Hanabusa, Hirono Vote Against GOP Energy Plan

Hawaii’s reps were on the losing end of a 248-163 vote in the U.S. House Thursday (June 21). The bill now heads to the Senate.

The vote was largely along party lines, with Colleen Hanabusa and Mazie Hirono voting with most Democrats.

According to Hanabusa’s office, the Domestic Energy and Jobs Act promotes “bad policy,” “undermines the Clean Air Act,” “imposes a $5,000 ‘protest fee’ on parties seeking to protest drilling permits” and “requires the Interior Department to grant leases on 25% of the acreage requested by the oil industry each year, while streamlining the department’s process for issuing drilling permits.”

Quote from Hanabusa:

Instead of providing for the growth of safe and responsible energy production in the U.S., this measure continues to protect Big Oil. Rather than protect the health and safety of Americans, it undermines the Clean Air Act and blocks progress in reducing air pollution. It endangers our natural environment by imposing arbitrary deadlines for reviewing permits to drill offshore. I simply cannot support a bill that is so diametrically opposed to the path we should be taking to build a stronger, healthier, more economically prosperous nation.

—Chad Blair