By Valerie Volcovici
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. House lawmakers laid out plans on Sunday to phase out key clean energy tax credits, as well as slash billions in spending related to electric vehicles and renewable energy, fast-track gas exports and claw back unspent climate-related funds as part of the Republicans’ attempt to pass a multi-trillion-dollar budget to carry out President Donald Trump’s agenda.
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce laid out a proposal, which will be voted on Tuesday, that would raise $6.5 billion from the repeal of climate-related parts of the Biden administration’s massive Inflation Reduction Act legislation.
It would repeal major Biden administration Environmental Protection Agency rules such as one that would slash allowed emissions for light- and medium-duty vehicles starting with model year 2027.
It also includes measures aimed at speeding up permitting for liquified natural gas exports and would direct $2 billion for the Energy Department to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
“This bill would claw back money headed for green boondoggles through ‘environmental and climate justice block grants’ and other spending mechanisms through the Environmental Protection Agency and Energy Department,” House energy panel chair Brett Guthrie wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that announced the proposal on Sunday.
The bill would rescind the remaining unspent money from the $27 billion greenhouse gas reduction fund, which has been a key target of EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, who claimed that the money was being spent fraudulently in subsequent court cases.
It would also take back unspent funding from nine IRA renewable energy and electrification subsidy programs, such as tribal energy loan guarantees and transmission facility financing, and remove unspent IRA funds from the Energy Department’s loan office.
It would rescind unspent funding made available by the IRA for methane reduction at oil and gas facilities and for greenhouse gas reporting, funds to reduce air emissions at ports and manufacturing facilities and schools as well as funds for low-income communities to access clean energy.
“Their proposal guts investments that are cutting energy costs, powering a domestic manufacturing boom, and delivering essential healthcare to the communities that need it most,” said environmental group Evergreen Action Executive Director Lena Moffitt.
(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
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