The United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is a standing committee of the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

. It has jurisdiction over matters related to energy and mineral resources, including nuclear development; irrigation and reclamation, territorial possessions of the United States, trust lands appertaining to America's indigenous peoples, and the conservation, use, and disposition of federal lands. Its roots go back to the Committee on Interior and Insulars Affairs. In 1977, it became the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and most matters regarding Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians were removed from its jurisdiction and transferred to the

Committee on Indian Affairs The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs is a committee of the United States Senate charged with oversight in matters related to the American Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native peoples. A Committee on Indian Affairs existed from 1820 to 1 ...

History

The Committee on Public Lands was created in 1816 during the 14th Congress chaired by senator

Jeremiah Morrow Jeremiah Morrow (October 6, 1771March 22, 1852) was a Democratic-Republican Party politician from Ohio. He served as the ninth governor of Ohio, and was the last Democratic-Republican to hold that office. He also served as a United States Senat ...

. In its early years, it managed the settlement of the recently purchased Missouri Territory. Over time, the committee oversaw the western expansion of the United States, including the

Texas annexation The Texas annexation was the 1845 annexation of the Republic of Texas into the United States. Texas was admitted to the Union as the 28th state on December 29, 1845. The Republic of Texas declared independence from the Republic of Mexico on ...

, the

Oregon Treaty The Oregon Treaty is a treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States that was signed on June 15, 1846, in Washington, D.C. The treaty brought an end to the Oregon boundary dispute by settling competing American and British claims to t ...

, the

Mexican Cession The Mexican Cession ( es, Cesión mexicana) is the region in the modern-day southwestern United States that Mexico originally controlled, then ceded to the United States in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 after the Mexican–American War ...

, and the

Gadsden Purchase The Gadsden Purchase ( es, region=MX, la Venta de La Mesilla "The Sale of La Mesilla") is a region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that the United States acquired from Mexico by the Treaty of Mesilla, which took effe ...

. The Homestead Act of 1860, which would have benefited western settlers and migrants, was a result of jurisdiction of the Public Lands Committee. In 1849, the

Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the mana ...

was established, with the Public Lands Committee serving as legislative oversight. The committee became responsible for enacting legislation to conserve nature and its resources. Due to the actions of the committee, Congress began working towards preservation of forests, wilderness, and historical landmarks with the signing of the

Antiquities Act The Antiquities Act of 1906 (, , ), is an act that was passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt on June 8, 1906. This law gives the President of the United States the authority to, by presidential procla ...

in 1906 and the establishment of the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

in 1916. The committee has gone under a number of name changes, but the functions and policy have remained similar to its creation. In 1921, the committee merged with the Committee on Geological Surveys to become the Committee of Public Lands and Surveys. Following the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, it became the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, absorbing the jurisdiction of the Indian Affairs, Territorial and Insular Affairs, Mines and Mining, and Irrigation and Reclamation committees. Its most recent iteration, the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, was established on February 4, 1977, after the Committee System Reorganization Amendments of 1977.

Legislation

Current Year

See also: Senator Roger Marshall introduced a bill on March 1, 2022, banning US imports of Russian oil, supported by the GOP minority leader of the

Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources The United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is a standing committee of the United States Senate. It has jurisdiction over matters related to energy and mineral resources, including nuclear development; irrigation and recla ...

and seven other Republicans. The first move by a Western nation to impose a flat blockade on Russian petroleum, its top moneymaker, came a day prior from Canada. Prime Minister

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...

said that it "sends a powerful message."

Notable Past Legislation

Jurisdiction

In accordance of Rule XXV of the United States Senate, all proposed legislation, messages, petitions, memorials, and other matters relating to the following subjects is referred to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: # Coal production, distribution, and utilization; #

Energy policy Energy policy is the manner in which a given entity (often governmental) has decided to address issues of energy development including energy conversion, distribution and use as well as reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in order to contri ...

; #

Energy regulation Energy laws govern the use and taxation of energy, both renewable and non-renewable. These laws are the primary authorities (such as caselaw, statutes, rules, regulations and edicts) related to energy. In contrast, energy policy refers to th ...

and

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and manageme ...

