The legislation as a whole will not become law this Congress.
That’s according to Kenny Stein, the director of policy at the Institute for Energy Research (IER), who noted that Senate Democrats have said they oppose it and that President Biden has vowed to veto it.
However, there are components of the legislation that may end up passing as part of bipartisan negotiations, Stein told Rigzone.
“The two sections most likely to enter these discussions are the permitting language, where there is fairly broad bipartisan agreement that some sort of permitting reform is needed, and the critical mineral/mining language, where again there is there is some bipartisan support for increasing national production of these minerals,” Stein said.
“The language in HR1 could form the basis or the opening of negotiations,” he added.
Longer term, Stein said there is a greater chance that much, or virtually all, of HR 1 could pass in the future under the next Republican president.
“Having discussed and negotiated this deal among Republicans now, when the next president is looking for ideas for energy legislation, this is something that will be ready,” Stein said.
The bill HR1 passed the House of Representatives on March 30 with 225 Yes to 204 No after being introduced in the House on March 14, the congressional website shows. It still needs to pass the senate and go to the president to become law, the site explains.
The bill expedites the development, import, and export of energy resources, including by waiving environmental review requirements and other specified requirements under certain environmental laws, removing certain restrictions on the import and export of oil and natural gas, and prohibiting the president to declare a moratorium on the use of hydraulic fracturing, states a summary of HR1 posted on the Congress site.
Republican candidates
A national Quinnipiac University poll released March 29 found that, of a list of 15 Republicans who have declared or are seen as potential candidates for the 2024 presidency, Donald Trump received 47 percent support among Republican and Republican-leaning voters, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis who received 33 percent.
Former Vice President Mike Pence received five percent and former United Nations ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley received four percent, according to the poll, which noted that of the 11 declared or potential candidates remaining, no one exceeded two percent.
The results are largely unchanged from a March 15 Quinnipiac University poll, the poll’s website noted.
In a matchup between Trump and DeSantis, Trump received 52 percent support and DeSantis received 42 percent support, the Quinnipiac University poll showed, adding that this is “essentially unchanged from at the beginning of the month.”
IER describes itself as a non-profit organization that conducts intensive research and analysis on the functions, operations and government regulation of global energy markets. The organization notes on its site that it “maintains that freely functioning energy markets provide the most efficient and effective solutions to today’s global energy and environmental challenges and, as such, are critical to the well-being of people and society.”
According to its website, the Quinnipiac University poll is a nationally recognized leader in public opinion research “taking the pulse of American voters, on a continuous basis, across the country as to to key issues of public policy and elections”.
To see reaction to the House passage of HR1 from energy groups such as the American Petroleum Institute (API), the Energy Workforce & Technology Council (EWTC) and the American Exploration and Production Council (AXPC), please click on here.
To contact the author, please send an email andreas.exarcheas@rigzone.com
