Tillis calls for pause on federal energy-related financial regulations

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and his U.S. Senate Banking Committee Republican colleagues requested that the Biden administration pause all federal efforts focused on climate- and energy-related financial regulations.

Specifically, the senators are concerned about the potential damaging effects to national security that could occur by federal financial agencies developing regulations that they say could limit U.S. energy producers’ access to credit and capital, according to a March 7 letter they sent to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

“Such actions would begin to curtail the supply of domestic energy, leading to higher costs for American households and making our country and allies more vulnerable to the consequences of Russian aggression,” wrote Sen. Tillis and his colleagues. “The economic toll, as well as the destruction, casualties and instability from Russia’s energy-based warfare are so significant that we urge you to immediately pause the development of all climate- and energy-related regulations within the Treasury Department and to urge all other federal financial regulators to follow suit.”

The nation’s energy security could be put at risk by “so-called independent financial regulators” having little or no expertise in energy or environmental regulation, according to the senators’ letter, which pointed out that senior officials from several federal financial regulators have indicated they’re working to implement rules and policies that may discourage future energy production.

“The mere prospects of such actions have already contributed to a withdrawal from new oil and gas exploration projects in the United States,” Sen. Tillis and his colleagues wrote. “Denying credit from banks and raising the cost of capital for investment is likely to suppress domestic exploration and production of traditional energy sources.”

And when combined with other administration actions, they said, such policies could create energy price shocks and increase America’s dependence on foreign sources. Sen. Tillis and the lawmakers wrote that “such actions are beyond the scope of agencies’ statutory authorizations and an end-run around the democratic principles of political accountability.”

They called on Yellen and President Joe Biden to instruct the federal financial regulatory agencies, including the Financial Stability Oversight Council, to delay any regulatory initiatives on climate change and sustainability until a detailed, comprehensive plan by the administration is developed on energy security that takes into account the threat to global energy supplies from Russia and similar repressive regimes.