Congress

Our congressional section has the latest on energy, environmental and related legislation in the House and Senate, with must-read stories on upcoming bills, amendments, hearings and floor battles.

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Our congressional section has the latest on energy, environmental and related legislation in the House and Senate, with must-read stories on upcoming bills, amendments, hearings and floor battles.


Sen. Lee Introduces Legislation To Ban Citizen Suits Under Clean Air Act

Senate energy committee Chairman Mike Lee (R-UT) has introduced legislation that would ban citizen suits under the Clean Air Act (CAA), saying the bill would “protect Americans from lawfare by climate extremists,” though the “Fair Air Enforcement Act” goes well beyond climate change and would put an end to all citizen enforcement suits under the law. Lee introduced the measure, S. 3049 Oct. 23 and it was referred to the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee. At the time of...

Amid ‘Profound’ EPA Enforcement Decline, States May Pick Up Some Slack

As EPA enforcement actions crater amid dramatic staff losses and deregulatory priorities, former officials and other experts say states and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) might seek to pick up some of the slack, though resource challenges could ultimately limit their ability to fully replace the lost federal effort. “In the near term, it’s really all about the states,” said Biden EPA enforcement chief David Uhlmann, during an Oct. 23 session of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) environment section fall conference in...

Key Senate EPW Members Hint At Priorities For Bipartisan TSCA Talks

The chair and ranking member of the Senate environment committee’s chemicals panel are signaling a desire to work together to address concerns about consumer exposure to PFAS and other harmful chemicals in any TSCA reform push, though prospects for any legislation remain dim given partisan differences and other concerns. During the Oct. 23 hearing before the environment committee’s Subcommittee on Chemical Safety, Waste Management, Environmental Justice, and Regulatory Oversight, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the ranking member, asked Tracey Woodruff, a...

Senate Advances Bill Easing NEPA, Air Policy For Forest Management Efforts

A Senate committee has approved legislation that rolls back National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements for forestry management projects, easing the path for passage of the bipartisan bill after the House approved similar legislation earlier this year. Enacting such legislation could mark one of the few NEPA-related measures to pass this Congress, despite calls from lawmakers in both parties for broader NEPA revisions. In addition to the NEPA waiver, the legislation also requires EPA to work with agencies to update...

Lawmakers Urge DOD To Revert To Faster 2024 PFAS Cleanup Schedule

Dozens of House lawmakers are urging Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to discard an updated timetable that would delay PFAS cleanups at 140 sites and instead commit to a faster schedule as reflected in a 2024 plan, while questioning the top Pentagon official on the reason behind the slowdown and the lack of transparency over the changes. In an Oct. 22 letter to Hegseth, 36 House members also press DOD to speed cleanups at sites where investigations should have already taken...

Free-Market Group Urges Permanent Approval Of Mine Cleanup Law

A free-market group is urging Congress to make permanent the 2024 law that created a limited EPA pilot program to remediate abandoned hardrock mine sites, touting the law’s early implementation as a global model for other mine sites, while praising its liability protections and allowances for recovery of critical minerals from mine waste. ConservAmerica, which advocates for free-market environmental solutions, issued an Oct. 14 white paper that urges Congress to permanently authorize the Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines...

Capito Projects Optimism For NEPA Permitting Deal, But Maybe Next Year

Senate environment committee Chairwoman Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) is urging optimism on prospects for a deal with Democrats to speed permitting for energy and other projects while tempering expectations that final passage is still possible this year, suggesting highway legislation could be a vehicle for permitting reforms next year. Capito’s appraisal came during Oct. 23 remarks where she also amplified her prior calls for permit streamlining legislation to benefit all types of energy projects -- a point she made just...

Industry Continues Push For CFATS Reauthorization, Citing Security Gaps

Chemical industry groups are continuing their push to revive the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standard (CFATS) program two years after its expiration, citing concerns over security gaps that undermine the industry’s operational integrity and ability to remain secure from the threat of terror attacks. Eric Byer, president and CEO of the Alliance for Chemical Distribution (ACD), told Inside EPA that while “no progress has been made” on getting the program reauthorized, the group is trying to “keep the noise there...

Absent Federal Policy, Key Democrat Sees Ongoing State PFAS Patchwork

Despite significant industry concerns, the state patchwork of regulations tackling PFAS contamination from consumer products is “going to be the defining feature of PFAS regulation over the next decade,” a key House Democrat says, especially given slim prospects for a unified federal approach from EPA or Congress. “I understand that industry gets heartburn about a patchwork of state policies,” Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) said during an Oct. 22 event, “Chemistry Solutions Forum,” in Washington, D.C., hosted by the U.S. Chamber...

