Golden Joins Republicans in Vote to Ease Enviornmental Regulations to Promote Domestic Energy Production

Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) joined all voting Republicans and just 19 other Democrats on Thursday to vote in favor of a bill aimed at easing environmental restrictions on the development of clean geothermal energy.

[RELATED: U.S. House Passes Bill to Curtail Costly Appliance Efficiency Standards With Support from Golden…]

The House voted on Thursday in favor of the HEATS Act put forward by Rep. Young Kim (R-Calif.) that would ease some restrictions making geothermal development more difficult.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE), geothermal energy provides “firm, flexible, carbon-free electricity generation that can help the United States address the challenges of climate change and provide reliable, resilient, secure, and affordable grid power. ”

While offering clean electricity generation, geothermal can also provide cheap and clean heating as well.

Republicans presented a united front in favor of the bill, while Golden and 19 other Democrats voted against their party majority, resulting in a 231-186 vote in favor of the legislation.

The bill loosens restrictions imposed under the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to increase geothermal energy production.

Developers will no longer need to obtain a federal drilling permit to begin developing geothermal energy on private land, provided that they still submit to a state-level permitting process.

The bill also exempts geothermal developers from federal consulting requirements with respect to endangered species or historical preservation, unless there is no state-level regulation regarding historical property preservation.

Despite Rep. Chellie Pingree’s (D-Maine) frequent demands for green energy and fearmongering about climate change, she and the majority of Democrats opposed the bill that could open up new avenues for clean energy development.