House Climate Action Plan Strikes at Oil and Natural Gas

A year and a half after the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis was formed in the U.S. House, the Democratic majority’s climate policy roadmap has been released. Solving the Climate Crisis is a wide-ranging and detailed report that targets oil and natural gas as well as almost every other industry.
 
The committee’s formation attracted considerable media attention as a major step taken by the incoming majority following the 2018 midterm landslide. Interest was also fueled around the exclusion of freshman Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from the committee following her election as a prominent climate champion and co-author of the Green New Deal (GND).

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​Given the fanfare last year, the report barely registered in the media with the announcement just a few days before the Fourth of July, a time when Washington, D.C. is empty and most people are focused on holiday plans. Despite the committee not taking the opportunity for a more pronounced rollout, the 538-page proposal should still be taken seriously and is worth examining.
 
Whereas the GND was a compass pointing the direction, this report is a roadmap for the Democrats’ ultimate destination. The GND was sweeping in vision yet mostly descriptive in nature. In contrast, the Select Committee’s report puts meat on the bones by offering several specific policies to enact. If Democrats win the majority in both chambers of Congress and the presidency in November, it provides an action plan to implement on Day One. Republicans on the committee abstained from contributing to the report.
 
The document is built around 12 pillars that span our nation’s economy, including energy production, transportation, finance, manufacturing, health care, agriculture, recreation, housing and education, with a whopping 718 policy recommendations.
 
The report contains 82 policy recommendations targeting oil and natural gas directly or indirectly, or 11% of all recommendations. Many are proposals to reinstate Obama-era regulations by making them permanent through legislative action. Most of the other recommendations cite bills already introduced in Congress that have been debated in oversight hearings since January 2019. These are policies the House majority has been vetting and readying for votes.
 
The following are some of the most significant recommendations related to oil and natural gas with page references to provide quick access to additional details. Our full review of all the industry-specific provisions is available on our website.
 
Air quality

• Reinstate the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) New Source Performance Standards for oil and natural gas methane emissions, page 197
• Reinstate the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Methane and Waste Prevention Rule, page 197
• Direct EPA and BLM to set and issue new rules to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas by 90% by 2030, page 198
• Set limits on routine flaring of associated natural gas at oil wells, page 199
• Require EPA to expand air quality monitoring to communities with significant oil and natural gas development, page 199
• Eliminate methane leaks from natural gas transmission lines, page 200
• Provide states funding to eliminate methane leaks from natural gas distribution lines within 10 years, page 201

 
Public Lands

• Reclaim and remediate orphaned wells on federal and nonfederal lands, page 297
• Incorporate climate mitigation and conservation into BLM’s multiple-use policy, page 478
• Achieve net-zero emissions on public lands by 2040, page 480
• Enact a moratorium on new fossil fuel leases on public lands, page 482
• Track, measure, and report emissions from oil and natural gas production on public lands, page 485
• Eliminate BLM’s quarterly lease sale requirement and shorten the length of leases, page 486
• End drilling in important habitats onshore, page 489
• End noncompetitive oil and natural gas leasing on public lands, page 493
• End speculative leasing and anonymous industry nominations, page 495
• Protect at least 30% of all U.S. lands by 2030, page 429

 
Wildlife

• Establish a wildlife corridor to conserve natural spaces and help wildlife, page 439
• Develop a National Landscape Conservation Strategy to help species adapt to climate change, page 441
• Improve Endangered Species Act implementation to protect species from climate change, page 443
• Ensure categorical exclusions from NEPA are informed by science, page 453

 
Pipelines

• Require Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to consider climate when reviewing pipeline applications, page 202
• Provide landowners notice on the use of eminent domain and provide a fair chance to challenge in court, page 204
• Require Department of Energy (DOE) and FERC to consider climate change when reviewing LNG export terminal applications, page 210
• Prohibit eminent domain authority for pipelines carrying gas for export, page 211
• Consider climate in the siting, design, repair, and maintenance of pipelines, page 211

 
Tax and Finance

• Require publicly traded companies to disclose climate-related risks, including fossil fuel assets owned or managed, page 233
• Require the Federal Reserve to identify and manage climate-related financial risks, page 234
• Align the tax code with a net-zero goal, pages 285
• Eliminate tax breaks for oil and natural gas companies, pages 285

Author

Aaron Johnson, Vice President of Public Affairs