Lubbock Times

Today, the House of Representatives passed two pieces of pro-energy legislation, which received praise from House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington. The first piece of legislation, known as the HEATS Act (H.R. 7409), aims to eliminate the need for a federal drilling permit for geothermal activities on non-federal land.

Chairman Arrington commented on the passage of the HEATS Act: “For too long, American oil and gas production has been hamstrung by overregulation and extreme environmental activism. Removing barriers to production and burdensome red tape will empower producers to unleash the resources our country needs and lower prices for hardworking American families.”

The second piece of legislation is the Critical Mineral Consistency Act (H.R. 8446). This act mandates that the United States Geological Survey update its critical minerals list to include materials identified by the Department of Energy as essential for energy technologies. Currently, there is a discrepancy between these lists.

Chairman Arrington emphasized the importance of this act: “America’s self-sustainability depends on mining our own critical minerals. To diversify away from bad actors and adversaries like China, we must be able to quickly and reliably access the abundant natural resources and critical minerals in our own backyard. The Critical Mineral Consistency Act will prevent bottlenecks and burdensome red tape, both of which add time and cost that we cannot afford.”