What to watch during "energy week"

• If Democrats want transmission deployment provisions in a larger permitting bill, Republicans will seek Clean Water Act reforms and provisions that make it easier to put pipelines in the ground.

Driving the news: The House plans to vote on as many as six energy-related bills this week.

• The most substantive is a suite of bills from the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to tweak several sections of the Clean Water Act.
• Also on the agenda is Rep. Gary Palmer's legislation to repeal the IRA's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund — a program ripe for targeted repeal efforts by Republicans if they take Congress in 2025.
• Other measures would denounce carbon taxes and President Biden's energy policy, block a national fracking ban and halt Interior's overhaul of oil and gas leasing.

Zoom in: The T&I water bill, approved out of committee in January, rolls together five pieces of GOP legislation.

• It would limit EPA's authority to veto section 404 permits (long a pipeline permitting sticking point) and put time restrictions on groups seeking to challenge them in court.
• The bill would also change National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits and shield companies from liability if they're following the terms of those permits.
• Senate Republicans have notably suggested other changes to the law in their own permitting proposals.

Between the lines: The anti-carbon tax vote could also show how climate politics have changed post-IRA.

• When the House voted on this in 2018, six Republicans voted no, and seven Dems voted in favor (notably Henry Cuellar and Kyrsten Sinema).
• We expect a bit of interesting crossover this time, too, but these days, carbon taxes are as dead in the GOP as they've ever been.

• Just one of the Republican "no" votes from 2018 — Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick — is still in Congress.

Our thought bubble: This week won't exactly be a huge first step on permitting or IRA repeal, which raises questions about whether Congress will be able to do either of those things.

• The floor votes will signal what Republicans might do with control of Congress in 2024, but don't expect them to lead to real legislating.
• Notably left out of energy week: Cathy McMorris Rodgers' hydropower permitting bill, which advanced in committee last year but has yet to see a floor vote.
• That bill's a marker in bipartisan hydro talks on the Hill and is one of a few bills that jibe with CMR's "sector by sector" approach to permitting.

What's next: We'll see whether any of these votes get delayed by GOP squabbling — or by votes on the next minibus, with the spending deadline set for Friday.