Legislation was passed 226 to 188 by the Republican-controlled House to prevent future administrations from prohibiting oil and gas drilling without the consent of Congress, giving President Donald Trump another significant win.
The “Protecting American Energy Production Act” forbids the president from “declaring a moratorium on the use of hydraulic fracturing unless Congress authorizes the moratorium.”
Republican House members unanimously voted in favor of the legislation’s passage, while 118 Democrats voted against it.
Just weeks before he left office, former President Joe Biden banned future oil and gas drilling along 625 million acres of coastal and offshore waters, among other oil and gas-related regulations. The bill follows his actions.
The Republican who introduced the bill, Rep. August Pfluger of Texas, stated that the legislation was prompted by worries about possible fracking bans during the Biden administration.
“When President Biden took office, his administration took a ‘whole of government’ approach to wage war on American energy production, pandering to woke environmental extremists and crippling this thriving industry,” Pfluger said in a statement following the bill’s passage.
“My legislation that passed today is a necessary first step in reversing Biden’s war on energy by preventing the federal government from banning the use of hydraulic fracturing,” he said.
As part of his “drill, baby, drill” strategy, President Donald Trump has pledged to unleash energy produced in the United States since the campaign trail.
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum launched internal investigations into agency actions that “burden” energy development, stripping the energy sector of “coercive” climate policies and oil lease bans implemented during the Biden administration.
Late last week, the U.S. House voted to pass a bill that would remove the Department of Energy’s authority to establish energy conservation standards for household appliances.
The vote, which was 217-190, primarily followed party lines, aiming to limit what many consider a direct intrusion of regulation into American homes.
The bill, introduced by GOP Rep. Rick Allen of Georgia, aims to amend the Energy Policy and Conservation Act by eliminating the requirement for the Department of Energy (DOE) to periodically update energy conservation standards. Instead, the DOE would only be permitted to amend these standards when necessary.
This represents a significant change from the current system, which places ongoing pressure on Washington bureaucrats to impose increasingly stringent regulations on appliances like dishwashers, stoves, and washing machines.
According to the Washington Examiner, the proposed changes would establish a new process for the public to request specific energy standards.
Additionally, it would introduce new criteria to assess whether a standard is economically justifiable and technologically feasible—two concepts that were seldom emphasized by the Department of Energy during the Biden administration.
The legislation aims to address the fundamental mechanism that enabled the previous administration to enforce aggressive efficiency mandates across nearly all appliance categories.
Currently, the DOE is obligated to periodically raise standards, which essentially means that one administration’s environmental goals end up becoming the regulatory baseline for the next. Allen’s bill effectively breaks this cycle.
Provisions of the legislation include:
- Terminating the mandatory periodic update requirement for energy conservation standards
- Allowing the DOE to amend standards as needed, rather than on a forced schedule
- Creating a public petition process for specific energy standards
- Imposing new criteria requiring standards to be economically justifiable and technologically feasible
- Banning the DOE from updating energy conservation standards for distribution transformers
Distribution transformers are essential components of infrastructure, and stricter efficiency standards on them can have significant implications for grid reliability and costs. The ban indicates that House Republicans recognize the importance of balancing environmental goals with the necessity of maintaining electricity supply.
The House is scheduled to vote on the “Homeowner Energy Freedom Act,” introduced by Rep. Craig Goldman of Texas. This bill aims to repeal several provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act.
Specifically, it would eliminate funding for the Department of Energy to implement a new high-efficiency electric home rebate program, provide training grants for home energy efficiency contractors, and offer financial assistance to states for meeting the latest energy conservation building codes.
Both bills pose a direct challenge to the previous administration’s strategy of embedding green mandates profoundly into federal law and agency practices, ensuring their survival through a change in the White House.
