[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 151 (Tuesday, September 20, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4836-S4839]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Energy
Mr. MANCHIN. Mr. President, I rise today to talk about how the
current process that we are in right now with the energy challenges we
have, not just in our country but around the world, and how the
committee process, the committee process that we are working on, can
help relieve the challenges that the American public have right now
with high prices at the gas pump, high prices they are receiving in
their homes for heating and all the necessities they have.
What is at risk right now--and I want people to understand. What is
at risk is the energy independence and energy security of the United
States of America. If we are going to remain the superpower of the
world, if we are one country that has it all, you better have energy
independence. If you can't produce your own energy and you are going to
ask other people around the world to do what you won't do for yourself
but you have the ability to do it and the resources to do it, God help
us all. That is what we are dealing with.
So I am going to talk about how Congress can provide some relief
here.
The 2022 Energy Independence and Security Act we have been working on
is going to be paramount to maintaining what we have. That means that
we have to focus on not blaming each other. This has become a personal
thing back and forth, back and forth.
Some people on the extreme left--liberals--don't like it because they
want many changes. We have some people in the conference over here, my
Republican friends, who have always been for it, but now the leadership
has made it personal to be against it. But let me tell you who
suffers--it is all the people. All the American citizens are going to
suffer if we don't do something.
We are all citizens of this great country, and we are all so grateful
for having the opportunities we have by living here. But we have an
abundant amount of energy--an abundant amount of energy that we can
produce cleaner than anywhere else in the world.
I have always said let's do decarbonization. We all should be
committed to decarbonize to help the atmosphere and to help the
climate. That is our responsibility as human beings and especially in a
developed nation in the developing world.
Decarbonizing means two things, however you intend to interpret it.
Some people want to decarbonize by basically eliminating anything that
has fossil. Well, guess what. Our friends in Europe tried that. Our
European friends tried that. Look where they are.
Then there are those of us who want to basically say: We can
decarbonize by producing more fossil, which is cleaner in the United
States of America, and basically dispersing the dirty fossils produced
around the world. That is all we are saying.
When you have oil and gas coming from Venezuela, which is produced
with no oversight whatsoever--dirtier than any place in the world--we
were going to go to them and remove sanctions to help us? That makes no
sense. We were going to ask Iran, which is the most prolific terrorist
supporter in the world, which made no sense whatsoever. When we are
asking Saudi Arabia to please produce more oil to help us--no support--
it makes no sense at all.
So this is what we are talking about. I have this item here that kind
of spells out what we are confirming. Here is the common permitting
timelines for energy and minerals projects. The timeline for the United
States is a minimum of 5 to 10 years--a minimum of 5 to 10 years;
Canada, 1 to 3 years; Australia, 1 to 3 years, and they haven't deleted
any of their oversight for review. They haven't deleted any of that.
Now let me tell you the extremes that are going on in the world
today. The European Union, which has had a pretty stringent oversight
on environment, they are considering emergency bypassing all
environmental reviews because it is critical to them. Energy has been
weaponized by Putin. Energy has been weaponized, and we in America can
offset that. We can.
No matter what you want to build, whether it is transmission,
pipelines, hydropower dams, more often than not, it takes too long. It
drives up cost. You can double your cost within a 5- to 6-, 7-year
period, double from what the original cost may be in projected cost.
Today's energy and mineral projects, as I have said before, take too
long.
Then you come over here, look basically at what the U.S. citizens--
all 330 million people--are subjected to. Natural gas, up 200 percent.
The cost of natural gas, 200 percent. The cost of natural gas in
Europe, 1,100-percent increase--1,100 percent. Predicted by next year,
some utility--homes will be paying $7,000 a month. They are going to be
subsidized by the government; they can't do that forever. Can you
imagine those types of outrageous costs? Gasoline. Gasoline is up 67
percent, under both this administration and previous administration--67
percent. Electricity is up 15 percent and climbing and climbing.
When you have countries, such as Australia and Canada, that are doing
it and doing it in a clean fashion but also doing it in an accelerated
fashion, that is something we should be looking at. We have talked
about permitting for years and years and years. If you are on the
renewable side and you want all renewable, no fossil whatsoever, you
can't get a transmission line done. If you are going to build a wind
farm or a solar farm in the middle of the desert where there are no
people and you have got a build to take the electrons, take that
electricity back into the marketplace, you have got to cross a
multitude of State lines.
You have got to have permitting reform to get it done. You are not
going to be able to deliver the energy that people need. Look at our
friends, whether it be in California or look at what has happened in
Texas--all this. It is very, very fragile what is going on.
