As updates trickle in over the status on the bipartisan infrastructure package and the reconciliation bill tied to it, CEA has received numerous inquiries from clients over the uncertainties surrounding next steps. Last week, Michael Zehr, CEA Vice President of Federal Affairs, provided a legislative update and John Northington, Jr., CEA Director of Federal Affairs, gave insight into the Department of Interior’s energy efforts for oil and gas as well as renewables.
Read their top takeaways from the webinar below. As always, we’re continuing to follow what’s at hand around energy, especially high gas prices, and any significant consequences to consumers and businesses.
Highlights from Michael Zehr
- Some groups in Congress thought they were going to vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill and revisit the larger reconciliation package. That’s changed now, even though the two bills were passed separately. Those two packages are now intimately linked.
- As these negotiations play out, we’re concerned that some of the smaller provisions that were worked on in other committees may not be getting the attention they deserve and that we might inadvertently have a package that does harm to our ability to develop domestic energy.
- We have a number of big packages out for negotiation as we enter the final stage of this year. The process is going to be very confusing and it’s going to have big ramifications for energy consumers. These major pieces of legislation usually take months, if not years, to negotiate and we’re going try to get all of this done in a couple of months. So as these details come forward, all of these packages are going to change.
Highlights from John Northington, Jr.
- After conversations with Administration officials at various agencies it seems Infrastructure and Reconciliation talks are happening at such a high level that certain agencies are not involved other than to provide technical feedback on provisions when requested.
- It seems agencies, including DOI are not lobbying the White House or Congress for specific provisions in the Reconciliation or Infrastructure bills.
- Agencies continue to move on a parallel track full speed on a wide range of regulatory actions across the board.