Downing: Congress Must Flip the Switch on Burdensome Energy Rules

If you put gas in your car or boat this past Labor Day weekend, chances are you experienced a pleasant surprise. With the national average price for gas at $3.15 a gallon, Americans saw the cheapest holiday at the pump since 2020. 

We can all thank the pro-energy policies of the White House. Through the leadership of President Trump, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and others, this Administration is making good on its promise to unleash American energy. 

Decisive actions like expanding federal and offshore lease sales, streamlining permitting through NEPA reform, lifting the pause on LNG export permits, and rescinding the disastrous Biden-era MATS rule make it clear that domestic energy dominance is top of mind for Republicans. 

As we look toward the future, Montana has a major role to play in producing the affordable, reliable energy that our country depends on. My district is home to part of the single largest coal deposit in the United States–the Powder River Basin. 

Bureaucratic overreach on the part of the Biden Administration resulted in an outright ban on leasing in the Powder River Basin through the Bureau of Land Management’s Miles City Field Office Resource Management Plan Amendment (RMPA). 

The Trump Administration quickly intervened, reopening this land for permitting. But as with any regulatory overhaul, the Executive Branch can only carry so much water.

Much of the bureaucratic reform that any one Administration enacts can be just as easily undone by the next Administration. It’s important to understand that regulatory progress may be relegated to a four-year shelf life if additional action is not taken by Congress to provide clarity.

This week, the House is taking up a slate of bills from the House Natural Resources Committee, including my H.J. Res. 104, that will do just that. My bill is a Congressional Review Act (CRA) measure that will overturn the Miles City Field Office’s RMPA and the resulting Powder River Basin ban.

Like its name suggests, a CRA is a tool that Congress can use to review and check the power of the bureaucracy. This carries significant weight because once a rule has been overturned via CRA, that rule and substantially similar rules are barred from enactment in perpetuity. 

Why does this matter for Montana? H.J. Res. 104 opens up more than 37.8 billion short tons of coal for mining. That’s enough supply to meet U.S. coal demand for the next 73 years. This not only has economic implications for the mining communities that directly depend on the resource, but protects approximately $46 million in annual state revenue which is used to fund public K-12 education. Perhaps most importantly, my bill provides mining operations with the certainty they need to make forward-looking investments that deliver employment opportunities and financial security for hardworking Montanans.

I’m using my voice and vote to advocate for legislation that makes real change in the lives of my constituents and addresses the issues that matter most to Montanans. I look forward to working with my colleagues to get this bill to the President’s desk to unlock permitting in the Powder River Basin and usher in a bright future for American energy dominance.