Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, and Grid Security Chairman Jeff Duncan (R-SC) and Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials Chair Bill Johnson (R-OH) delivered the following opening remarks at today’s Full Committee markup of 20 bills.
Excerpts and highlights below from Subcommittee Chair Duncan:
PUTTING AMERICAN ENERGY BACK ON TOP
“I am excited to be here at our first Full Committee markup to take up a set of bills we moved through regular order and out of the Energy, Climate, and Grid Reliability Subcommittee just last week.
“These bills will help increase American energy production and restore energy leadership.
“The United States has incredible energy potential.
“We have vast reserves of oil, natural gas, and other critical minerals essential for energy dominance.
“Only a few years ago, we achieved energy independence, which benefits our economic and national security.
“There is no national security without energy security.
“Unfortunately, the radical energy agenda imposed by the Biden administration the last couple of years has disincentivized private sector investment in our energy infrastructure by implementing top-down government regulation on the energy sector.
“This has led to decreased energy production and energy infrastructure development.
“In fact, according to the Energy Information Administration, in 2022, the least amount of interstate natural gas pipeline capacity was added since it began tracking that data in 1995.
“This is a direct consequence of the Biden administration’s anti-energy policies.
“My state of South Carolina has seen its population grow in recent years because it has been a haven for manufacturing.
“We worry if we can maintain this reputation over the next several years solely due to the inability to build out essential energy infrastructure.
“We have an abundance of natural gas in the Northeast and Appalachia, but unfortunately, under the current regulatory structure, it only takes one state to block access to this safe and reliable energy source that will ensure continued growth and prosperity in my state.
“Unfortunately, this issue is not unique to South Carolina.”
REPUBLICAN SOLUTIONS ON ENERGY
“The good news is Republicans have solutions to reassert our energy dominance and lower prices.
“The energy bills we are taking up today will protect American energy production from federal bans, work to ease energy infrastructure permitting from pipelines to cross-border infrastructure, ensure the importance of American energy exports around the world; assess our critical energy resources supply chains–which are key to wind, solar, batteries, and EV technologies, explore ways to expand U.S. refining capacity, and condemn the actions of the Biden Administration in the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline.
“We all agree that affordable, reliable, and resilient energy is essential for all Americans. It’s time to work towards that goal by increasing American energy production and restoring energy leadership.
“I urge all my colleagues to support the bills in front of us today so we can achieve this goal.”
Excerpts and highlights below from Subcommittee Chair Johnson:
ENDING THE OUTSOURCING OF OUR ENERGY NEEDS
“Last week, the Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials favorably forwarded seven bills to the full committee for consideration and each of these bills will be marked up today.
“These bills are part of an effort to end the outsourcing of our short and long-term energy security needs to foreign countries, particularly those that do not like us and actively leverage their resources against the United States and its allies.
“Before critics claim these bills would harm the environment, I’d ask them to consider: Is the goal to lower emissions or to eliminate specific types of energy sources?
“Does outsourcing mining and manufacturing activities for green technologies to countries with poor environmental and labor standards improve the environment?
“Can America have reliable, resilient, available, and affordable energy for our grid and transportation if we don’t have the energy resources to make that a reality and will we do anything to solve that issue?
“We’ve learned over the last few years that we need to do something more than just throw money at a problem.
“Today, we’ll do just that.”
SOLUTIONS TO SECURE SUPPLY CHAINS AND LOWER PRICES
“For instance, Representative Carter’s bill addresses permitting for refining and processing of critical energy resources. Right now, there is NO refining of critical minerals in the United States.
“Representative Curtis’s legislation addresses innovation in cleaner energy systems, technology, and sources that are currently languishing on the desks of bureaucrats at the EPA.
“On the issue of national security, Representative Pence’s legislation gives the EPA explicit, though limited, authority, to address both energy and national security needs.
“This legislation is patterned after the Federal Power Act and is in line with 22 other waiver authorities in the Clean Air Act.
“Representative Crenshaw’s bill tackles the practical and economic problems posed by an EPA regulation on gasoline refining that could intentionally destroy our domestic refining capacity and increase prices at the pump.
“For synchronizing U.S. energy spending and policy, we’re considering legislation to clarify the use of EPA’s existing flexible permit program for critical energy resources, end the natural gas tax, and address the Democrats’ ‘Big Green’ slush fund that was jammed through the last reconciliation package.
“I want to clarify that this isn’t all that needs to be done in these and other areas to better unleash American energy, reinvigorate innovation in energy technologies, and bolster our domestic supply chains.
“But it is a big step in the right direction.
“I look forward to reporting these bills to the House Floor and working with members on both sides to address these challenges going forward.”
Original source can be found here.
