[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 16 (Friday, January 30, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E137]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             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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