The House passed a bill to prevent future presidents from banning fracking, as President Trump and his Republican allies turn the page on the Biden administration's regressive energy agenda.
The Protecting American Energy Production Act would stop presidents from banning hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, without authorization from Congress first. The bill passed 226-188, with sixteen Democrats voting with all Republicans as most Democrats voted no.
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, involves using pressurized water, sand, and chemicals to fracture shale rock formations.
It is the most common method of extracting oil and natural gas in the United States, accounting for 95% of all new wells, according to the Energy Department.
Still, fracking has faced opposition over its alleged environmental harms, although fracking advocates say the risks are overblown.
The House's bill to protect fracking from a federal moratorium is unlikely to have much effect on Trump's energy agenda, given Trump's repeated pledges to "drill, baby drill."
Still, the lead sponsor of the bill, Republican August Pfluger (Tx.), said the legislation would send a message that Biden's four-year assault on "safe, clean" fossil fuel is at an end.
"When President Biden took office, his administration took a 'whole of government' approach to wage war on American energy production, pandering to woke environmental extremists and crippling this thriving industry,” Pfluger said in a statement. “My legislation that passed (Friday) is a necessary first step in reversing Biden’s war on energy by preventing the federal government from banning the use of hydraulic fracturing," he said.
“Fracking is a safe, clean, and effective way to produce affordable energy and strengthen our national security. This bill advances President Trump’s pro-energy agenda to restore America’s position as the world’s top oil and gas producer. I am blessed to represent America's most prolific oil and gas producing region and am committed to unleashing energy in the Permian Basin this Congress.”
The Senate last week confirmed Chris Wright, a fracking executive, to lead Trump's Energy Department. The vote was bi-partisan.
"Chris was one of the pioneers who helped launch the American Shale Revolution that fueled American Energy Independence, and transformed the Global Energy Markets and Geopolitics," Trump said in November.
President Trump has prioritized unleashing American energy production in a bid to lower prices after Biden's onerous climate agenda - which Trump calls the "green new scam" - raised costs.
Pfluger's bill now heads to the Republican-controlled Senate.
