This week, the House will begin consideration of the Jobs and Energy Permitting Act (H.R. 2021), American Energy Initiative legislation introduced by Rep. Cory Gardner (R-CO) that will end Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) permitting delays to boost offshore energy production, help lower gas prices and create jobs. The Jobs and Energy Permitting Act will not only create an estimated 54,000 jobs, but will also ensure that the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System remains operable, protecting energy supplies for millions of American families and small businesses struggling with high gas prices.

Here’s a look at several other actions the new House majority has taken under the American Energy Initiative to address high gas prices and help the economy create jobs:

HOUSE-PASSED AMERICAN ENERGY INITIATIVE & JOBS BILLS

• Last month, the House passed three American Energy Initiative bills (H.R. 1229, H.R. 1230, H.R. 1231) to roll back the Obama Administration’s job-crushing de facto moratorium on offshore American energy production, helping to create an estimated 1.2 million jobs long term, according to Louisiana State University Economist Dr. Joseph Mason.

• In April, the House passed the Energy Tax Prevention Act (H.R. 910) to prevent the EPA from imposing a backdoor national energy tax that will drive up gasoline prices and destroy American jobs. According to one economic expert’s estimate, the EPA’s flawed, burdensome regulatory regime could put as many as 1.4 million American jobs at risk. 

COMMITTEE-PASSED AMERICAN ENERGY INITIATIVE & JOBS BILLS

• Last week, the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Energy & Power passed the North-American Made Energy Security Act (H.R. 1938), legislation that will require the Obama Administration to make a determination by November on whether or not it will allow the Keystone XL pipeline expansion to move forward. According to the committee, “the pipeline expansion project is estimated to directly create 20,000 jobs for its construction and many thousands more related to the effort.”

• Also last month, the Subcommittee on Energy & Power passed the Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation (TRAIN) Act (H.R. 1705), which would require a cumulative impact study on more than 14 actions being proposed by the EPA that would have a major impact on jobs and the economy.

HEARINGS ON AMERICAN ENERGY INITIATIVE & JOBS BILLS

• Last week, the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy & Minerals held a hearing on the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska Access Act (H.R. 2150), legislation that would  unlock American energy resources in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). At the hearing, Tim Sharp, Business Manager of the Alaska District Council of Laborers, voiced his support for the legislation for “two main issues … jobs, and affordable fuel and energy.”

• This week, the House Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on four additional American Energy Initiative bills (H.R. 2170, H.R. 2171, H.R. 2172 and H.R. 2173) that will eliminate excessive barriers to renewable energy production, helping to protect the environment and create jobs.

• To date, the Subcommittee on Energy & Power has held 10 American Energy Initiative hearings focused primarily on boosting American energy to help create jobs, and will continue that effort in the coming weeks. 

The new House majority has been focused on jobs since day one, and will continue working to address high gas prices and create new American jobs through the American Energy Initiative and the Plan for America’s Job Creators. With the Plan for America’s Job Creators, Republicans made clear that eliminating barriers to domestic energy production is critical for creating jobs and getting the economy back on track. Learn more about the plan here: Jobs.GOP.Gov and learn more and “like” the American Energy Initiative here: http://facebook.com/americanenergy.