This article was originally published by E&E News.
By Emma Dumain
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A long-standing House GOP energy messaging and education arm could take on a bigger profile in the next Congress.
Rep. Troy Balderson (R-Ohio) has been selected to run the House Energy Action Team, or HEAT, which touts itself as “the leading voice among House Republicans on energy independence.”
Once run by and through the office of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), the operation was last year moved under the umbrella of the conservative Republican Study Committee.
This realignment could actually give HEAT more of a platform now, given its outgoing chair, Rep. August Pfluger (RTexas), will be chair of the RSC starting next year and has made energy issues a centerpiece of his portfolio. Texas Republican Rep. Randy Weber, meanwhile, will serve as HEAT vice chair.
All three lawmakers sit on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the actual policies HEAT will be seeking to promote.
The team is also getting this new leadership against the backdrop of an incoming GOP governing trifecta. Republicans across the board have pledged to double down on an agenda built around “U.S. energy dominance.”
Balderson told POLITICO’s E&E News that one of his priorities for HEAT will be to reinforce message discipline, mindful that a more ad hoc approach to talking about such issues could undermine Republicans in their efforts to appear united in the early days of unified Republican government.
“We don’t want ... members scattered around on different messages,” Balderson explained, noting the incoming Trump administration's promised focus on energy. “We want it focused on what this administration wants, what [House Speaker Mike] Johnson and Scalise want."
He added, “In the House and the Senate, we want to be able to manage those pieces that our other members want to deliver on, and they are going to come up with ideas, and we’re going to make sure we’re messaging on that.”
'Republicans need to talk about that'
One challenge for HEAT, however, could come with how it aligns itself with other House Republicans groups that are working to improve the party’s image when it comes to the environment.
Such groups include the House Conservative Climate Caucus, led by Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), and the Bipartisan House Climate Solutions Caucus, co-chaired by Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.).
There could be a clash coming over the fate of the clean energy tax credits codified in the Democrats’ 2022 climate law, which could be on the chopping block as Republicans look for cost savings for their own tax overhaul bill in the new year.
Miller-Meeks and Garbarino were among the 18 House GOP signers of a letter to Johnson over the summer imploring him not to scrap the credits that are overwhelmingly driving investments in red districts. Balderson did not add his name to the effort.
But Balderson said it would not be difficult for all parties to “coordinate” and be “very complementary” of each other. He also said it was “vitally important” for Republicans to talk about energy issues in the context of climate solutions, noting he recently returned from the COP29 U.N. climate summit in Azerbaijan.
The message from House Republicans there was that the U.S. is lowering emissions and producing energy cleaner than foreign adversaries.
“Republicans need to talk about that more, the changes that have been made here in America — cutting 30 percent of our carbon footprint when all the other countries combined have not met that level,” Balderson said. “We don’t put that message out there very much.”
In recognition of that dynamic, while President-elect Donald Trump and House GOP leaders are making a big play for expanding oil and gas production, Balderson said he wanted HEAT to message on a broader set of issues as well.
“We’re going to talk about permitting reform, talk about energy production, talk about the jobs, the lack of electrification we have right now … and bringing down costs for our consumers,” he said. “Make sure we talk about baseload energy. … Talk about coal, nuclear, natural gas.”
Balderson, first elected in 2018, represents a district with an energy portfolio built around natural gas and coal. It will soon be home to two major facilities — a chip manufacturing facility run by Intel and a Honda battery plant — which informs his priorities.
“There is going to be a large amount of energy use … in central Ohio,” he said, “where are we going to get this energy from and get it out?”
