Subcommittees

National Energy Policy, energy infrastructure and security, energy related Agencies and Commissions, all laws, programs, and government activities affecting energy matters. National Energy Policy focuses on fossil energy; renewable energy; nuclear energy; energy conservation, utility issues, including but not limited to interstate energy compacts; energy generation, marketing, reliability, transmission, siting, exploration, production, efficiency, cybersecurity, and ratemaking for all generated power. Energy infrastructure and security focuses on pipelines, the strategic petroleum reserve, nuclear facilities, and cybersecurity for our nation’s grid. Our jurisdiction also includes all aspects of the above-referenced jurisdiction related to the Department of Homeland Security. Agencies and Commissions in our jurisdiction include: The US Department of Energy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade

4 Updates

Interstate and foreign commerce, including all trade matters within the jurisdiction of the full committee; consumer protection, including privacy matters generally; data security; motor vehicle safety; regulation of commercial practices (the Federal Trade Commission), including sports-related matters; consumer product safety (the Consumer Product Safety Commission); product liability; and regulation of travel, tourism, and time. The Subcommittee’s jurisdiction can be directly traced to Congress’ constitutional authority “to regulate Commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.”

Communications & Technology

9 Updates

Electronic communications, both Interstate and foreign, including voice, video, audio and data, whether transmitted by wire or wirelessly, and whether transmitted by telecommunications, commercial or private mobile service, broadcast, cable, satellite, microwave, or other mode; technology generally; emergency and public safety communications; cybersecurity, privacy, and data security; the Federal Communications Commission, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Office of Emergency Communications in the Department of Homeland Security; and all aspects of the above-referenced jurisdiction related to the Department of Homeland Security.

Environment

13 Updates

All matters related to soil, air, noise and water contamination; emergency environmental response, both physical and cybersecurity. In particular, the subcommittee has jurisdiction over The Nuclear Waste Policy Act, The Clean Air Act, The Safe Drinking Water Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act – including Superfund and the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act, The Solid Waste Disposal Act, The Toxic Substance Control Act and The Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards Program. Under the Clean Air Act, this subcommittee deals with National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for criteria pollutants; National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) Standards; New Source Performance Standards (NSPS); Mobile Source Standards for vehicles, aircraft, fuels and fuel additives, including the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles. The subcommittee focuses on the regulation of solid, hazardous, and nuclear wastes, including mining, nuclear, oil, gas, and coal combustion waste.

Health

10 Updates

The health sector broadly, including private and public health insurance (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP); biomedical research and development; hospital construction; mental health; health information technology, privacy, and cybersecurity; medical malpractice and medical malpractice insurance; the 340B drug discount program; the regulation of food, drugs, and cosmetics; drug abuse; the Department of Health and Human Services; the National Institutes of Health; the Centers for Disease Control; Indian Health Service; and all aspects of the above-referenced jurisdiction related to the Department of Homeland Security.

Oversight & Investigations

3 Updates

Responsible for conducting oversight and investigations of any matter related to the jurisdiction of the full committee.

Subcommittees News & Announcements

Apr 23, 2026

Chairman Guthrie and Congressman Evans Op-Ed: Colorado Shows Why We Need Permitting Reform

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The following op-ed by Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Congressman Gabe Evans (CO-08) appeared in the Washington Examiner this week.

“Recently, members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce traveled to Colorado. What’s happening in Denver and across the Front Range reflects the challenges we are facing nationwide: our communities are struggling to build infrastructure.

“From mining to advanced manufacturing, businesses that want to build in the U.S. need access to safe, affordable, and reliable energy. Right now, burdensome regulations are standing in the way.

“For years, red tape has pushed jobs and investments overseas. Under the Biden-Harris administration, increased regulations cost people nearly $1.8 trillion, more than 70% of which stems from Environmental Protection Agency rules that fail to provide meaningful environmental benefits. Here in Colorado, we heard the same concerns from business leaders that have been shared in congressional hearings over the past year: Overregulation is killing American jobs. While communist China builds at record speed, U.S. companies are left waiting years for permits for critical projects before they can even break ground.

“Permitting reform has been a top priority this Congress, and our recent visit clarified why it matters. During our time in Colorado District 8, we toured the state’s only oil refineries that produce gas, diesel, jet fuel, and other vital energy resources that keep our nation running.

