Today, the U.S. House’s MAGA Republican leadership appointed a Big Oil-backed majority to the Natural Resources Committee who embrace a fringe anti-public lands agenda and received a combined $3.8 million from the oil and gas industry alongside their extremist western colleagues. In response, Accountable.US released the following statement and report exposing the new committee members’ ties to Big Oil, extractive industries, and far-right extremists.
“Big Oil’s investment is already paying off; McCarthy and his MAGA allies wasted no time delivering results for their wealthy industry donors, placing nine of the most extreme anti-conservation members on the House Natural Resources Committee,” said Jordan Schreiber, Director of Energy and Environment at Accountable.US. “Instead of holding Big Oil executives accountable for price gouging consumers at the pump, the committee will be dominated by the interests of extractive industries, enabling them to push bills that stymie cost controls and clear the way for multi-billion dollar corporations to exploit the American people’s land for private gain.”
Report Highlights
The new MAGA-controlled House Natural Resources Committee aligns much closer with violent anti-public land extremists like the Bundys than they do with most Americans. Of the Republicans on the committee, five outright oppose federal public lands, most have demonstrated support for election denial, and all have supported policies to expand industry-friendly federal leasing to Big Oil and other extractive sectors. While nearly all of the members have received donations from oil and gas companies, several have personal financial conflicts of interest in the form of either spousal employment or stock holdings.
