H.R. 26 (119th): Protecting American Energy Production Act

The bill prohibits the President from declaring a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) unless Congress authorizes it. It also expresses the sense of Congress that states should keep primary authority to regulate fracking for oil and natural gas on state and private lands. The summary describes fracking as injecting water, sand, and chemical additives into a well under pressure to fracture a geologic formation and extract oil or gas.

Theological note: Scripture grants government a legitimate role in stewarding creation and ordering civil affairs, which bears on energy production, land use, and the proper division of authority between executive and legislative branches and between federal and state governments. The issue is relevant to stewardship of creation, to the separation of powers, and to subsidiarity. It raises no direct moral wrong on the face of the summary and turns mainly on prudential judgments about energy policy and environmental risk.

• Tier: no Tier 1 record. A bill with no record cannot newly become Tier 1.
• Lane: economic_prosperity. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
• Lane: energy_policy. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
• Lane: executive_authority. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
• Lane: federalism. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
• Tier 1 sign-off: no record. A bill with no record cannot newly become Tier 1.
• Stored polarity: mixed. Only tags the rules mark scoreable on a mixed bill are scored. A yea can draw a penalty or a credit according to the tag. A nay on a tag scored as good can draw a penalty.
• Roll 34: On Motion to Recommit. Vote type: recommit.
• Roll 35: On Passage. Vote type: final_passage.
• Polarity rationale: Reviewed enrichment (llm_import) polarity: The bill mainly limits unilateral executive action on a lawful industry, which supports constitutional process and the legislative role. It also bears on contested environmental and public-health concerns about fracking, which are prudential rather than clearly moral. Because the summary identifies a real dispute between energy production and environmental caution without any direct moral harm, the bill is best classed as mixed rather than good or evil.
• Theological note: Scripture grants government a legitimate role in stewarding creation and ordering civil affairs, which bears on energy production, land use, and the proper division of authority between executive and legislative branches and between federal and state governments. The issue is relevant to stewardship of creation, to the separation of powers, and to subsidiarity. It raises no direct moral wrong on the face of the summary and turns mainly on prudential judgments about energy policy and environmental risk.

Debt and war Cloture and Tier 1 Procedural votes Scoring mechanics