This week, the Biden administration’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), along with the Department of Defense, National Aeronautics Administration, General Services Administration and Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, rescinded their proposed rulemaking that would have required federal contractors to register their greenhouse gas emissions with a foreign-based nonprofit. House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) released the following statement in response: 

"It’s deeply concerning that the Biden administration allowed such an problematic rule to advance this far in the approval process. Members of the Natural Resources Committee raised alarms, exercising our oversight powers and refusing to allow dangerous rule to move forward at the expense of American economic and national security. The rule was misguided from its inception. I look forward to the return of common sense in the White House that will occur on Inauguration Day."

Background

President Biden has transformed CEQ's role from overseeing NEPA compliance to the entity charged with implementing his eco-agenda, remaking federal agencies as vehicles of social change and leading the war on domestic energy production. The proposed rulemaking, Federal Acquisition Regulation: Disclosure of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate-Related Financial Risk, would have required federal contractors to register their greenhouse gas emissions with a nonprofit based in the United Kingdom. The registration and verification processes were costly, sometimes upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars, something many small businesses could not afford. The nonprofit selected by CEQ and others for greenhouse emissions registration has been subject to numerous complaints and did not appear to go through a competitive bidding process. Moreover, the fact that the nonprofit was not based in the United States posed numerous security and accountability concerns that went unanswered by Biden administration officials.

The House Committee on Natural Resources previously raised concerns over the proposed rule and the unmitigated disaster it would have been for those doing business with the federal government, particularly in the national security space. Members of the Natural Resources Committee, led by Chairman Westerman, called for its immediate withdrawal.