit by $2.4 billion from 2023 to 2033.
Given that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has described H.R. 1 as "dead-on-arrival," it's unlikely the legislation will reach Biden's desk. If it does, however, Biden vowed Monday to veto it.
The GOP's energy package would replace "pro-consumer policies with a thinly veiled license to pollute," the White House said in a statement. "It would raise costs for American families by repealing household energy rebates and rolling back historic investments to increase access to cost-lowering clean energy technologies. Instead of protecting American consumers, it would pad oil and gas company profits—already at record levels—and undercut our public health and environment."
"H.R. 1," the White House added, "would take us backward."
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