Today, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the final version of the budget reconciliation bill, sending it to the President’s desk to be signed tomorrow morning. While the Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN) commends several meaningful agriculture conservation wins included in the bill, we are gravely concerned about deeply counterproductive rollbacks of fiscally responsible pollution protections and curtailed freedom for communities, churches, and families to choose clean energy.
In response to the bill’s passage, EEN President and CEO Rev. Dr. Jessica Moerman released the following statement:
"As champions for responsible stewardship of God’s creation, we commend the historic $16 billion investment in America’s farmers to fully and faithfully carry out agricultural conservation practices as well as the extension of the 45Z clean fuel credit that has the potential to be the most impactful policy in a generation for conservation and agricultural innovation. We also welcome the preservation of key tax credits for clean, firm technologies–like geothermal and advanced nuclear–that will deliver the low-emission baseload energy of the future.
"We lament, however, the abrupt termination of vital incentives for wind, solar, and residential energy efficiency. The dismantling of the technology-neutral incentives for clean electricity is against conservative commonsense, stifling innovation, threatening grid stability, and standing in opposition to a market-based approach where the government doesn’t pick energy winners or losers but instead rewards performance over special-interest preference.
"We are grateful to Senators Grassley and Ernst, as well as Representatives Miller-Meeks (IA-1), Garbarino (NY-2), Kiggans (VA-2), and others for their courageous leadership to stem the abrupt termination of renewable technologies that are crucial to meeting today’s growing energy demand with lower costs to families and reduced harmful impacts on human life.
"Finally, we lament the bill’s ten-year delay of the methane waste fee and rollback of long-overdue oil and gas royalty rate reforms. These provisions would have generated billions in revenue critical to offsetting growing deficits while simultaneously reducing pollution that costs us our health. At a time of exploding national debt, eliminating these meaningful revenue streams is both an environmental and fiscal failure."
