[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 92 (Monday, June 3, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3163-S3164]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS

  The following petitions and memorials were laid before the Senate and 
were referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

       POM-73. A resolution adopted by the House of Delegates of 
     the State of West Virginia memorializing its support of 
     ongoing and continued development of West Virginia's energy 
     resources, pipeline, and energy infrastructure; to the 
     Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

                         House Resolution No. 6

       Whereas, West Virginia's natural gas and energy reserves 
     and production have increased significantly in recent years 
     due to the exploration occurring in the Utica and Marcellus 
     Shale formations; and
       Whereas, West Virginia is now the ninth-largest natural gas 
     producing state in the nation, providing five percent of our 
     country's total energy; and
       Whereas, The natural gas and oil industry supported over 
     70,000 jobs both directly and indirectly and added $8 billion 
     to the West Virginian economy; and
       Whereas, Pipelines and transmission lines serve a critical 
     role in delivering natural gas, petroleum, and electricity in 
     order to meet our growing energy needs; and
       Whereas, Denying the expansion and construction of existing 
     and new pipeline projects would stop the significant 
     revitalization of communities and manufacturing industries in 
     West Virginia; and
       Whereas, The U.S. Department of Energy has identified the 
     benefits that West Virginia can accrue with the establishment 
     of an ethane storage and distribution hub to promote 
     diversity of supply and geography, alleviating the strategic 
     risk our country faces as a result of a lack of redundancy 
     and flexibility; and
       Whereas, West Virginia is business friendly and welcomes 
     investments in the state and local economy; and
       Whereas, West Virginia's neighbors, including Ohio and 
     Pennsylvania, have benefitted from using natural gas to 
     attract industry; and
       Whereas, The natural gas intensive industry sector in Ohio 
     has an output of $160 billion and Pennsylvania has an output 
     of $156 billion in comparison to West Virginia's output of 
     $18 billion; and
       Whereas, Ohio and Pennsylvania have over 300,000 jobs in 
     natural gas intensive industry sector while West Virginia has 
     over 30,000 jobs in the natural gas intensive industry 
     sector; therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Delegates, That we, the members of 
     the House of Delegates of the 84th Legislature of the State 
     of West Virginia, support the ongoing and continued 
     development of West Virginia's energy resources, pipeline, 
     and energy infrastructure in the State of West Virginia; and 
     be it further
       Resolved, That we, the members of the House of Delegates of 
     the 84th Legislature of the State of West Virginia, support 
     ongoing economic development efforts to attract end-users of 
     electricity and natural gas to expand our state's economy and 
     create family sustaining jobs; and be it further
       Resolved, That the Clerk transmit duly authenticated copies 
     of this resolution to the President of the United States, the 
     President Pro Tern pore and Secretary of the United States 
     Senate, the members of the West Virginia Congressional 
     delegation, and the news media of West Virginia.
                                  ____

       POM-74. A resolution adopted by the House of Delegates of 
     the State of West Virginia memorializing its support of the 
     Atlantic Coast Pipeline; to the Committee on Energy and 
     Natural Resources.

