Jake Wennik
This week, Congress is scheduled to vote to repeal the Biden administration’s environmental protection laws. The Methane Fee, or Waste Emissions Charge, was part of the bipartisan Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that Congress passed in 2022 with the Biden Administration. It applies only to large emitters of methane (oil and gas companies) if their emissions exceed certain thresholds. The new executive administration and Republican Agenda are pushing to eliminate the fee. This week congress is set to vote to re-evaluate the law and fee. The fee was part of a larger push to reduce gas and oil emissions by 80%; in hopes of bringing emissions down overall for the United States and meeting the 1.5 degree Celsius global temperature threshold.
The Republican Congress and Senate look to utilize the Congressional Review Act to strike down the law and bar either party from creating any new laws that are “substantially the same.” Therefore, any new rules implemented to regulate oil or gas emissions will most likely be struck down. This is the new legislation’s plan for the methane fee and similar environmental rules. This sets a startling plan in motion for environmental protection and regulations.
