Bryan Steil, the House member for Wisconsin's 1st District, cast a deciding vote on May 22, 2025 for the House version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and voted for the final law on July 3, 2025, which ended clean-energy tax credits, repealed the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and pushed the start of the methane fee on oil and gas companies back to 2034. Rhodium Group now expects U.S. emissions in 2035 to fall only 27 to 44 percent below 2005 levels, down from its earlier 38 to 56 percent.
In 2025 and 2026 Steil also voted to repeal the methane fee rule, to revoke California's clean-car and clean-truck standards that other states had adopted, to open the Arctic refuge and western coal lands to leasing, and to end a 20-year mining ban upstream of the Boundary Waters wilderness.
Bryan Steil's Votes on Climate and Public Lands
- Steil Voted for the Law That Ended Clean-Energy Credits, Repealed the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and Delayed the Methane Fee to 2034. On July 3, 2025, Bryan Steil voted yes as the House passed the final One Big Beautiful Bill Act 218 to 214, after voting for the House version on May 22, 2025, which passed 215 to 214, so it would have failed without his vote. Section 60002 of the law is the "Repeal of Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund," and another section changed the methane fee's start from "calendar year 2024" to "calendar year 2034". Rhodium Group had projected in 2024 that U.S. emissions would fall 38 to 56 percent below 2005 levels by 2035; after the law it projects 27 to 44 percent, Scientific American reported.
- Steil Voted to Revoke California's Clean-Car and Clean-Truck Standards That 11 Other States Had Adopted, in 2025. On April 30 and May 1, 2025, Steil voted for three resolutions revoking the federal waivers for California's Advanced Clean Trucks, low-NOx truck engine and Advanced Clean Cars II standards; all three became law, and California has challenged the move in court. Eleven other states and the District of Columbia had adopted the Advanced Clean Cars II rules, and California regulators estimated their health benefits would include "a reduction of over 1,000 premature deaths," according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, an advocacy group.
- Steil Voted to Repeal the Methane Fee on Oil and Gas Companies in February 2025. On February 26, 2025, Steil voted yes on H.J.Res. 35, which repealed the Environmental Protection Agency's rule carrying out the fee on methane emissions from large oil and gas facilities; it passed the House 220 to 206 and became law. The Institute for Policy Integrity lists the methane fee rule as fully repealed, with $236 million a year in net benefits lost.
- Steil Voted to Open the Arctic Refuge and Western Coal Lands to Leasing in 2025, Once by a Deciding Vote. In September and November 2025, Steil voted for resolutions overturning federal land plans for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's Coastal Plain, the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, and coal lands near Miles City, Montana and Buffalo, Wyoming; the Buffalo resolution passed 214 to 212, a margin at which a switch by him alone would have tied the vote, and a tie fails. The resolution, signed December 11, 2025, nullified the 2024 Record of Decision for the Coastal Plain leasing program. The Bureau of Land Management had already reopened the refuge's entire 1.56 million-acre Coastal Plain to oil and gas leasing on October 23, 2025, and the 2025 law Steil voted for directs Interior to hold no fewer than four lease sales there over ten years; Harvard's Environmental and Energy Law Program describes the area as habitat for Porcupine caribou and denning polar bears. In Montana, the overturned plan was one under which the Miles City office had decided in 2024 to stop selling new coal leases.
- Steil Voted to End a 20-Year Mining Ban Upstream of the Boundary Waters in January 2026. On January 21, 2026, Steil voted yes on H.J.Res. 140, which passed the House 214 to 208 and overturned the withdrawal of 225,504 acres of Superior National Forest from mineral leasing upstream of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, land with deposits of copper, nickel and cobalt that the mining company Twin Metals has sought to mine for decades. Environmentalists say tailings from such metal mining can release toxic chemicals into the watershed, KAXE reported, and a December 2025 Impact Research poll in Minnesota, home to the Boundary Waters, released by Save the Boundary Waters, found 57% opposed copper mining of that kind in the wilderness's watershed and 23% in favor.
What the Climate Votes Bryan Steil Cast Mean for Wisconsin Households' Energy Bills
- Wisconsin households will pay about $300 a year more for energy by 2035 as the clean-energy credits end. Energy Innovation projected that the law's energy provisions alone, chiefly the end of the clean-energy tax credits, would add about $300 a year to the average Wisconsin household's energy costs by 2035, CNBC reported.
Frequently Asked Questions About Bryan Steil on Climate and the environment
What is Bryan Steil's record on climate and the environment under Trump?
Bryan Steil cast a deciding vote for the House version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and voted for the final law, which ended the credits for clean energy, eliminated the federal fund for greenhouse gas reduction and postponed the methane fee until 2034. He voted to repeal the methane fee rule and California's clean-car waivers, to open the Arctic refuge to oil leasing, and to end the mining ban near the Boundary Waters. Ending the clean-energy credits will raise Wisconsin household energy costs, Energy Innovation projected.
Did Bryan Steil vote to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling?
Yes. Bryan Steil voted on November 18, 2025 for H.J.Res. 131, which overturned the federal management plan for the refuge's Coastal Plain; it passed 217 to 209. The same day he voted for S.J.Res. 80, which overturned the plan for the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.
Did Bryan Steil vote to allow mining near the Boundary Waters?
Yes. Bryan Steil voted on January 21, 2026 for H.J.Res. 140, which ended a 20-year ban on mineral leasing on 225,504 acres of Superior National Forest near the Boundary Waters wilderness in Minnesota. The Senate then passed it 50 to 49 on April 16, 2026.
Last updated: 2026-10-26