House Hearing Held on Bill to End Fossil Fuel Leasing on Public Lands

Many legislative proposals to reduce carbon emissions target the burning of fossil fuels. However, the American Public Lands and Waters Climate Solution Act of 2019 (H.R.5435) seeks to reduce emissions by preventing domestic fossil fuel extraction in the first place. The bill would limit lease sales for coal, oil, and gas on public lands, set a goal of net-zero carbon emissions from extraction and use of fossil fuels produced on public lands by 2040, and provide assistance to communities affected by the energy transition. On February 26, the House Committee on Natural Resources held a hearing to discuss the bill.

Committee Chair Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the bill’s sponsor, opened the hearing by emphasizing the need to eliminate fossil fuel emissions. He said this goal should be accompanied by actions to ease the energy transition, to reclaim land and water affected by fossil fuel extraction, and to sequester carbon through nature-based solutions.

Former Colorado Governor Bill Ritter expressed support for the bill, testifying that the energy transition is already occurring – clean energy is now cost-competitive with coal, and coal plants are closing due to market forces. Coal-dependent communities are already facing the challenges of the transition, and will likely struggle without federal assistance. Because the bill would provide some of this needed assistance, Ritter said the legislation addresses both climate and economic problems. Jason Walsh, Executive Director of the BlueGreen Alliance, also testified in favor of the bill, stating that it provides solutions to both climate and economic inequality. From Walsh’s perspective, actions taken to address climate change can lead to a more sustainable and equitable society.

Ritter and Walsh both acknowledged the potential for public lands to either contribute to the problem as sites for future fossil fuel extraction and deforestation (the U.S. Geological Survey has found that about 25 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions are associated with fossil fuels extracted from public land), or be part of the solution if used for clean energy and carbon sequestration. Walsh specifically mentioned the need for natural infrastructure, responsible resource development (i.e., clean energy), and land reclamation on public lands.

Many Democrats on the committee expressed support for the bill. Questions primarily focused on the potential for developing renewable energy generation on public lands and waters and ensuring that the jobs created in these projects would support local communities. Republican opposition to the bill focused primarily on concerns about the cost of clean energy and the impacts of the energy transition on coal workers. However, Ritter and Walsh reiterated that renewable energy is already cost-competitive with coal, the energy transition is already occurring as a result of market forces, and the bill would provide assistance to communities during the transition.

Throughout the hearing, some of the witnesses and committee members advocated for the American Public Lands and Waters Climate Solution Act of 2019 as a preferable alternative to the other bill discussed at the hearing, the Trillion Trees Act (H.R.5859), since it would prevent fossil fuel extraction on federal lands. The lack of a leasing ban was a common criticism of the Trillion Trees Act raised by Democrats on the committee. Click here for an overview of the hearing’s discussion around the Trillion Trees Act.

The American Public Lands and Waters Climate Solution Act of 2019 is not the first bill the committee has considered to transition energy development on public lands away from fossil fuels. The committee also held a hearing in August 2019 on the Public Land and Renewable Energy Development Act of 2019 (H.R. 3794), which would facilitate wind, solar, and geothermal energy development on public lands, and a February 2020 hearing on the Transparency in Energy Production Act of 2020 (H.R. 5636), which would implement stricter public disclosure requirements for drilling on public lands.

 

Author: Abby Neal