New House committee report cites several DeGette bills as important to solving climate crisis

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) isprecisely what the country needs to help solve the climate crisis, according to a new report by the U.S. House Select Committee on Climate Crisis.

The committee, which was established in 2019 to identify specific steps Congress could take to address the climate crisis, today released its much-anticipated report identifying several key pieces of legislation that – if signed into law – would have a significant impact on the nation's overall effort to solve the climate crisis.

Among the bills the committee cited as important to help solve the ongoing crisis are four bills introduced by DeGette, including:

• The FRAC Act, which DeGette first introduced in 2009 to regulate fracking and require the companies engaged in fracking to publicly disclose the chemicals they are pumping into the ground. The bill would also give the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the authority to further regulate the process going forward.
• The Protecting American Wilderness Act, which DeGette successfully championed through the House this year, to permanently protect 1.37 million acres of public land across three states, including more than 630,000 acres of wilderness in DeGette's home state of Colorado.
• The Methane Waste Prevention Act, which DeGette introduced in 2019, to reinstate the Bureau of Land Management's methane waste rule. The bill would require oil and gas producers to capture 85% of all gas produced on public lands within three years of enactment and 99% of all gas produced on public lands within five years of enactment. Additionally, the legislation would ban the venting of any natural gas on public lands and prohibit methane flaring at any new wells drilled beginning not later than two years after the passage of the bill.
• The Every Kids Outdoors Act, which DeGette introduced in January 2019 andPresident Trump signed into law the following month, to permanently allow U.S. fourth-grade students, and their families, to visit any federally-managed parks, lands or waters for free.

DeGette, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Oversight and Investigations panel – which oversees the EPA – is also a member of the House Natural Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over the agencies that manage our nation's public lands.

"I'm honored that the Select Committee on Climate Crisis sees how each of these bills that I have been working on for many years plays an integral part in our overall mission to solve the climate crisis," DeGette said. "If we are going to be serious about solving thiscrisis, we must take steps now to lower our emissions, increase our use of renewable energies and protect more of our public lands. I'm hopeful now, with the committee's support, that we are able to get these important pieces of legislation signed into law as soon as possible."

A copy of the Select Committee's report is available here.