Biden’s Guidance on Climate Change Seeks to Unlawfully Force an Energy Transition

DENVER – Western Energy Alliance today called on the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to withdraw its interim guidance on National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change analysis. In a letter to CEQ, the trade association said the guidance changes the original intent of NEPA from informing agency decision-making to becoming a tool to drive broad climate change policy and limit the use of oil and natural gas. The guidance slows the  development of vital energy and infrastructure projects and increases the threat of litigation.
 
“Congress has not granted federal agencies the authority to determine climate change policy nor to dole out an energy ration to Americans. In the absence of a law that transitions America off reliable energy sources, the Biden Administration is using every lever of government to try to achieve the same result. CEQ is attempting to stack the deck against fossil fuel projects while increasing uncertainty and the potential for litigation for all types of infrastructure projects.” said Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Alliance. ​

​“At every turn, this administration increases the regulatory burden for anything built in America, particularly in the case of energy. The guidance is another means to ensure energy inflation remains far into the future. The administration focuses on perceived negative impacts from oil and natural gas projects, while not taking into account the innumerable benefits. Increased natural gas electricity generation has done more to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States than wind and solar combined. Oil and natural gas enable renewables by creating the materials to make wind turbines and solar panels. Natural gas is the best back-up to renewable energy when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine. None of today’s alternative energy sources do everything that oil and natural gas do. Not only is it unlawful but also unwise to use red tape as a means to force a transition away from oil and natural gas, since when we don’t produce it here, it must come from overseas.”
 
For more information, please see the Alliance’s letter to CEQ.

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