House Votes to Expand Drilling and Mining, Undercut Environmental Regulations

The unfortunate reality of Washington, DC, is not that bipartisanship is nowhere to be found. It is that bipartisanship too often exists when it comes to passing harmful legislation.

Take, for example, two bills passed this past week.

The HEATS Act (H.R. 7409) would exempt certain geothermal drilling from federal review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA).

In the Western US, there are many areas where surface land rights are privately owned, but subsurface rights (minerals, oil / gas, geothermal) owned by the federal government and managed by the Bureau of Land Management. This bill would waive permit and review requirements, undermining BLM’s responsibilities to the environment, safety, and responsible stewardship of public assets.

It passed 225 to 181, with 18 Democrats joining Republicans to vote for it.

The Critical Mineral Consistency Act of 2024 would open copper mining projects in the Western US to federal subsidies and faster permitting. As ranking Democrat Raul Grijalva mentioned in the Minority Dissent, “..copper would become eligible for production support, research grants, and expedited permitting — potentially siphoning resources from much
more at-risk and fragile mineral supply chains to the well-developed copper industry.”

It passed 245 to 155, with 44 Democrats joining Republicans to vote for it.