The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“LNG PERMITTING CERTAINTY AND TRANSPARENCY ACT” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E137 on Jan. 30, 2015.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
LNG PERMITTING CERTAINTY AND TRANSPARENCY ACT
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speech of
HON. JODY B. HICE
of georgia
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Mr. JODY B. HICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 351--the LNG Permitting Certainty and Transparency Act.
H.R. 351 eliminates the ability for Washington bureaucrats to needlessly block the construction of liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facilities. Once the Department of Energy receives an application and environmental reviews have been completed, this legislation will place a thirty day deadline on the DOE in order to expedite permitting. One month is plenty of time for a determination to be made once all studies have been completed.
Mr. Speaker, for the past five years this process has been painfully slow. Since 2010, the DOE has only fully processed five of the 37 applications received for LNG export to countries where a Free Trade Agreement is not in place. These delays have inhibited our ability to reach our potential as a global energy producer, and the bill we have before us will remove some of the burdensome regulations that currently exist.
Additionally, Mr. Speaker, H.R. 351 will help put hardworking Americans back to work. A NERA Economic Consulting report informs us that making the needed investment to construct LNG export facilities will put 45,000 of our nation's unemployed back to work.
Mr. Speaker, this legislation also has the ability to be used as a strong economic foreign policy tool. Less than a year ago, Vladimir Putin attempted to increase his power through force with the acquisition of Crimea and the prolonged stand-off in Eastern Ukraine. As a result, a number of our allies in Europe were placed in a tough spot because Russia is such a significant natural gas producer across the continent.
Despite the current economic woes that plague the Russian Federation, in order for us to prevent future aggressive posturing by Putin, we must undercut his ability to hold the region hostage because of energy. H.R. 351 will allow us to build our domestic infrastructure, which will give our European allies a place to turn in the event of future Russian aggression.
Mr. Speaker, for our own economic benefit, as well as the economic diplomacy that expanded LNG exports will provide, I ask all of my colleagues to support H.R. 351.
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