“We also visited the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, a 15,000-acre site transformed from one of the most polluted places in the U.S. into a home to bison, bald eagles, and nearly 1 million visitors each year. The coexistence of these two sites shows that we can protect our precious environment while supporting American refining and manufacturing.

“Over the past 45 years, key air pollutants have dropped by more than 70%, driven by technologies developed and deployed by American companies. While the Clean Air Act has supported this progress, it has not been meaningfully updated in more than 30 years.

“To see this impact, you don’t have to look any further than Colorado’s Front Range, where, for years, communities have struggled to meet federal air quality targets. In addition to pollution carried across the Pacific Ocean from communist China, wildfire smoke from Canada and western states accounts for a significant share of the problem. As a result, Colorado businesses are penalized for pollution they did not create, and manufacturers face onerous permitting requirements that raise costs and drive investment elsewhere.

“The Committee on Energy and Commerce has been working hard to address these challenges. We’ve held hearings, met with stakeholders, and advanced legislation to modernize the Clean Air Act to protect our environment while bringing back jobs that support hard-working families here in Colorado.

“As part of this effort, Congressman Evans introduced the bipartisan Fire Improvement and Reforming Exceptional Events Act to ensure states are not punished for wildfire mitigation activities or air pollution out of their control, such as wildfire smoke and controlled burns. By providing greater certainty in air quality planning, we can encourage domestic manufacturing, create jobs, and reduce dependence on foreign nations.

“From oil and gas, coal, and hardrock minerals, which help power and build our economy, to the mountains, rivers, and plains, which support both jobs and recreation, Colorado is a prime example that you can have both a strong economy and a clean environment. Americans continue to lead the way in the development of new innovations and technologies, but risk falling behind in our ability to manufacture them.

“Our reforms to the CAA are commonsense measures that will allow us to build on the environmental progress we’ve made already, while removing the barriers that push jobs overseas. We cannot afford to delay meaningful permitting reform that will support innovation, lower energy costs, and create good-paying jobs across the country.”

Apr 23, 2026

Energy

Energy Subcommittee Holds Hearing Conducting Oversight of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, Congressman Bob Latta (OH-05), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy, led a hearing titled Nuclear Regulatory Commission: Oversight of Activities, Priorities, and Fiscal Year 2027 Budget.

“We need firm, reliable power, and a lot more of it. Successful deployment of nuclear technologies promises to help meet future energy demand, as well as assist in a range of other applications beneficial to society,” said Chairman Latta. “Expanding nuclear deployment also promises to strengthen our national security, by increasing nuclear commerce with allies and supporting a more cost-effective nuclear industrial base.”

Watch the full hearing here.

Below are key excerpts from yesterday's hearing:

04.22 Balderson.png

Congressman Troy Balderson (OH-12): “Chairman Nieh, I'd like to touch on the Commission's process for reviewing uprate requests to nuclear facilities that increase their generation output. Last year, the House passed my bill, the GRID Power Act, which will help expedite certain generation projects through grid operators' interconnection queues. And recently, FERC has approved requests from grid operators to expedite projects through their queues to increase generation and meet the growing demand. For example, PJM's Reliability Resource Initiative includes five nuclear projects, including for upgrades at nuclear facilities to increase capacity by nearly 500 megawatts. Can you discuss the NRC's review process for uprate requests at existing nuclear facilities, and what's your timeframe for finishing these reviews?”

Chairman Nieh: “Thank you, Congressman, for the question. The NRC has had a power uprate program for decades. And in fact, over the years that we've been doing power uprates, we have approved nearly 9,000 megawatts electric of upgraded capacity. That's equivalent to about nine large nuclear power plants. And we look at power uprates in three different categories. We have small uprates that we call measurement uncertainty recapture — a couple percent. Then we have stretch power uprates, which are on the order of 7 to 10% of additional power. And then extended power uprates, which are either up to 20% or perhaps slightly more. So we have a lot of experience doing this. We're using efficiencies and informed approaches, and we are aligning our organization to be able to process these license applications in very reasonable periods of time. We actually have specific mandates for timeliness for our licensing activities that were driven in part by the ADVANCE Act as well as the executive order. And we intend to deliver very timely decisions for uprate activities that we're anticipating.”

