Natural Resources Republicans Introduce Bills

Last week, four pieces of legislation were introduced by members of the Natural Recourses Committee that are of great interest to OREC members. All of the pieces are aimed at expediting the production of renewable energy.  Two of the bills are focused on onshore and offshore wind, one on geothermal and the other on NEPA as a whole. The series of the bills are focused on creating jobs and expanding renewable energy. A legislative hearing on these bills will be conducted on Thursday, June 23rd.

The first bill, Cutting Red Tape to Facilitate Renewable Energy Act ( Hastings, WA) http://naturalresources.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=246350 Is focused o the production of clean, renewable energy projects on federal grounds by lessening government regulations.

The second and third bills are focused on wind production. The first, Advancing Offshore Wind Production Act (Wittman, VA) http://naturalresources.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=246351is focused on the development of offshore wind in the outer continental shelf. More specifically the reformation of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to approve temporary infrastructure to speed up the process.  The third bill Utilizing America’s Federal Lands for Wind Energy Act ( Noem, SD) http://naturalresources.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=246352 Would expedite the process to test and advance onshore wind power on Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service land.

The last bill Exploring Geothermal Energy on Federal Lands Act ( Labrador, ID) http://naturalresources.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=246353 would reduce bureaucratic interference to the development of clean, geothermal energy.

All four bills are promising and look to be a step in the right direction for clean and renewable energy. OREC will be covering the hearings and will be updating live via twitter so stay tuned!.