House approves $5,000 fee to protest drilling (VIDEO)

The Federal Lands Jobs and Energy Security Act, or H.R. 1965, has many scary provisions in it. It allows for oil and fracking companies to drill close to the borders of national parks with few air and water quality regulations.

It sets a 60-deadline for the Department of the Interior to approve drilling permits, after which the permits are automatically approved.

It cuts in half the federal money available for solar and wind energy permits.

But maybe worst of all is that it imposes a $5,000 fee to file an official protest against a drilling project, a mandate that is arguably unconstitutional and in violation to the First Amendment.

The House just passed it.