McCollum Votes on Permitting Bills: House Republicans Continue to Prioritize Polluters over People

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the slate of permitting bills that the Republican majority has brought to the House Floor this week. These bills roll back vital protections that ensure our constituents have access to clean air and water, and have the opportunity to weigh in on projects that will affect the health of their selves, their families, and their community. 

Make no mistake, the six bills before the House this week are not a commonsense, bipartisan permitting package. They are the latest attempt for President Trump and Congressional Republicans to roll back protections for our environment so that their big oil and gas friends can “drill, baby, drill” without consequence or punishment. 

Republicans claim that H.R. 3893, the PERMIT Act, just cuts unnecessary bureaucratic red tape. That is false. In reality, the PERMIT Act is a partisan package of over a dozen bills that roll back the Clean Water Act further weakening protections on our rivers, lakes, streams, and wetlands. This bill protects polluters from responsibility for treating toxic pollution in their waste stream like lead, mercury, selenium, PFAS and arsenic. If enacted, the PERMIT Act will lead to an increase in the unregulated discharge of these harmful chemicals into local bodies of water.

In addition to the PERMIT Act, House Republicans have brought five additional bills forward that will raise prices for consumers and prioritize polluters over the American people. Let me tell you just how bad these bills are:

H.R. 3668 would strip states of their ability to enforce their own clean water laws concerning natural gas pipelines. 

H.R. 3628 would force states to show arbitrary preference for fossil fuels over clean, cheap energy. 

H.R. 3638 would require the Department of Energy (DOE) to issue a supply chain report, asking DOE to do more with less after Elon Musk and DOGE forced out 3,500 DOE employees and put the agency’s capacity to write such a report in doubt. If Republicans are concerned about energy supply chains, they should start by repealing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which attacked tax credits and programs designed to strengthen our supply chains. 

H.R. 3616 would grant the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) unprecedented power to veto or demand changes to any federal agency action, including environmental rules. 

H.R. 3632 would force old, expensive power plants to stay online for up to five years after their scheduled retirement date, sending already-high electricity bills through the roof.

Mr. Speaker, these bills do not exist in a vacuum. We are considering these bills in the wake of Trump Administration actions to cancel and stall clean energy projects. In October, President trump canceled over $7.5 billion in grants for 223 clean energy projects. President Trump canceled over $714 million in funding for Minnesota. These grants would have funded battery storage for a more stable grid, modernized transmission lines, and funded a battery recycling education program at Macalester College.

My Republican colleagues want to talk about permitting reform? Let’s talk about how President Trump is weaponizing the existing permitting process to freeze the approval of permits for onshore wind and solar projects, leaving thousands of megawatts of clean power in limbo at a time when demand for electricity is sky rocking. If Republicans succeed in passing these bills and gutting protections for our communities and environment, it will mean that oil and gas companies have an easier pathway to polluting the land, air, and water we all rely on.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose all six of these bills. I once again urge the Republican House Majority to stop bringing these harmful bills that fast-track fossil fuel projects, restrict communities’ ability to challenge harmful development, and walk undermine clean energy development. This is not the way to improve Americans’ lives. 

I yield back.