But then the good news is, next week, we are going to have an
opportunity to help accelerate these energy projects clear across the
country and the needs that we all have, if we don't let politics get in
the way. If we basically look at what the United States of America
needs, what the people in this country need, and what they want to make
sure that we have the energy independence to do it ourselves and not
rely on foreign supply chains, that is what it is about.
I have always said, if I can go home and explain it, if I can talk to
all of you and explain it, I can vote for it; I can explain what we are
doing. I truly can--whether it be from the IRA, a bill that basically
gives us a pathway to walk and chew gum, provide the energy we need for
today but also invest in the energy we need in the future. We are doing
both, but you can't do them unless you have permitting reform.
Now, everyone thinks this is a side deal. There is no side deal. We
talked about all of this at one time. We put this project together
under one auspice of energy independence and the security this Nation
needs and the relief the citizens need from high inflation--that is
what--and also the support that we need for our allies in Europe that
are having a difficult time.
So let me lay out the facts and explain why voting for energy
permitting
[[Page S4837]]
reform is something that should make sense to each and every one of my
colleagues on both my Republican side and Democrat side. Put plainly,
with the state of energy prices, our constituents across the country,
they can't afford for the politics to stand in the way of a long
overdue, bipartisan action on energy permitting reform.
Domestically, American families and businesses are feeling the pain.
This is Putin's energy war. I won't acknowledge this as a Russian war.
This is one demagogue who basically has brought the havoc and the
unrest that we have in the world--one man, Putin--and he has basically
weaponized energy like we have never seen and never thought would be
done, and this must be answered. We have the infrastructure, and we
have the resources. I have said that before.
American natural gas prices average around $9 per million of Btu--$9
per million. I mean, most of this energy comes from my State of West
Virginia--a lot of the gas does--because we have the Marcellus and
Utica shale, which are probably the richest deposits of natural gas
that we have ever seen in this country, let alone the world. But with
that, those prices were in the $2.50 to $3 range. It balances out
pretty well to $5, but at $9 it does not.
Look at what the Europeans are paying. The Europeans are paying an
astronomical $60 and $70 equivalent to the same MCF--$60 to $70 versus
our $9, which we think is outrageous. This is the crunch that we are
in.
Even with the cost savings that we have achieved by energy
efficiency, electricity and home energy costs are up, and Americans are
concerned about reliability after watching things that are taking a
heck of a hit right now.
The changing energy mix has not yielded affordability for American
families evenly, in part, because we haven't been able to knit together
the widespread resources with transmission and the delivery of this
energy. That is the hardest thing we have. You can only do that by
building more infrastructure. You can't do it by hoping one skips over
another to get you what you need. You have got to have infrastructure
for this transmission to pipelines to get you the energy you need.
The consumer price index tells the story. Consumers paid 16 percent
more for their electricity service and 33 percent more for their gas
services, and it is only going to get worse, not better. Absolutely.
I am grateful that we have made progress addressing the price at the
pump. As we said, a gallon of gasoline remains 67 percent higher than
it did 5 years ago. These are the type of pocketbook issues--they truly
are--that are impacting day-to-day decisions Americans make. People are
making decisions on how they are going to get from one day to the next,
one month to the next, and what will happen next year. They are making
those decisions. They are making them when the gas prices are still too
high, when the energy prices are absolutely too high, and the unrest
from supply chains is making it almost impossible to do the things or
have the things you need or that you want.
I have heard my colleagues on both sides of the aisle propose a
variety of solutions to address the rising costs of energy for American
consumers, whether it be through more oil or gas, a switch to electric
vehicles. Let me ask you, Mr. President, where do they think the
electricity comes from if they buy an electric vehicle? It has got to
be produced. It has got to be produced. You have got California, I am
understanding they are saying they want all-electric vehicles by a
certain date; yet they are telling people you can't charge your car at
certain times of the day. Something doesn't make sense. We have to be
realistic, be practical about this, pragmatic. All those things are
going to take Federal permits for us to make sure they have the energy
they need. We are going to have to face this sooner or later.
It is only possible if you can build it. If you can build it, then
you can make sure that we have the changes that consumers are going to
demand in America. If we can make those, then, fine; we can supply it.
If we can't, I guarantee the chaos will be unbelievable for all of us
who represent these great people.
Our producers are handcuffed by an arduous permitting process that
doesn't allow us to meet the supply problems that we are facing, and it
is not getting any better.
Let me kind of throw the political process that we have out. My
Republican friends have always been very supportive, always; and I have
a lot of my Democrat friends who understand that we need permitting
reform. But we have never gotten it done, whether we have had all
Democrats in charge, whether it be the President being a Democrat, the
House and Senate being Democrat controlled, or whether it was 4 years
ago when you had the Republicans who basically had a Republican
President and Senate and the House and they couldn't get it done. You
can only get it done if we work together. We can only get this done if
our Republican colleagues and our Democrat colleagues work together. It
won't happen. And if we don't do it now, in my lifetime and a lot of my
colleagues' lifetimes, it is not going to happen in our lifetime. It is
not.
