Environment & Energy Congressional Round-Up | March 16 - March 20, 2026

Highlights:

The House passed the Save Our Sequoias Act (H.R.2709). Reps. Vince Fong (R-Calif.) and Scott Peters (D-Calif.) reintroduced the bill to bolster the trees’ resilience to worsening wildfires in California. Specifically, the bill would create a Sequoia reforestation strategy and wildfire risk assessment, open new revenue streams for Sequoia conservation, and establish a coalition of federal, state, tribal, and local forest managers, among other measures. 

The House passed the Post-Disaster Reforestation and Restoration Act of 2025 (H.R.528), led by Reps. Brittany Pettersen (D-Colo.) and Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.). The bill aims to build community wildfire resilience and support wildfire recovery efforts through land rehabilitation. To learn more about legislative wildfire solutions, check out EESI’s recent briefing, Igniting Innovation: Progress and a Path Forward for Wildfire Policy.

The House passed Rep. Mike Ezell’s (R-Miss.) Integrated Ocean Observation System (IOOS) Reauthorization Act of 2025. The bipartisan bill would reauthorize the IOOS—which provides real-time data to support fisheries and coastal communities—for five fiscal years, at current funding levels. 

The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure passed two bipartisan bills to bolster surface water protections. The American Water Stewardship Act (H.R.6422), led by Reps. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.) and Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Mich.), would reauthorize funding for water quality programs across the country. Reps. Hillary Scholten’s (D-Mich.) and Brian Mast’s (R-Fla.) Local Water Protection Act (H.R.7376) would reauthorize an Environmental Protection Agency grant program that helps states address nonpoint source water pollution, such as agricultural and highway runoff. 

Reps. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) and Mike Levin (D-Calif.) introduced the Energy Bills Relief Act (H.R.7977) to restore clean energy tax credits, promote renewable energy development on federal lands, and incentivize practices for data centers and utilities that lower utility bills for consumers, among other measures.

To catch up on all of the recent environmental and energy legislation in Congress, read the pdf here.