Hastings wants to consolidate House energy responsibilities

Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), the US House Natural Resources Committee’s ranking minority member who is in line to become chairman in January, is recommending consolidation of the House’s energy jurisdiction by moving the Energy and Commerce Committee’s energy responsibilities to a new Energy and Natural Resources Committee.“It advances our Republican all-of-the-above approach to energy,” he said in a Nov. 18 letter to House Republican Conference members. “The Natural Resources Committee currently oversees all energy development on federal lands and offshore: oil, natural gas, hydropower, wind, solar, coal, geothermal, uranium, minerals…everything. The Commerce Committee currently oversees the Department of Energy and general energy policy as it relates to oil, natural gas, nuclear, renewable, etc. Energy is currently divided in two halves – and this proposal would marry together our nation’s broad energy policy with the vast majority of America’s actual energy resources that are on our federal lands and offshore.”It also would make the two committees’ power more level, Hastings argued. He called Energy and Commerce “a Goliath” which spawned both health-care reform and global climate change legislation, including a provision to establish a domestic carbon cap-and-trade program, in the current Congress. He said his proposal would enable both House committees to be more effective and achieve real oversight and legislative accomplishments. “It also aligns jurisdiction with the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee – a simplification that advances our ability to ultimately achieve legislative successes,” he maintained.Consolidating House energy jurisdiction into the Natural Resources Committee has been discussed for some time, Hastings said. “But this is the moment that a decision can be made to align the structure of the House toward creating a cohesive and comprehensive national energy policy that has the capability to spur real, long-term job creation and economic growth,” he declared. “Energy deserves the concentrated attention of a committee with full jurisdiction over such a sweeping issue.”