If we continue to strap the American people with the highest cost of
delivery of the products they need because of our infrastructure and
the cost of infrastructure, we end up doubling and tripling the price
because of the owner's position we put them in to go through a process
of permitting, and they know that going in, up front, that cost is
passed on. They don't absorb that cost.
So if a pipeline costs $3 billion--which you anticipate to build a
pipeline, to deliver the energy you have, whether it be hydrogen or
whether it be natural gas, and that ends up costing you $6 billion or
$7 billion--you and I pay that price. Every one of our constituents in
our States pays that price.
We are suffering from self-inflicted shortages. We are anticipating
shortages right now. The next 5 years, basically, our gas supplies, our
gas deposits are down--natural gas. Natural gas is down. And we can
change that. We can change that because the energy we have under our
feet right now, if we can just get it to the market, it will not only
fulfill the surpluses that we have, it will basically be able to help
our allies across the globe here that need it most.
The worst scenario is if the Ukraine war and the pressure that that
war is putting on energy that goes into Europe--and the Europeans are
facing some absolutely astronomical hardships--and those hardships
reflect to where they are putting pressure on Ukraine to make a deal
with Putin, God help the world. God help us all if Putin walks away and
can say he had a victory. He has a propaganda machine that he can say
anything he wants, no matter the devastating losses that he has taken
with his troops and the economic challenges he has in his country, but
the unbelievable carnage and pain he has put on Ukraine; and they are
going to be forced because of energy to make a decision. We can help
that and prevent that from every happening. That is what we should be
doing. That is basically the challenge that we have.
So you either rise to the challenge or you don't. You either put your
politics aside, forget about your personal vendettas and your personal
arguments, whatever--look at the contents of the bill. Look at what we
are going to have in front of us that you can vote on; that you can
make a difference. I have often said, if you can go home and explain
it, you can vote for it; and I truly believe this piece of legislation
will do that.
We are putting people to make hard choices; they shouldn't be put in
that position. I tell Americans every day I speak to them, I say: Don't
let Washington make you believe you are divided. You are not divided;
we are divided here.
We are forcing the constituents of our States to pick a side. What
side are you on? There is only one side; that is the American side.
There is not another side.
We have Republican friends and Democratic friends; we might have
different ideas. But when the country is challenged, we have one
problem to solve, and that is what we are working on right now. You can
come with different ideas, and we can go through the whole process, but
we should come together. You shouldn't say: Well, my side is right, and
we are against that; my side is right because we are for it. Well, we
both have to be.
If this doesn't pass, nothing moves on permitting unless we work
together. If
[[Page S4838]]
all the Democrats vote for it, it is not enough. If all the Republicans
voted for it, it is not enough. The Senate is unique; it takes 60. So
it is going to take 10 or more from one side or the other, and right
now I would say our Republican friends and colleagues are going to have
to look deeply at something that they have always wanted and have a
chance in their hands to grab but let politics come between us. I hope
not; I don't think so. I am still betting on the right thing will be
done at the right time.
I understand that the political process we are in is highly charged.
I am hoping that the American public basically says: Enough is enough.
Come on. It is for the country. It is not for you. It is not to make
your party stronger or to make the other one look bad. It is not to
give one an advantage over the other.
This process is to fix the problems to keep this country the
strongest country on Earth, keep us basically the superpower of the
world, and we only have one way to do it. We are doing everything we
can for ourselves. I guarantee, when you are able to do that, you are
able to draw your allies closer to you. The people want to be
associated with the winner; they want to be associated with an economy
that you can't stop and with a quality of life that is next to none.
That is what they want to be associated with. And the American dream
can be alive. It can only be alive if we do everything to keep it
vibrant. So that is what we are working on.
Less than a year ago, we acted--Congress did--in a bipartisan way to
accelerate public works permitting in the infrastructure bill. Now, we
did it for infrastructure. We finally came together and said, for the
last 30 years, we have known that our roads and bridges and our
pipelines and our internet service, everything needed to be improved,
and we voted in a bipartisan way. And do you know what we did? We
changed how we did the permitting to get those things to fruition, to
build a road or a bridge. But yet we can't do it for energy. It doesn't
make any sense to me at all why we can't do it for energy, but we were
able to do it for infrastructure.