Whitehouse Sees No ‘Pathway’ To Permitting Deal, Citing Burgum Remarks

Senate environment committee ranking member Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) is warning that a long-sought bipartisan deal to streamline National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews is on the verge of failure, citing Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s stance to preclude wind power projects from any deal on streamlined reviews. “I'm not seeing a pathway to that trust” needed to reach an agreement, Whitehouse said at an Oct. 22 hearing on nominees to the Tennessee Valley Authority. Whitehouse renewed his call for Republicans to...

House GOP Bill Includes Gas, Nuclear As ‘Clean Energy’ For EPA Policy

A key House Republican voice on energy issues is floating legislation that would direct EPA and other agencies to define “clean” energy as including natural gas and nuclear, while also defining “reliable” energy to omit intermittent sources such as wind and solar power. The legislation from Rep. Troy Balderson (R-OH) thus offers the latest example of congressional Republican attacks on longstanding federal support for renewable power -- echoing the Trump administration’s stance to explicitly favor certain energy types over others...

House Lawmakers Raise Concerns About Bipartisan TSCA Bill Prospects

Two members of a key House panel -- one Democrat, one Republican -- are raising concerns about a closing window to revise TSCA, noting that the shutdown and a toxic partisan relationship are creating more challenges to the effort, even as the Democrat says a bipartisan approach would provide the most enduring solution. Reps. Gary Palmer (R-AL), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s environment subpanel, and Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), a subcommittee member, made their remarks at the U.S...

Lummis offers bill to bar CAA vehicle emission controls

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) has introduced legislation that would effectively bar EPA from requiring emission controls in vehicles in response to what she calls heavy-handed enforcement by Biden officials who imprisoned Wyoming mechanics “for keeping school buses, fire trucks and ambulances running in cold, harsh climates.” Lummis introduced the bill, S. 3007 , the “Diesel Truck Liberation Act,” Oct. 14. The measure has been referred to the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee. The bill prohibits EPA from requiring “the...

Burgum, GOP Lawmakers Clash On Technology Focus In Permitting Deal

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and key Republican lawmakers are staking out contrasting approaches on the need for technology neutrality as they strive to craft a deal on environmental reviews and other energy-project permitting policies, underscoring challenges to reaching a bipartisan agreement with sufficient support from Democrats. During an Oct. 20 event hosted by the American Petroleum Institute (API), Burgum rejected the notion of softening the administration’s hostile approach to offshore wind power -- including by allowing previously permitted projects to...

Key House Democrat Presses Zeldin On Delayed PFNA Risk Assessment

A key House Democratic appropriator is pressing EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin to release a delayed risk assessment for perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), a long-chain PFAS linked to developmental harms, questioning its delay this spring at the same time Zeldin moved to rescind drinking water limits for PFNA and other PFAS. “The delay in issuing the PFNA report coincided with EPA’s decision, in May of this year, to rescind some PFAS Safe Drinking Water Act regulations, one of which happens to be...

EPW Reschedules Chemical Regulation Hearing As House Nears TSCA Draft

The Senate environment committee has re-scheduled for next week its long-pending oversight hearing on chemicals regulation, which could offer insight into a bipartisan TSCA bill Chairman Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) recently reiterated the panel is crafting while House Republicans prepare to release a draft bill of their own. The Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) announced Oct. 16 that the panel’s chemical safety subcommittee, chaired by Sen. John Curtis (R-UT), will hold an Oct. 23 hearing titled, “Examining the Beneficial...

Landmark CRA Ruling May Open Door To Reissuing Blocked EPA Rules

A precedential appellate ruling could open the door to a future Democratic administration reissuing versions of EPA rules struck down under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), administrative law experts say, though one source cautions that any effort to do so “would be far from a slam dunk.” In an Aug. 13 ruling in Ohio Telecom Association, et al. v. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), et al. , the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit upheld a 2024 FCC measure...

Senate Clears Defense Bill Echoing House Plan For Faster PFAS Cleanups

The Senate has approved its fiscal year 2026 defense policy bill with language that echoes House provisions for expediting PFAS cleanups at military sites, but lawmakers face a conference debate on Senate language that lifts a ban on Defense Department (DOD) procurement of certain items containing PFAS and repeals a temporary incineration ban for the chemicals. The Senate Oct. 9 approved S. 2296, the FY26 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), in a 77-20 vote after the bill had been stalled...

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