WASHINGTON, DC - Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) today kicked off debate on a broad energy bill that modernizes America’s dated energy laws and helps America maximize its energy potential. H.R. 8, the North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act of 2015, authored by Upton, is the simple answer to an all of the above energy strategy. The bill works in four categories to help keep America at the forefront of energy production; modernizing energy infrastructure, protecting the electricity system, strengthening energy security and diplomacy, and improving energy efficiency and government accountability. The House is expected to vote to say #Yes2Energy later this week.Today we commence debate on H.R. 8, the North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act of 2015. This bill culminates a multi-year, multi-Congress effort to ensure folks in Michigan and every corner of the country have access to affordable and reliable energy. It has been nearly a decade since we last considered a broad energy package, and a lot has changed.
Back then, the energy situation looked downright dire - declining domestic oil and natural gas output, increasing reliance on imports, and energy prices that seemed like they had nowhere to go but up. Manufacturers were fleeing oversees in pursuit of cheaper energy.
But thankfully, because of breakthrough innovation and a little American ingenuity, we are now experiencing game changing energy abundance that has redefined America’s standing at home and around the globe. Now, Michigan and many parts of the country are enjoying a welcome manufacturing renaissance thanks to reliable and affordable energy. It is well past time that our laws rooted in energy scarcity caught up to our newfound 21st century reality.
The first order of business is to allow the private sector to expand the nation’s energy infrastructure. The Keystone XL pipeline may be the most well-known example of an energy infrastructure project being delayed and ultimately denied, but it is far from the only one. We have a federal permitting process that is not designed to expeditiously handle the many projects necessary to bring online the nation’s growing energy output and to meet the energy needs of homeowners and businesses. How can it be in the 21st century that we can’t get energy to consumers in some parts of the country? We seek to fix this problem.
H.R. 8 has several useful provisions to make the approval process more timely for projects such as interstate natural gas pipelines, LNG export facilities, and new hydropower - which we discussed during a hearing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission today. And I would add that these streamlining provisions were done so in a manner that keeps the environmental and safety protections intact.
Perhaps the biggest changes brought on by our energy abundance are geopolitical. Where we once feared rising dependence on the likes of OPEC, now we can control our energy destiny and use our new standing as an energy superpower to help our allies around the world and engage in energy diplomacy. However, this is a new role for the U.S. and we don’t have in place the means to act globally on energy policy.
Using the Department of Energy’s Quadrennial Energy Review as a guide, this bill begins the process of incorporating energy security and diplomacy considerations into the decision-making process. It also creates forums through which we can coordinate with our North American neighbors as well as our allies and trading partners around the world on energy policy.
Unfortunately, the energy news over the last decade hasn’t all been good. Cyber threats and electromagnetic pulses pose a growing and ever more sophisticated risk to the nation’s electricity system. We need new measures to better address these and other threats to the grid, and H.R. 8 has a number of important provisions.
I would add that while our energy abundance is a real blessing, it does not in any way reduce the importance of energy efficiency. H.R. 8 includes a number of updates to energy efficiency policy, including measures to help the federal government use energy more wisely as well as improvements to existing energy efficiency programs that have proven problematic.
A decade ago no one could have imagined where we would be in 2015 and how much the energy script would be flipped in our favor. But now that we are here it is time to bring our energy policy in line with the new realities. It’s time we put the scarcity mindset in the rear view mirror and say yes to energy and yes to jobs. I reserve the balance of my time.