In the coming days, we are going to have that opportunity to take the
action to move the needle on getting types of energy and critical
minerals--try getting a permit for a mine in critical minerals. You
know we just passed a bill, the IRA bill, that basically says, on the
car manufacturing, car manufacturing, we want to get people
transitioned; electric vehicles should be desirable. You either like
the product or you don't, but you will make those decisions. The only
thing about it, the only way you are going to get a credit is if the
manufacturers are sourcing the critical minerals from either North
America or favored nations, such as Australia and our European friends,
not those--and right now, all of it is coming from China. China has a
lock on this. So it is time we decide to get off our butts and start
doing what we should be doing for ourselves so we don't have to be
crippled by a supply chain.
You know, I have told everybody, I said the first time in the history
of the United States of America--think about this great country, Henry
Ford, the mass production line--we have been able to produce in the
United States of America, without any foreign supply chains that were
needed, the combustible engine, all the drive trains, and everything
else it took for transportation mode. We were able to do that, whether
it be for trains, planes, or automobiles. Guess what. Now they have
come out and said we are going to VEDS, electric vehicles.
For the first time in the history of the United States, we cannot
produce what is needed for that to be a transportation mode.
I refuse to give up and say we can't do it. That is why, in the bill
that we pass, you are going to have to source the critical minerals
that are needed for the batteries that are going to be supplying the
power for these vehicles, and they are going to have to be produced in
North America.
We shouldn't be waiting on the foreign supply chains to say: Oh, I am
sorry. We don't agree with your geopolitical stance on so many things,
so we are not going to agree to give you what you need. We process the
anodes and cathodes that make these batteries, but that is all China.
It is not us. And we are not going to get caught in that. So that is
what we are trying to correct.
In the coming days, we are going to have this opportunity, and I say
that again--truly an opportunity. We can keep the costs down. We can
make it affordable. We can relieve the pain at the pump. We can relieve
the pain when you see your energy bills being mailed to you every
month. We can fight all of this.
We can unlock the energy and climate benefits of the Energy Act of
2020. The bipartisan infrastructure law and the inflation reduction--we
can do all of that, but you can't do it in a timely fashion to meet the
challenges the world has today unless you change permitting, which is
something we have all wanted.
It streamlines the electric transmission lines. I don't know what to
tell you. As of right now, there are approximately 20 interstate
transmission projects in various stages of planning--20. Those take,
right now, an average of 10 years. On top of that, a quarter of those--
25 percent of those--go into litigious extensions, which is even
longer--15, 17 years, some of them. There is nobody in the developed
world looking at us, saying we are effective and efficient and what we
are doing is delivering the most effective and efficient pricing that
we can and the most reliable energy that is needed.
In this permitting bill, we do not bypass any of the oversights from
environmental review. Whatever we have in place is still there. We are
just going to put in guidelines and timetables: You either do it in a
sufficient amount of time or we move on. So that is what we are doing.
And we are simultaneously going to two or three Agencies at the same
time.
All we did is look at what was successful around the world--that is
all we did--and we made it applicable to what we are trying to do here
so that we can compete on an even playing field, and we are going to
continue to do that.
This bill isn't just my idea. Everyone says it is a personal thing;
it is my idea. This bill is not my idea. This bill is a combination of
everybody in this body.
Also, the challenges we have right now--the war in Europe has
accelerated everything. The inflation has accelerated the need to do
something quickly. If we don't get off our proverbial hind ends and
start acting like Americans and not Republicans or Democrats fighting
for our respective sides--you know, I see it. We have spectators here
watching what we are doing. We have people watching what we are doing.
They have to be sick and tired that all we do is call each other names.
Every Republican over there, I consider them a friend, every one of
the 50, and every one of my 49 colleagues I consider a friend. I don't
have all the answers, and they are not always wrong. Somewhere in
between, we can find an answer to the problems. That is what we are
asking for, and I am going to continue to do that. I am not giving up,
and I won't give up.
We have an opportunity. Let's take advantage of it. If we don't, then
you have to go home and explain why not. I don't have to worry about
that because I know why I am for this, and I know why I think it will
help every person in my State of West Virginia and every one of my
fellow Americans in this country. I really do.
I hope we rise to this occasion. We are going to find out next week.
We don't have much time to wait now. We will find out where we stand.
If there are people willing to vote to shut down this government
because of political reasons--they don't like permitting when it is
something they fought for all their life, political life--they have to
answer to that.
With that being said, I appreciate very much the opportunity to be
able to speak on this subject because I think it is so important. It is
coming down to the point to where--we have great legislation. We have
done a lot of bipartisan things, worked on good stuff these past 2
years, unbelievable. Now you want to make sure that you take advantage
of that and bring it to the market quicker. You want to make sure you
get the prices down; you fight inflation; you show the rest of the
world that you can depend on the
[[Page S4839]]
United States of America. That is what it is about today.
I yield the floor.
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