[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 55 (Wednesday, March 29, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2101-S2102]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BENNET (for himself, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Booker, Mr. Cardin, 
        Mr. Sanders, Mr. Markey, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Reed, Mr. Durbin, Mr. 
        Whitehouse, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. Udall, Ms. Cortez Masto, Mr. 
        Heinrich, Ms. Warren, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Franken, Ms. Hassan, Mr. 
        Nelson, Ms. Harris, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Coons, Mrs. Feinstein, Ms. 
        Klobuchar, Mr. Schatz, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Blumenthal, 
        Mr. Carper, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Murphy, and Mr. Van Hollen):
  S. 767. A bill to provide that the Executive Order entitled 
``Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth'' and signed on 
March 28, 2017, shall have no force or effect, and for other purposes; 
to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
  Mr. BENNET. Mr. President, even with all the dysfunction in Congress, 
somehow the American people continue to expect that Washington will 
enact policies that bear at least some relationship to the challenges 
they face. Unfortunately, the administration's new Executive order on 
energy fails even that low bar.
  This order will not expand energy production, it will not make us 
more energy independent, it will not create more American jobs, and it 
will also not protect us from the ravages of climate change. That last 
point is somewhat less surprising than the first because, unlike 
millions of Americans and 99 percent of scientists, this administration 
does not believe that climate change is real or that humankind is 
contributing to it.

[[Page S2102]]

  To understand where this Executive order comes from, I think it is 
important to see where we were before this administration took office. 
Put simply, the United States was already on track to achieve energy 
independence. Our country is producing a tremendous amount of low-cost 
energy. Since 2008, solar energy production has grown more than 50-
fold, wind power is up 3-fold, and oil production in the United States 
of America is up 75 percent. In fact, 5 years ago, we began producing 
more oil than we import.
  You can see on this slide that over the period of time that the Obama 
administration was in office, oil production rose like this, and net 
imports have gone like this--an important fact considering our 
geopolitical situation in the world. We are also now producing so much 
natural gas that facilities that were built originally to import gas 
are now being reengineered to export gas from the United States. I, 
along with other people in this Chamber, have worked hard to try to 
make sure those facilities are expedited so we can get the benefit of 
that exported natural gas.
  Even before President Trump rode to the rescue with his Executive 
order, the Wall Street Journal told us that exports of natural gas 
could more than double over the next 5 years, just based on what we are 
doing already. We are also using energy far more efficiently in our 
homes, our appliances, and our automobiles, which is why the 
administration's action to reverse higher fuel standards last week--
well, I just would say, talk about a solution in search of a problem. 
That is one.
  There is not a person in Colorado who said to me: Michael, do you 
know what we ought to do? We ought to reduce the fuel efficiency 
standards on automobiles. We ought to create a regulatory environment 
where the United States can't sell competitive automobiles in the 
world. Nobody has said that because not only are they concerned about 
climate, they are concerned that we lead the world when it comes to 
innovation. And that order, just like a budget that cuts the EPA by 30 
percent, that targets the climate scientists at the EPA, that targets 
the satellites that are above our heads so that we can't see what is 
happening on our planet--this is all so we can perpetuate a willful 
view that climate change doesn't exist, and it is the same thing with 
this Executive order.
  All of the trends that are in place right now--right before this 
administration took office--have combined to reduce our reliance on 
foreign energy in recent years, even as our economy has grown and 
average prices at the pump, because of the abundant supply, remain 
under $2.30. We are just a few years away from exporting as much oil 
and gas as we import. That is important for our country.
  Colorado has been a huge part of America's growing energy 
independence and, by extension, our national security. That is because 
in many ways Colorado led the way in developing a commonsense approach 
to expanding energy production while ensuring clean air and a healthy 
planet. We brought environmentalists together with the oil and gas 
industry to develop one of the first State limits on methane pollution. 
It became a model for the country. We passed the first voter-led 
renewable energy standard in the Nation, which became a model for the 
country. We established our own limits on carbon pollution at the State 
level, and in this process we have created 13,000 renewable energy 
jobs, with wind jobs alone expected to triple by 2020. On average, 
these jobs pay over $50,000. This is not some Bolshevik experiment or 
some socialist experiment. These are manufacturing jobs in the United 
States of America, in Colorado, that would not be there if it hadn't 
been for the policy decisions that were made in this body and in other 
parts of Washington, DC, and the supply chain that goes along with 
those manufactured turbines is critically important to our economy. At 
the same time we were doing all that, we preserved over 56,000 oil and 
gas jobs, even as drilling has slowed because of, again, abundant 
supply, to say nothing of the jobs Colorado has created just because it 
is a place where other people would like to live. They want to come to 
Colorado, as they want to go to Nevada, because there is a high quality 
of life. There is a lot of sunshine in both places.
  I am pleased to have the chance to work with the Senator from Nevada 
to make sure we not only extended the investment tax credit with 
respect to solar, but we put language in there together--Republicans 
and Democrats together--to create an idea that those credits would kick 
in at the beginning of construction, not having to wait until the end. 
That has made a big difference to our solar industry.
  Long ago, the State of Colorado and, I would say, many other States 
have broken past the false choice between our economy and the 
environment. That is the course we have charted in Colorado, and if the 
President were serious about energy independence, he would support that 
approach. Instead, he is trying to undermine it with this new order. By 
undoing national standards for carbon pollution, the order threatens to 
undercut our thriving clean energy industry. There are 465 solar and 
wind businesses across our State supporting over $8 billion in 
investments. By retreating from the fight against climate change, the 
order recklessly endangers Colorado's $646 billion outdoor recreation 
industry, not to mention the health of our national forests that line 
the banks of some of the most vital watersheds in America.
  As the President targets our environment and clean energy economy 
with this Executive order, he has dressed it up as something good for 
jobs, as he did during the campaign. Yesterday, the President stood 
before a group of coal miners and promised to ``cancel job-killing 
regulations'' and ``put our miners back to work.''
  Just 2 weeks ago, I was on the Western Slope of Colorado, a region 
with a number of mining communities. These communities, some of whom 
have helped invent hydraulic fracture and directional drilling, know 
that their challenges have far more to do with low prices and 
competition from natural gas than from the EPA. They know that their 
way of life and the way of life of communities like theirs all across 
the United States require real solutions to help them grow and 
diversify their economies. These communities get it. They understand 
it, but the President clearly does not.
  Just yesterday, the Wall Street Journal ran this article entitled 
``Despite Trump Move on Climate Change, Utilities' Shift from Coal Is 
Set to Continue.'' According to the article, last year, power from coal 
plants fell while power from natural gas rose 35 percent. Nationwide 
major utilities are shedding coal and increasing natural gas and 
renewables. That is the reality of our energy market and of the global 
economy, but this administration, when it comes to energy and when it 
comes to climate, is not operating in reality. It is operating amongst 
political slogans. It is operating in the theater of the absurd, where 
policies have no relationship to problems, facts don't matter, and 
false promises to struggling Americans are just another political 
tactic to win a cable news cycle.
  The American people deserve so much better. Colorado deserves so much 
better than that. That is why today I am introducing a bill alongside 
more than 30 Senators to rescind this disastrous order, protect 
American jobs, and preserve our path toward energy independence. The 
stakes could not be higher for our kids, our planet, and our economy. 
We cannot let this stand.

                          ____________________