House Oversight Leader Probes Oil Industry Ties to CEQ Proposal

The leader of a House oversight panel wants the White House to explain the fossil fuel industry’s role in shaping the climate change part of its environmental permitting revision.

In a letter to the Council on Environmental Quality, Rep. Harley Rouda (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform’s environment subcommittee, said on Friday he was “concerned that the fossil fuel industry has had outsized influence” over the agency’s January proposal, which would affect permitting for major infrastructure projects like pipelines and roads.