Legislative Developments Could Impact Environmental and Energy Sectors


In recent weeks, the House Committees on Energy & Commerce and Natural Resources considered several legislative proposals that, if enacted, could have substantial impacts on the environmental and energy sectors. On April 30, 2025, the Subcommittee on Energy held a hearing on several pieces of draft legislation, including the Reliable Power Act, which would amend the Federal Power Act (FPA) to provide the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) authority to review certain federal regulations that may affect the reliable operation of the bulk power system. On May 1, 2025, the Committee on Natural Resources announced that it was scheduled to mark up draft legislation that, among other things, would amend the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and provide for certain changes to federal fossil fuel leasing as part of the budget reconciliation bill.

Subcommittee on Energy Hearing

On April 30, 2025, the Subcommittee on Energy reviewed several legislative proposals bearing upon the nation’s energy sector during a hearing entitled “Assuring Abundant, Reliable American Energy to Power Innovation,” including the draft “Reliable Power Act,” which would grant FERC authority to review and block regulations proposed by other agencies that “relate to, or otherwise direct affect, any generating facility in the bulk power system” if FERC finds that the regulation would be likely to have a “significant negative impact on the state of generation adequacy or the reliability of the bulk-power system.” Such authority would enable FERC, for example, to restrict the US Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to promulgate rules imposing emissions restrictions on fossil fuel-powered generation facilities. The Subcommittee also reviewed several additional legislative proposals. Some of the provisions include:

Committee on Natural Resources Proposed Legislation

On May 6, 2025, the House Committee on Natural Resources met to consider legislative proposals pursuant to the reconciliation directive in Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2025. Among other things, the draft bill would amend NEPA by conferring the following benefits on a project sponsor that elects to pay a fee equivalent to 125 percent of the anticipated costs to prepare an environmental assessment (EA) or environmental impact statement (EIS):

The draft bill would also have implications for federal fossil fuel leasing, including directing the Secretary of the Interior to hold not fewer than 30 lease sales in the Gulf of America during the 15-year period beginning on the date of the statute’s enactment, expanding drilling and mining on public lands, and reducing the Inflation Reduction Act’s oil and gas royalty increase from 16.67percent to 12.5 percent.

Counsel will continue to monitor the progression of these legislative proposals.


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National Law Review, Volume XV, Number 127