; # Energy related aspects of deepwater ports; # Energy research and development; # Extraction of minerals from

oceans The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the worl ...

and Outer Continental Shelf lands; # Hydroelectric power,

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow Crop, crops, Landscape plant, landscape plants, and Lawn, lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,00 ...

, and

reclamation Reclaim, reclaimed, reclaimer, reclaiming or reclamation means "to get something back". It may refer to: * Land reclamation, creating new land from oceans, riverbeds, or lake beds * Dedesertification, reversing of the land degradation in arid ...

; # Mining education and research; #

Mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

, mineral lands, mining claims, and mineral conservation; #

National parks A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

, recreation areas,

wilderness areas Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

, wild and scenic rivers, historical sites, military parks and battlefields, and on the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

, preservation of prehistoric ruins and objects of interest; # Naval petroleum reserves in Alaska; # Nonmilitary development of

nuclear energy Nuclear energy may refer to: *Nuclear power, the use of sustained nuclear fission or nuclear fusion to generate heat and electricity * Nuclear binding energy, the energy needed to fuse or split a nucleus of an atom *Nuclear potential energy ...

; # Oil and gas production and distribution; # Public lands and forests, including

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

and

grazing In agriculture, grazing is a method of animal husbandry whereby domestic livestock are allowed outdoors to roam around and consume wild vegetations in order to convert the otherwise indigestible (by human gut) cellulose within grass and other ...

thereon, and mineral extraction therefrom; #

Solar energy Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar power to generate electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating), and solar architecture. It is an essenti ...

systems; and, # Territorial possessions of the United States, including trusteeships. The Committee is also charged to "study and review, on a comprehensive basis, matters relating to

energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat a ...

and resources development, and report thereon from time to time."

Members, 117th Congress

Subcommittees

The Energy Committee has four subcommittees:

Chairpersons

Committee on Public Lands, 1816–1921

(R-OH) 1816–1819 * Thomas Williams (R-MS) 1819–1820 * Jesse Thomas (R-IL) 1820–1823 * David Barton (NR-MO) 1823–1831 *

William R. King William Rufus DeVane King (April 7, 1786 – April 18, 1853) was an American politician and diplomat. He was the 13th vice president of the United States from March 4 until his death in April 1853. Earlier he had served as a U.S. represent ...

(D-AL) 1831–1832 * Elias Kane (D-IL) 1832–1833 *

George Poindexter George Poindexter (April 19, 1779 − September 5, 1853) was an American politician, lawyer and judge from Mississippi. Born in Virginia, he moved to the Mississippi Territory in 1802. He served as United States Representative from the newly adm ...

(W-MS) 1833–1835 * Thomas Ewing (W-OH) 1835–1836 * Robert Walker (D-MS) 1836–1841 *

Oliver Hampton Smith Oliver Hampton Smith (October 23, 1794March 19, 1859) was a United States representative and Senator from Indiana. Born on Smith's Island, near Trenton, New Jersey, (is also believed to have been born at the Smith Family Farmstead in Upper Makef ...

(W-IN) 1841–1843 *

William Woodbridge William Woodbridge (August 20, 1780October 20, 1861) was a U.S. statesman in the states of Ohio and Michigan and in the Michigan Territory prior to statehood. He served as the second Governor of Michigan and a United States Senator from Michi ...

(W-MI) 1843–1845 * Sidney Breese (D-IL) 1845–1849 * Alpheus Felch (D-MI) 1849–1853 * Solon Borland (D-AR) 1853 *

Augustus Dodge Augustus Caesar Dodge (January 2, 1812November 20, 1883) was a Democratic delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa Territory, a U.S. minister to Spain, and one of the first set of United States Senators to represent Iowa after it ...

(D-IA) 1853–1855 *

Charles E. Stuart Charles Edward Stuart (November 25, 1810May 19, 1887) was a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from the state of Michigan. Biography Stuart was born in New York, either near Waterloo, New York, or in Columbia County. He studied law, was admi ...

(D-MI) 1855–1859 * Robert W. Johnson (D-AR) 1859–1861 * James Harlan (R-IA) 1861–1865 *

Samuel Pomeroy Samuel Clarke Pomeroy (January 3, 1816 – August 27, 1891) was a United States senator from Kansas in the mid-19th century. He served in the United States Senate during the American Civil War. Pomeroy also served in the Massachusetts House of ...

