Unless Oklahoma congressman Markwayne Mullin and 39 others named to serve on a joint House-Senate committee negotiating a final Energy Bill agree to Democrats demands, the prospect of the first major energy bill in nearly a decade could be quickly fading.
Rep. Mullin was named recently to help negotiate differences in what the U.S. Senate wants and the House approved. But Democrats are now threatening to use a procedural motion to kill the Senate bill passed in April, one that would boost oil and natural gas production while encouraging renewable energy sources including wind and solar power.
Democrats want some GOP amendments withdrawn that would eliminate protections for the gray wolf and other species under the Endangered Species Act. The GOP amendments would also promote hunting and fishing on federal lands, shift more water to California farmers and cut the flow for threatened fish. The White House has already threatened to veto at least seven measures that the House approved.
House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. called the House bill a “partisan, special interest package” and said it leads to more energy consumption and carbon pollution and stacks “the deck against the environment.”
Rep. Mullin and other Republicans contend the bill is about jobs and keeping energy affordable.
“It’s about boosting our energy security, here and across the globe,” said Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee who named Rep. Mullin as one of the conferees.
