Co-Sponsor H.R. 4426 – the Sustainable Energy Development Reform Act!

Bill creates balanced, protective, and responsible strategy for energy development in the United States. 

Endorsed by: Alaska Wilderness League, Appalachian Voices, Earthjustice, League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club, Western Organization of Resource Councils, Wilderness Society

Cosponsors: Barragan, Beyer, Bordallo, Cartwright, Clay, Connolly, Demings, DeSaulnier, Ellison, Eshoo, Gomez, Huffman, Jackson Lee, Khanna, Lee, Lewis, Lofgren, Lowenthal, McEachin, Napolitano, Norton, Polis, Quigley, Raskin, Roybal-Allard,
Schakowsky, Soto, Thompson, Tsongas, Velazquez 

Dear Colleague:

            The Trump Administration and Interior Secretary Zinke have made one thing abundantly clear: when it comes to America’s public lands, the hopes and dreams of oil, gas, and coal executives come first. On Day 1, they began taking a wrecking ball
to Obama Administration policies that balanced energy development with conservation, protected public health, encouraged stakeholder participation in energy decisions, held companies accountable, managed public land for multiple uses, and planned for and attempted
to mitigate the effects of human-induced climate change. America’s most important natural places are under direct attack from the dirty energy agenda of Donald Trump and his fossil fuel cronies.

            The playing field is already heavily tilted to the benefit of polluting energy industries, from loopholes that exempt them from environmental laws protecting clean air and clean water, to fiscal terms that haven’t been adjusted for inflation
in decades, to relentlessly pro-drilling provisions arising out of Dick Cheney’s energy task force during the second Bush Administration. We need to level that playing field and restore balance to how we manage public lands. We need to protect the health and
welfare of Americans who live near energy development. We need to hold polluting industries accountable for their actions. We need the Sustainable Energy Development Reform Act.

H.R. 4426 is a comprehensive strategy to modernize and reform our current energy development policies while protecting everyday Americans. The Sustainable Energy Development Reform Act would:

• Comprehensively reform onshore and offshore oil and gas leasing and permitting to improve financial returns to American taxpayers, protect the environment and other uses of public lands, increase transparency, discourage speculation, and
  codify Obama Administration reforms.
• Close loopholes that oil and gas companies take advantage of in environmental laws, such as the Safe Drinking Water Act, Clean Water Act, and Clean Air Act, and enact strong fracking and methane waste standards.
• Reform the federal coal leasing program, reinstate a strong stream protection rule, protect residents living near coal mines from blasting, and direct additional money to abandoned mine reclamation.
• Ensure taxpayers get a fair return by updating royalty rates for oil, gas, and coal extracted from public lands, while increasing outdated rental fees, bonding levels, minimum bids, and penalties.
• Encourage the development of renewable energy onshore and offshore.
• Improve climate change planning, including by requiring the federal government to consider the social costs of carbon and methane for potential actions, and developing climate change adaptation strategies to increase resilience.
• Permanently protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Arctic Ocean from oil and gas development.
• Permanently authorize and fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and create a new fund to help protect, maintain, and restore coastal, ocean, and Great Lakes ecosystems.

            The Sustainable Energy Development Reform Act would allow energy development to co-exist with healthy communities, environmental protection, and other uses of public lands. Please join me as a cosponsor of this long-overdue legislation. For more
information on H.R. 4426, including a section-by-section of the bill, or to cosponsor, please contact Steve Feldgus on my staff at steve.feldgus@mail.house.gov, or 5-6065.    

Sincerely,

Raúl M. Grijalva

Ranking Member

House Natural Resources Committee