                        House Resolution No. 11

       Whereas, The Atlantic Coast Pipeline and others are 
     critical to the economic and energy future of the State of 
     West Virginia, providing our state's natural gas production 
     with unprecedented access to new markets; and
       Whereas, Studies indicate construction and operation of the 
     Atlantic Coast Pipeline alone will generate massive economic 
     benefits for West Virginia, including almost $478 million in 
     additional economic activity during the construction period 
     and more than $15 million in additional economic activity 
     each year after the facility begins operating; and
       Whereas, The Atlantic Coast Pipeline and others will create 
     thousands of new job opportunities for the working men and 
     women of West Virginia and significant new tax revenues for 
     many West Virginia counties; and
       Whereas, The Atlantic Coast Pipeline and others will help 
     promote our nation's energy independence, helping make the 
     burgeoning natural gas production in West Virginia and 
     adjacent states more available to millions of consumers and 
     reducing the need for energy imports; and
       Whereas, The Atlantic Coast Pipeline's environmental impact 
     has been repeatedly and thoroughly analyzed by state and 
     federal agencies, including the West Virginia Department of 
     Environmental Protection, the Federal Energy Regulatory 
     Commission, and the U.S. Forest Service, among others, with 
     all of the agencies finding that the project can be built and 
     operated in a manner that protects the natural resources of 
     West Virginia and the other states in its path; and
       Whereas, Despite the enormous energy and economic benefits, 
     as well as the positive findings from a broad range of 
     environmental regulatory agencies, some groups have launched 
     an all-out assault on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline project, 
     with the ultimate aim of forcing its cancelation; and
       Whereas, These attacks are not based on the facts regarding 
     the Atlantic Coast Pipeline but are part of what the U.S. 
     Chamber of Commerce describes as a nationwide ``keep it in 
     the ground'' strategy by some groups to end all uses of 
     fossil fuels in power generation; and
       Whereas, These unwarranted attacks have resulted in 
     regulatory and legal proceedings that have repeatedly delayed 
     both the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the related Supply 
     Header Project; and
       Whereas, In response to court orders stemming from these 
     attacks, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and Supply Header 
     Project have been forced to lay off or delay hiring thousands 
     of skilled construction workers in West Virginia and also in 
     Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia and North Carolina, posing 
     significant hardships for working families and depriving them 
     of paychecks and steady work; and
       Whereas, The U.S. Chamber of Commerce report estimates that 
     these delays, through August 2018, have already resulted in 
     the loss of $2.3 billion in the U.S. Gross Domestic Product 
     as well as $500 million in lost tax revenue for U.S. states 
     and localities; and
       Whereas, The Chamber's study also found that the delays 
     have already deprived U.S. consumers of $377 million in 
     energy cost savings; and
       Whereas, The General President of the Laborers' 
     International Union of North America (LIUNA) recently said 
     obstructions to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and other vital 
     energy infrastructure ``from activist groups is costing our 
     members jobs and the entire country opportunities''; and
       Whereas, The LIUNA General President also emphasized that 
     the economic damage caused by this opposition to new energy 
     projects is ``being shouldered by the hard working men and 
     women who build our nation's energy infrastructure''; and
       Whereas, These assaults and delaying tactics are also a 
     direct threat to West Virginia's energy production industry, 
     which directly employs more than 22,000 men and women and 
     pays more than $6 billion in wages annually; and
       Whereas, Although the current employment and payroll 
     figures are impressive, further growth will be severely 
     hampered unless new infrastructure such as the Atlantic Coast 
     Pipeline and other pipelines are built to transport West 
     Virginia's energy production to market; and
       Whereas, In addition to this economic damage, the attacks 
     on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and other interstate natural 
     gas projects have great potential to harm the environment, 
     since other forms of electric generation powered by fossil 
     fuels, such as natural gas, are needed to back up the 
     expansion of the intermittent generation from renewable 
     resources such as solar and wind energy: Therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Delegates: That we, the members of 
     the House of Delegates of the 84th Legislature of the State 
     of West Virginia, categorically condemn these 
     counterproductive and economically damaging assaults on the 
     Atlantic Coast Pipeline and other urgently needed energy 
     infrastructure projects; and, be it further
       Resolved, That we note that these attacks are denying 
     steady employment and income to thousands of West Virginia 
     workers and their families who would otherwise be employed in 
     the construction and operation of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline 
     and the related Supply Header Project; and, be it further
       Resolved, That we find that the attacks are also damaging 
     West Virginia's energy production industry, the source of 
     more than $6

[[Page S3164]]

     billion annually in wages to our state's working men and 
     women; and, be it further
       Resolved, That we find that the assaults on these projects 
     have great potential to damage the environment by hindering 
     the deployment of electric generation powered by solar power, 
     wind and other renewable resources, all of which must be 
     backed up with fossil fuel powered generation, such as 
     natural gas; and, be it further
       Resolved, That we strongly urge the groups spearheading 
     these assaults to stop their attacks and delaying actions and 
     in the process help pave the way for a cleaner and stronger 
     energy future for West Virginia and for the entire nation; 
     and, be it further
       Resolved, That the Clerk transmit copies of this resolution 
     to the President of the United States, the President Pro 
     Tempore and Secretary of the United States Senate, the 
     members of the West Virginia Congressional delegation, and 
     the news media of West Virginia.

                          ____________________