Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the former House Speaker who despite leaving party leadership in the chamber still holds her seat, was among those speaking out in recent days against a sweeping energy package from Republicans in the House that would help open up opportunities for development in fossil fuels, even as climate conditions remain precarious.
Among the elements of the legislative proposal about which Democrats were concerned were subsidies that were to be made available to companies potentially responsible for serious pollution. Other elements included increased opportunities for such development on federal lands and an expansion to the availability of “fast-tracked” environmental reviews, as Axios described the processes under legislative consideration. The Biden administration has already focused on the implementation of the same piece of federal law, known as the National Environmental Policy Act, targeted by parts of Republicans’ proposal. The White House’s moves, of course, went the other direction, outlining guidelines for environmental reviews by which long-term impacts in areas like climate change would be included in relevant considerations.
“When we enacted the inflation reduction law, our nation took a landmark step to rescue our planet,” Pelosi said. “But our progress stands in stark contrast to the reckless Republican bill before us, which on every score puts polluters first. We know that climate is a health issue… When Democrats are slashing pollution to preserve clean air and water, this bill guts bedrock health protections to fast-track polluter projects. Climate is an economic issue. While Democrats are creating jobs and lowering energy costs, this bill gives $2.4 billion in handouts to the biggest polluters.” Pelosi also referenced how continued dependence on fossil fuels could lead to vulnerability on the part of the U.S. to “oil-rich dictators.”
“It’s God’s creation!” Pelosi continued. “We’re religious people here in this body, right?.. Don’t we have a responsibility to be good stewards of God’s creation?” Well, we know the tendency from many Republicans. No matter a brief surge in claimed environmental interest after the derailment of a train in Ohio carrying potentially dangerous chemicals, when Republicans felt they could use the situation as metaphorical political ammo against the Biden team, deregulation as an overriding approach is consistently pushed from Republicans. The proposal Pelosi was criticizing is highly unlikely to be made law with Democrats controlling the Senate and Biden serving as president. Check out Pelosi’s comments in the chamber below:
