U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., the committee’s ranking member, today issued a joint statement on the current status of the energy bill conference report. 

“Last Friday evening, we received a counteroffer on the energy bill conference report from our House colleagues. After reviewing it, we responded today with a new offer that restores a host of provisions that the House was prepared to drop—including those related to LNG exports, sportsmen’s, the Land & Water Conservation Fund, hydropower, natural gas pipelines, manufacturing, innovation, carbon benefits of biomass, and critical minerals. We also remain hopeful that an agreement can be reached on provisions to address California’s drought crisis, to remedy wildfire funding challenges, and to improve forest management. 

“While neither of us supports every provision in this proposal, it is the result of good faith bipartisan negotiations, it encompasses the broad range of work that can be completed this year, and it balances competing preferences for energy and resource policy that will remain just as strong in the next Congress. We encourage our House colleagues to seize this opportunity to complete a good bill that we can send to the president’s desk before Congress adjourns.”