WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senator Steve Daines today helped pass multiple pieces of legislation that will help expand Montana energy production, permanently reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and rein in the Obama administration’s overreaching anti-energy regulations.
“This bipartisan legislation will not only strengthen our country’s global competitiveness, but also empower our tribes to develop their energy resources, expand Montana families’ access to affordable energy and create good-paying energy jobs,” Daines stated. “I am committed to continue working for commonsense solutions that protect Montanans’ access to public lands and keep energy prices low for hardworking Montana families.”
Daines also worked to secure language in the Energy Policy Modernization Act that would permanently reauthorize LWCF.
“As Montana’s sole member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, I’m pleased that the Committee has approved a bipartisan solution to permanently reauthorize LWCF,” Daines stated. “I urge Senate leadership to take up permanent reauthorization of LWCF as quickly as possible.”
The bills passed today, including the Energy Policy Modernization Act, contain numerous other key components for Montana including:
- Lifts the ban on crude oil exports;
- Provides for the responsible development of American resources while facilitating the development of renewable energy;
- Streamlines the process for the export of liquefied natural gas;
- Provides more certainty around the timeframe for natural gas pipeline approvals and helps the U.S. to provide adequate pipeline infrastructure by strengthening the role of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to better coordinate government agencies involved in the pipeline permitting process;
- Modernizes, strengthens the reliability and security of America’s electrical grid;
- Strengthens restrictions on overreaching Obama administration rules like the Clean Power Plan;
- Establishes a pilot project to restrict the need for drilling permits if less than 25 percent of the minerals within the spacing unit are federal minerals and the federal government does not own or lease the surface estate; and,
- Creates a new National Park Maintenance and Revitalization Fund to address the maintenance backlog at some of America’s most treasured public places.
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