Tag: Native American Energy Act

Rep. Hastings calls for pro-energy bill passage in House

www.UPI.com

WASHINGTON, June 13 (UPI) — U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., hailed the approval of three bills by the House Natural Resources Committee as vital to ensuring U.S. energy security.

The Offshore Energy and Jobs Act (H.R. 2231) would open up parts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to energy exploration.

The National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska Access Act (H.R. 1964) would ensure “timely and efficient” development of the reserve area explored by the federal government from 1944 to 1981.

The Native American Energy Act (H.R. 1548) would eliminate “burdensome and duplicative” regulations on energy development on tribal lands.

Hastings, who chairs the panel, accused the Obama administration of keeping the energy sector away from vital natural resources.

“By doing so, it is blocking the creation of over a million new American jobs and forfeiting hundreds of millions of dollars in much needed revenue,” he said in a statement Wednesday. “These bills will unlock our American energy resources on federal lands and waters.”

The White House has said oil and natural gas production has increased every year since Obama took office in 2009.

The measures passed largely along party lines in the Republican-led committee. Energy blog FuelFix said the Senate, controlled by Democrats, is unlikely to follow suit.

U.S. Chamber Sends Letter in Support of the “Native American Energy Act”

U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Executive Vice President for Government Affairs Bruce Josten sent a letter to members of the House Committee on Natural Resources in support of H.R. 1548, the “Native American Energy Act.”

As the letter states:
  • H.R. 1548 would be an important step in furthering efforts by Congress to encourage economic development throughout Indian Country.
  • It would do so by fostering tribal sovereignty and eliminating cumbersome Federal bureaucratic processes, which we believe to be a sure path to economic growth.
  • Furthermore, we believe the bill would make further headway towards American energy independence while it would also provide much needed employment to hard-stricken regions of the country.
  • The U.S. Chamber has recently established the Native American Enterprise Initiative (NAEI) in recognition of the revolution in entrepreneurship occurring amongst the nearly three million people of American Indian and Alaskan Native heritage.  Drawing on the Chamber’s record of business advocacy, the NAEI seeks to remove legislative and regulatory roadblocks to their economic success, which H.R. 1548 would do.