Federal buildings no longer required to cut fossil fuel use
H.R. 4690 — Reliable Federal Infrastructure Act · Filed by Nicholas Langworthy (R-NY) · 7 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 23, 2025 · Passed chamber
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What it does
This bill repeals federal energy efficiency standards that previously required federal buildings to minimize fossil fuel consumption and allows buildings to earn green certifications even if they use fossil fuels directly or indirectly. It strikes two subclauses of an existing energy standard, voids two regulatory subparts, and requires the Secretary of Energy to issue new regulations within 180 days that align with these changes.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is the repeal of federal building energy efficiency performance standards and the removal of fossil-fuel-consumption penalties from green building certifications. This is a deregulatory measure that reduces binding environmental and energy-efficiency requirements on federal facilities.
What the text implies
- The bill allows federal buildings to obtain 'green building' or 'high-performance green building' certifications while consuming fossil fuels, potentially degrading the meaning and market value of green-building standards across the private sector if federal procurement follows suit.
- By voiding 10 CFR 435B and 433B without specifying replacement standards until 180 days post-enactment, there is a regulatory gap during which federal building energy efficiency may have no enforceable floor, creating uncertainty for facility managers and contractors.
- The phrase 'direct or indirect consumption of fossil fuels' is broad and may exempt buildings from efficiency standards if they purchase grid electricity (which often comes from fossil sources), effectively nullifying efficiency incentives for most federal facilities.
- Removing fossil-fuel-reduction requirements from federal buildings eliminates a major driver of energy-efficiency innovation and procurement in the construction and HVAC sectors, potentially slowing market adoption of renewable energy and efficiency technologies.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Ordinary citizens bear the long-term costs of federal building energy consumption through higher energy bills, increased carbon emissions, and reduced progress toward climate goals. The bill removes binding efficiency standards that were designed to reduce taxpayer energy costs and environmental harm, replacing them with voluntary standards that allow fossil fuel use without penalty.
Who stands to gain
- fossil fuel producers and utilities
- HVAC and building systems contractors avoiding efficiency upgrades
- energy-intensive federal facility operators
Named in the bill
Department of Energy, Energy Conservation and Production Act, Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, 10 CFR 435B, 10 CFR 433B, 42 U.S.C. § 305(a)(3)(D)
Where it stands
7 cosponsors: 7 Republicans.
- Jul 23, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 23, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy”
- Nov 19, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Subcommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Dec 3, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported by the Yeas and Nays: 27 - 21”
- Apr 22, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On passage Passed by the Yeas and Nays: 215 - 202 (Roll no. 134). (text: CR H3057)”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
12 lobbying clients named this bill on 19 disclosure filings across 3 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $5,981,600 in lobbying spend. A filing names 22 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 93% of bills with at least one filing.
Nicholas Langworthy, the sponsor, reported $1,046,611 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Pacific Gas and Electric Company — $3,530,000 on 1 filing
- Basf Corporation — $540,000 on 2 filings
- Earthjustice Action — $376,600 on 2 filings
- Cms Energy Corp — $370,000 on 2 filings
- American Gas Association — $280,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,094 characters) on May 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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