(R-KS) 1865–1873 * William Sprague (R-RI) 1873–1875 *

Richard Oglesby Richard James Oglesby (July 25, 1824April 24, 1899) was an American soldier and Republican Party (United States), Republican politician from Illinois, The town of Oglesby, Illinois, is named in his honor, as is an elementary school situated ...

(R-IL) 1875–1879 *

Joseph E. McDonald Joseph Ewing McDonald (August 29, 1819 – June 21, 1891) was an United States of America, American politician who served as a United States representative and United States Senate, Senator from Indiana. He also served as Indiana's 2nd India ...

(D-IN) 1879–1881 *

Preston Plumb Preston Bierce Plumb (October 12, 1837December 20, 1891) was a United States senator from Kansas, as well as an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Biography Born in Delaware County, Ohio, at 9 his family removed to Marysv ...

(R-KS) 1881–1891 *

Joseph N. Dolph Joseph Norton Dolph (October 19, 1835March 10, 1897) was an American politician and attorney in the state of Oregon. A native of the state of New York (state), New York, he immigrated to Oregon over the Oregon Trail and settled in Portland, Oreg ...

(R-OR) 1891–1893 *

James H. Berry James Henderson Berry (May 15, 1841 – January 30, 1913) was a United States Senator and served as the 14th governor of Arkansas. Early life James Henderson Berry was born in Jackson County, Alabama, to Isabella Jane (née Orr) and James McF ...

(D-AR) 1893–1895 *

Fred T. Dubois Fred Thomas Dubois (May 29, 1851February 14, 1930) was a controversial American politician from Idaho who served two terms in the United States Senate. He was best known for his opposition to the gold standard and his efforts to Disfranchisement ...

(R-ID) 1895–1897 *

Henry C. Hansbrough Henry Clay Hansbrough (January 30, 1848November 16, 1933) was a United States politician who served as the first United States Representative from North Dakota, as well as a Senator from North Dakota. Biography Henry Clay Hansbrough was born ...

(R-ND) 1897–1908 * Knute Nelson (R-MN) 1908–1912 *

Reed Smoot Reed Smoot (January 10, 1862February 9, 1941) was an American politician, businessman, and apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). First elected by the Utah State Legislature to the U.S. Senate in 1902, he served ...

(R-UT) 1912–1913 *

George E. Chamberlain George Earle Chamberlain Sr. (January 1, 1854 – July 9, 1928) was an American attorney, politician, and public official in Oregon. A native of Mississippi and member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Chamberlain's poli ...

(D-OR) 1913–1915 *

Henry L. Myers Henry Lee Myers (October 9, 1862 – November 11, 1943) was a United States senator from Montana. Biography Born near Boonville, Missouri, he attended Cooper Institute and Boonville Academy, both private schools. He studied law and was admitt ...

(D-MT) 1915–1919 *

(R-UT) 1919–1921

Committee on Public Lands and Surveys, 1921–1947

(R-UT) 1921–1923 *

Irvine L. Lenroot Irvine Luther Lenroot (January 31, 1869 – January 26, 1949) was a United States representative and United States senator from Wisconsin and an associate judge of the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals. Education and career Bo ...

(R-WI) 1923–1924 * Edwin F. Ladd (R-ND) 1924 * Robert Nelson Stanfield (R-OR) 1924–1927 *

Gerald P. Nye Gerald Prentice Nye (December 19, 1892 – July 17, 1971) was an American politician who represented North Dakota in the United States Senate from 1925 to 1945. He was a Republican and supporter of World War II-era isolationism, chairing the Nye ...

(R-ND) 1927–1933 *

John B. Kendrick John Benjamin Kendrick (September 6, 1857 – November 3, 1933) was an American politician and cattleman who served as a United States senator from Wyoming and as the List of governors of Wyoming, ninth Governor of Wyoming as a member of the De ...