04.22 Fry.png

Congressman Russell Fry (SC-07): “South Carolina knows the value of nuclear energy. In our state, nuclear power is not theoretical. It is very much a tremendous part of the fabric of who we are — it supports our economy, our grid reliability, and certainly our energy future. South Carolina has been a leader for decades in this space, and I think we'll continue to be. In the district I represent, the Robinson Nuclear Plant in Darlington County is a clear example of that value. It supports hundreds of jobs, keeps the lights on across the region, and serves as a major economic anchor in the surrounding community.”

04.22 Lee.png

Congressman Laurel Lee (FL-11): “We are at a pivotal moment for American energy policy as energy demand continues to grow. Congress and the Administration have both taken steps to accelerate the deployment of nuclear technologies through the ADVANCE Act and also recent executive orders. But with that momentum comes a central challenge: ensuring that efforts to increase efficiency and speed do not come at the expense of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's core mission of safety, independence, and public trust. As deployment expands, the NRC's ability to effectively coordinate with partners like the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense, while still maintaining its independent regulatory authority, will be critical.”

Apr 23, 2026

Environment

Environment Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Critical Material Supply Chains

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, Congressman Gary Palmer (AL-06), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Environment, led a hearing titled Help or Hindrance? The Impact of U.S. Environmental Laws on Critical Material Supply Chains, National Security, and Economic Growth.

“Our country has a rich bounty of natural resources and, for most of the 20th Century, the United States was the leader in producing and refining critical minerals,” said Chairman Palmer. “However, in the past several decades, China has aggressively sought to dominate the global market for critical minerals – with dire consequences for our national security."

Watch the full hearing here.

Below are key excerpts from yesterday’s hearing:

04.23 Joyce.jpg

Congressman John Joyce, M.D. (PA-13): “Securing domestic critical material supply chains has been a key focus for both the Trump Administration and this committee. This is not an abstract concern. China currently controls the global critical minerals market and has already shown a willingness to place export controls on materials that are needed in national defense and in manufacturing sectors. Not only are we not significantly mining or processing these minerals domestically, but our current regulatory schemes are also making it harder to recycle the materials that we have already imported and could potentially reuse. Instead of crafting regulations to keep these materials in circulation domestically, the current framework often pushes the recovery of these materials right out of the country, only to be sold back to the United States again. Failing to update our regulations to address this issue has both economic and national security ramifications. We need to work toward a regulatory scheme that acknowledges the reality of how important certain materials and chemistries are to U.S. interests.”

04.23 MMM.jpg

Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA-01): “The United States certainly finds itself in a perilous position when it comes to critical minerals supply chains, which have nothing to do with this Administration. China has pursued a long-term strategy for dominance across the entire supply chain, from mining to processing to manufacturing. While we were slow in the United States to respond, that began to change during the Trump Administration, which directed the federal government to develop a strategy for securing reliable mineral supplies. Congress built on that foundation through the Energy Act of 2020, and today the federal critical minerals list stands at 50 commodities, with more than ten added just this past year. We have made promising progress identifying the problem. Now we need solutions.

“One area where I've focused my efforts is building a stronger secondary market. My bill, the Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act, establishes an EPA pilot program to expand collection and recycling capabilities, including in rural communities. And in one of my first terms in Congress, I was able to navigate a bill through that required the DOD — or now Department of War — to send its hard drives, scrubbed and cleaned, to the Ames National Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, to have the critical minerals, elements, and magnets removed in a safe process, and that is now ongoing. So the goal is simple: collect more, recycle more, and feed those materials back into domestic refining and processing rather than sending them overseas.”

04.23 Carter.jpg

Congressman Buddy Carter (GA-01): “China is dominating rare earth minerals — rare earth elements like graphite, lithium, cobalt, and copper. We all know that, and we all understand how important it is for us to be competitive there. However, to develop the domestic capacity to process and refine critical minerals, we need a more efficient permitting process. And that is why I have introduced H.R. 3059, the Streamlining Critical Mineral Permitting Act. It actually passed the House as part of the Lower Energy Costs Act last Congress, and is still pending again this Congress. It will allow processors and refiners of critical energy resources to operate under an interim permit under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.”

Subcommittees

Trending

Full Committee

Energy

Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade

Communications & Technology

Environment

Health

Oversight & Investigations

Subcommittees News & Announcements

Chairman Guthrie and Congressman Evans Op-Ed: Colorado Shows Why We Need Permitting Reform

Energy Subcommittee Holds Hearing Conducting Oversight of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Environment Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Critical Material Supply Chains