At the end of 2022, NPR News pondered how the Federal government's response to the climate emergency will be affected as Republicans get a louder voice on climate change as they take over the House of Representatives.
"The plans include boosting domestic oil and gas drilling, building more climate-friendly energy sources like nuclear and hydropower, changing environmental permitting to make construction easier, securing supply chains so other countries — notably China — can't dominate them and planting trees to pull more carbon from the atmosphere." ~ NPR
You might not know this, but according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) (the statistical and analytical agency within the U.S. Department of Energ) U.S. oil production has been on the rise for more than a decade and most imported oil comes from Canada. Also, the U.S. was a net exporter of petroleum products in 2020 and 2021.
The Preamble on Kevin McCarthy's website stresses America's exceptionalism - the economy (energy independence, inflation, and reduced prices), public safety (crime in cities, border control of immigrants and military might), freedom (from government regulation), and accountability (spending for the recently passed IRA).
Now that McCarthy has been elected Speaker of the House by making concessions to the far right, we can expect that Republicans in the House will attempt to expand new energy projects in America (oil and gas drilling leases, pipeline construction, and fewer environmental regulations); Although these Republican legislative efforts may be blocked by a Democratic-controlled Senate, Republican leverage will come when it is necessary to raise the debt ceilings, perhaps even with a willingness to shut down the government.