(D-WY) 1933 *

Robert F. Wagner Robert Ferdinand Wagner I (June 8, 1877May 4, 1953) was an American politician. He was a Democratic U.S. Senator from New York from 1927 to 1949. Born in Prussia, Wagner migrated with his family to the United States in 1885. After graduating ...

(D-NY) 1933–1937 *

Alva B. Adams Alva Blanchard Adams (October 29, 1875 – December 1, 1941) was a Democratic politician who represented Colorado in the United States Senate from 1923 until 1924 and again from 1933 to 1941. Biography Adams was born in Del Norte, Colorado an ...

(D-CO) 1937–1941 *

Carl A. Hatch Carl Atwood Hatch (November 27, 1889 – September 15, 1963) was a United States senator from New Mexico and later was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico. Education and career Hatch w ...

(D-NM) 1941–1947

Committee on Public Lands, 1947–1948

* Hugh Butler (R-NE) 1947–1948

Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, 1948–1977

* Hugh Butler (R-NE) 1948–1949 *

Joseph C. O'Mahoney Joseph Christopher O'Mahoney (November 5, 1884December 1, 1962) was an American journalist, lawyer, and politician. A Democrat, he served four complete terms as a U.S. Senator from Wyoming on two occasions, first from 1934-1953 and then again fro ...

(D-WY) 1949–1953 * Hugh Butler (R-NE) 1953–1954 *

Guy Cordon Guy F. Cordon (April 24, 1890June 8, 1969) was an American author, politician and lawyer from the state of Oregon. A native of Texas, he served in the Army during World War I and later was the district attorney of Douglas County in Southern Orego ...

(R-OR) 1954–1955 *

James E. Murray James Edward Murray (May 3, 1876March 23, 1961) was an American politician and United States Senator from Montana, and a liberal leader of the Democratic Party. He served in the United States Senate from 1934 until 1961. Background Born on a f ...

(D-MT) 1955–1961 * Clinton P. Anderson (D-NM) 1961–1963 * Scoop Jackson (D-WA) 1963–1977

Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, 1977–present

* Scoop Jackson (D-WA) 1977–1981 * James McClure (R-ID) 1981–1987 *

Bennett Johnston John Bennett Johnston Jr. (born June 10, 1932) is a retired American attorney, politician, and later lobbyist. A member of the Democratic Party, Johnston represented Louisiana in the U.S. Senate from 1972 to 1997. Beginning his political career ...

(D-LA) 1987–1995 *

Frank Murkowski Frank Hughes Murkowski (born March 28, 1933) is an American politician and a member of the Republican Party. He was a United States Senator from Alaska from 1981 until 2002 and the eighth governor of Alaska from 2002 until 2006. In his 2006 re ...

(R-AK) 1995–2001 *

Jeff Bingaman Jesse Francis "Jeff" Bingaman Jr. (born October 3, 1943) is an American politician who served as a United States Senator from New Mexico from 1983 to 2013, for 5 terms. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as Chairman of Committee Outreac ...

(D-NM) 2001 *

(R-AK) 2001 *

(D-NM) 2001–2003 * Pete Domenici (R-NM) 2003–2007 *

(D-NM) 2007–2013 *

Ron Wyden Ronald Lee Wyden (; born May 3, 1949) is an American politician and retired educator serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Oregon, a seat he has held since 1996 United Stat ...

(D-OR) 2013–2014 * Mary Landrieu (D-LA) 2014–2015 *

Lisa Murkowski Lisa Ann Murkowski ( ; born May 22, 1957) is an American attorney and politician serving as the senior United States senator for Alaska, having held that seat since 2002. Murkowski is the second-most senior Republican woman in the Senate, after S ...

(R-AK) 2015–2021 * Joe Manchin (D-WV) 2021–present

Historical committee rosters

116th Congress

;Subcommittees

115th Congress

;Subcommittees Source

References

External links

Official Committee WebsiteArchive

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
– Legislation activity and reports,

Congress.gov Congress.gov is the online database of United States Congress legislative information. Congress.gov is a joint project of the Library of Congress, the House, the Senate and the Government Publishing Office. Congress.gov was in beta in 2012, and b ...

{{United States congressional committees

Energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat a ...

Energy in the United States Environment of the United States 1816 establishments in Washington, D.C. Organizations established in 1816