Joint Trades Letter on December Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Onshore Language

Dear Chairman Manchin and Ranking Member Barrasso:

Thank you for the sensible debate and deliberations on the Build Back Better Act, the House version of which, for countless reasons, would be devastating to the economy and the future viability of the entire energy edifice of the country. We are grateful for your collective leadership in recent months to infuse balance into the conversation in order to craft more judicious legislation.

While we appreciate that recent language from your committee is not as extreme as the House version, it would still be a major blow to federal onshore oil and natural gas, which provides just under a tenth of American production, a valuable contribution that sustains rural communities and states across the West. In fact while many of the worst provisions envisioned by the House have been removed with respect to coal, hard rock mining, and the electrical grid, the target remains squarely on federal onshore oil and natural gas development. The timing of these provisions could not be worse, as the United States continues to struggle to return to levels of production achieved just a few years ago and as energy prices remain too high for the American people.