Big Oil Wins in Trump-GOP Megabill– readsludge.com

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Excerpt:

After pouring millions into GOP super PACs, the fossil fuel industry is cashing in with the One Big Beautiful Bill, a sweeping budget reconciliation package loaded with giveaways for oil and gas companies. The House and Senate versions of the bill are nearly identical on energy matters, delivering a wish list of tax breaks, drilling incentives, and regulatory rollbacks. Now, the American Petroleum Institute (API), representing hundreds of oil and gas companies, is lobbying the Senate to add even more industry-friendly perks.

The energy portion of the House-passed bill and the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s bills both prioritize the fossil fuel industry’s profits over the environment. Both would delay the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) fee on oil and gas companies’ excess methane pollution by 10 years, shielding companies from accountability for a potent greenhouse gas that is responsible for up to 30% of global warming. They would both create an opt-in fee program allowing companies to pay to expedite the environmental review process for approving new fossil fuel infrastructure like pipelines, and limiting communities’ abilities to weigh in against polluting projects. They mandate the Interior Department to immediately begin quarterly lease sales for onshore and offshore drilling. The bills also roll back the EPA’s new vehicle emissions standards, undoing the Biden administration’s rules designed to boost electric vehicle adoption and curb transportation emissions, the largest U.S. greenhouse gas source.

The House bill contains a few industry bonuses that don’t appear in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee draft, but may still emerge as the full Senate bill is cobbled together from all the different committees. The House bill calls for lowering royalty rates for drilling on public lands from 16.67% to 12.5%, letting oil companies profit off the public’s resources at a discount while reducing taxpayer returns. It would also create a new “de-risking compensation program” that allows oil companies to get paid by taxpayers if the federal government takes any actions delaying their projects or making them less viable.