Senate parliamentarian rejects offshore oil, gas drilling provisions
by Alexander Bolton -
Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has ruled against provisions in the GOP megabill to enact President Trump’s agenda that would dramatically accelerate the approval of offshore oil and gas projects, handing Senate Republican Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) a setback and Democrats another procedural victory.
The parliamentarian ruled against a provision in the legislation that would deem offshore oil and gas projects as automatically compliant with the National Environmental Policy Act, essentially nullifying the environmental review process for these projects.
And MacDonough advised against a subsection of the bill that requires offshore oil and gas leases to be issued to successful bidders within 90 days after the lease sale.
The parliamentarian rejected a section of the bill requiring the Interior secretary to permit the construction of Ambler Road, a 211-mile access road that would facilitate the development of four large mines in Northern Alaska and hundreds of smaller mines in the region.
She also ruled against language in the bill to mandate the sale of millions of acres of federal public land by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.
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MacDonough said these provisions do not comply with the Senate’s Byrd Rule and therefore are not eligible to pass the upper chamber with a simple-majority vote. Sections of the bill found to violate the Byrd Rule need 60 votes to overcome a point-of-order objection.
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), the ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee, hailed the rulings as another important procedural victory.
“Democrats continue to show up and fight every provision of this Big, Beautiful Betrayal of a bill, because this bill is an attack on workers and families everywhere,” Merkley said in a statement.
“Democrats will not stand idly by while Republicans attempt to circumvent the rules of reconciliation in order to sell off public lands to fund tax breaks for billionaires.” he continued. “We will make sure the Byrd Rule is followed and review any changes Republicans attempt to make to the bill.”
The parliamentarian also rejected a subsection of the bill that removes the secretary of the Interior’s discretion to reduce fees for wind and solar projects on federal land as well as sections that would require the Interior Department to hold yearly geothermal lease sales and change how geothermal royalties are calculated.
MacDonough is still reviewing several Alaska-related environmental provisions in the bill and considering a section of the bill that would require 90 percent of the revenue from oil and gas leases in Cook Inlet to be handed over to the Last Frontier State starting in 2035.
She is also expected to weigh in on language to require oil and gas lease sales in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.
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