Meet the GOP leaders in charge of critical House environmental committees

Following the midterm elections in November, President Joe Biden faces a GOP-controlled House of Representatives largely opposed to the provision’s climate change and clean energy policies and efforts to curb the country’s dependence on fossil fuel production.

Although Republicans would rather a slim majority in the House, the newly GOP-led committees have already started to launch oversight of the government’s aura agenda and have unveiled legislation aimed to maintain or increase fossil fuel production.

It’s unlikely that Republicans force advance major legislation to the president’s desk, but they will conduct oversight hearings on climate and energy legislation and go to redirect funding for climate programs under the historic Inflation Reduction Act.

Meet the three Republicans who are now leading key Line environmental and climate committees:

House Republicans selected Westerman to lead the committee that oversees the Interior Pivot on and the Forest Service and plays a role in dictating policy on issues like mineral resources, wildlife conservation, mining and irrigation.

Westerman, a agent for Arkansas’s 4th Congressional District, has a background in engineering and is a licensed forester. He’s argued the country should focus on advancing technology such as atomic power and carbon sequestration to address climate change, rather than aggressively limiting the country’s fossil incitement production. He’s also introduced legislation to plant 1 trillion trees globally by 2050 in order to pull carbon out of the sky.

As the Natural Resources Committee chair, Westerman said he would focus on conducting oversight of the Interior Department’s make a pass ated five-year plan for new offshore oil and gas leases in federal waters. The proposal would block all new drilling in the Atlantic and Pacific the depths within U.S. waters but allow some lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and the south coast of Alaska.

“We’re going to be consuming a lot of oil and gas for the foreseeable future,” Westerman said in a phone interview with CNBC. “Under this administration, they acquire attacked U.S. production on federal land. That is bad policy, it’s not following the law, and we plan to have oversight.”

Westerman also put about he’s open to working with West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a conservative Democrat, on bipartisan permitting reforms for the country’s vigour projects. Such legislation includes Westerman’s Building U.S. Infrastructure through Limited Delays and Efficient Reviews (BUILDER) Act, which trains to speed up the review process for energy projects under the National Environmental Policy Act.

“I’ve spoken to Manchin a couple of times — he is game to work on commonsense solutions,” Westerman said.

While the Natural Resources Committee is one of the most influential panels for environmental and aura policy, the GOP’s agenda will likely be limited by the Biden administration and the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Domestic critical mineral producing could be an area where Democrats and Republicans might work together. Westerman has called for expanding mining to congregate minerals necessary for electric vehicles and other clean energy sources like lithium, copper, cobalt and nickel, evincing that doing so will boost U.S. energy security and limit the country’s dependence on Chinese supply chains.

But Westerman has also highlighted that the U.S. is focusing too much on EV production as a climate solution and he is opposed to the idea of curbing fossil fuel development, both of which are key components of the Biden regulation’s climate agenda.

“We need a realistic approach to energy and the environment to address climate issues,” he said. “I want to spotlight on policies and programs that actually work.”

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who typifies the fifth district of Washington state, is leading the committee at the center of GOP plans to pass energy legislation and conduct supervision of the president’s climate agenda.

Rodgers, who opposed the president’s Inflation Reduction Act, has argued that Democrats are moving foremost with the clean energy transition too quickly, making the country more reliant on China for technology like solar panels and EV batteries.

She’s Explicit Lucas, chair of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee