Rep. Boebert’s “Colorado Energy Prosperity Act” Passes Resources Committee with Bipartisan Support
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (CO-03) released the following statement after bipartisan passage of her legislation, H.R. 6547, the Colorado Energy Prosperity Act of 2024, in the House Natural Resources Committee:
“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris continue to pander to radical Green New Deal extremists to try and eliminate fossil fuels at the expense of Colorado communities. If implemented, this Biden-Harris land grab will kill thousands of Colorado jobs, significantly reduce revenues for education, could increase gas prices for families and small businesses, and further undermines American energy independence. My legislation that passed the Natural Resources Committee blocks this bureaucratic land grab. Its far past time that we stopped begging foreign dictators to produce oil and gas for America. Instead, let’s responsibly develop American energy and stop pandering to national extremist environmental groups that don’t care about our local communities,” said Congresswoman Boebert.
“Congresswoman Boebert is a staunch advocate for America’s energy and mineral production and a champion of Colorado’s energy producers. Her Colorado Energy Prosperity Act plays an essential role in fighting back against the Biden-Harris administration’s egregious bureaucratic overreaches, and I know she will continue working to unleash America’s domestic energy resources,” said House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman.
Background
Congresswoman Boebert’s Colorado Energy Prosperity Act of 2024 prohibits the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from taking any action to finalize, implement, or enforce the BLM’s Proposed Resource Management Plan and Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Colorado River Valley Field Office and Grand Junction Field Office Resource Management Plans.
The BLM’s bureaucratic handout to Green New Deal extremists locks up 1.6 million acres of public lands and closes 1.9 million acres of federal mineral estate in Colorado from future oil and gas leasing while also shamefully designating an additional 7,000 acres as new wilderness study areas.
BLM is proposing to close all areas with “no known, low, and moderate oil and gas development potential” and is basing its analysis of the oil and gas potential on two-decade old, out-of-date information that does not take into consideration modern technology. The Mancos Shale in the Piceance Basin of Colorado contains an estimated 66 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, 74 million barrels of oil, 45 million barrels of natural gas liquids, and is one of the largest known reserves in the world. The Piceance Basin was once considered low to moderate oil and gas development potential and would have been blocked from exploration and production if this BLM plan was in place at that time.
During Biden and Harris’ first week in office, the national average for gas was $2.39 per gallon. While gas prices have conveniently dropped as we get closer to the election, the national average is still way too high at $3.22 per gallon as of this morning.
If we kill oil and gas in America, the world will become more reliant on much dirtier resources that are developed by China, India and foreign adversaries. All these job-killing, anti-energy mandates being implemented in the U.S. by the Biden-Harris Regime don’t matter or make a difference in terms of emissions globally as China is continuing to increase coal production and consumption at a staggering pace. Once China’s new coal plants come online, China will be using 76% of the global total for coal.
America makes the cleanest energy in the world. In fact, our natural gas is 42% cleaner than Russian gas. American innovation has allowed America to be the global leader in reducing emissions since 2000.
Congresswoman Boebert’s legislation will now head to the floor of the House of Representatives for final passage at a later date.
Full replay of Congresswoman Boebert’s remarks in the House Natural Resources Committee markup today can be found HERE. Full text of the Colorado Energy Prosperity Act of 2024 can be found HERE. Previous hearing information on the bill, including witness testimony, can be found HERE.
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