[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 184 (Wednesday, November 30, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6876-S6878]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 Energy

  Mr. TUBERVILLE. Mr. President, last week, many of us reflected on the 
blessing it is to live in the greatest country on the face of the 
Earth, our country that provides safety and security for millions and 
millions of people. Freedom and free enterprise lift more people out of 
poverty than any other system or country in the history of the world.
  But our country cannot exist without a robust economy. It is 
impossible. And you can't run an economy without fossil fuels. That is 
also impossible. However, there is an alarming and growing trend to put 
unproven theories and radical ideologies over common sense, and it is 
catching up with us as we speak.
  Years of attacks on reliable American energy sources in the name of 
green policies have taken us backward in our progress to produce 
affordable, accessible clean energy. Global supply chain issues 
accelerated the consequences of these policies, leaving many Americans 
unable to afford things like gas and utilities.
  As we inch closer to the coldest part of the year, we face the real 
threat of the energy crisis. At a time when all Americans should feel 
the warmth of the holiday, many of them could be and will be left out 
in the cold. The United States already loses more people in the winter 
months than in the warmer months, and skyrocketing utility bills could 
make millions of Americans vulnerable as temperatures drop.
  We must change course. It is time to end the blind allegiance to 
unsustainable energy policies. It is time to end the relentless pursuit 
of eliminating fossil fuels. These policies are suffocating the 
American energy sector and the economy as a whole.
  All the while, the Biden administration's war on fossil fuel is 
increasing our reliance on foreign crooks and criminals for energy and 
oil. Just last week, the Biden White House announced it will allow 
Chevron to resume the production and export of oil in Venezuela, a 
country led by a brutal communist regime.
  This dirty deal with a dictator will do almost nothing to ease the 
pain at the pump for Americans. It will do nothing. And Venezuela's oil 
fields are among the worst--and I mean the worst--for environmental 
causes in the world.
  Why does our President prefer dirtier oil from a foreign adversary 
over cleaner energy from Texas and North Dakota? It makes zero sense. 
Per usual, this administration is focused on distractions to make the 
American people think they are doing something to bring down energy 
costs, which they are not doing one thing.
  It is time to cut out the tricks and the climate rhetoric designed to 
scare Americans into accepting the consequences of backward energy 
policies. We must turn on the spigot of American energy before it is 
too late. We are running out of time.
  The simple fact is, we need fossil fuels to run our economy. They are 
integral to almost every part of our lives, from their obvious use in 
transportation to their behind-the-scenes role in products we use every 
day, like clothes, pharmaceuticals, cleaning products, phones, and, 
from my old job, even football helmets. Petroleum products are integral 
to a modern economy.
  We are nowhere near a world in which we can live without fossil 
fuels. We are not even close. Anyone who says otherwise or promotes 
ideas that we can significantly curb our use in the next decade is not 
living in reality. We have to have them, and we have the supply right 
here at home. The Permian Basin, spanning Texas and New Mexico, is 
estimated to have 66 billion--now, that is with a ``b''--barrels of oil 
waiting for use. That region alone could provide for America tens of 
thousands over time in the progression of making our energy process 
more profitable and using our energy here at home.
  Our country has ample supply and the cleanest--I want to repeat 
that--the cleanest generating methods in the world--not dirty oil like 
Venezuela but the cleanest of anywhere in the world.
  We should be producing energy in America with American workers. 
However, for nearly 2 years, the Biden administration has promoted the 
ideals of climate change activists and undermining our energy industry. 
Within hours of taking office, President Biden signed several Executive 
orders designed to reverse policies that promoted energy production.
  Instead, he instructed various arms of the government to put 
unnecessary burdens on fossil fuels. Here are a few key examples of the 
actions President Biden took on day one that have led to our biggest 
energy crisis in years:
  No. 1, he canceled the Keystone Pipeline. Most people know about 
that. It would have delivered, if we had finished this pipeline, 
800,000 barrels a day to our country--not 40,000, which we are getting 
ready to try to get Venezuela to supply. The pipeline's cancellation 
did not have an immediate impact on our country's energy supply, but it 
did send an immediate and clear signal to oil producers and investors 
that this administration was going to war with American energy. The 
fight was on, and it showed they were not afraid to unilaterally 
destroy American jobs in the process. As long as green energy activists 
were satisfied, that is what they were going to do.
  No. 2, the President halted new oil and gas leases on Federal 
property, including Tribal land in New Mexico, despite the objections 
of Native American leaders in the region.
  No. 3, President Biden joined the Paris climate agreement without any 
consent of this body right here--without any. The American people 
should always be allowed to weigh in through their representatives in 
this building when our country plans to join a binding international 
agreement, but President Biden knew he didn't have to have the votes or 
didn't have the votes, so he went without us. He did it on his own.
  And No. 4, he overturned crucial reforms to policies that have led to 
historic energy production under the previous administration, creating 
huge

[[Page S6877]]

amounts of redtape for producers and American workers.
  In the short term, he made it almost impossible to drill oil. In the 
coming months, President Biden continued his crusade by creating 
multiple new positions and groups with broad authority to oversee and 
regulate energy.
  The Biden administration's EPA rolled out new restrictions on methane 
emissions from the production and transmission of oil and gas.
  The Securities and Exchange Commission was given power to require 
companies to provide detailed reporting on their climate-related 
activities, like emissions and plans to cut emissions.
  Progressive government regulators and Agencies like the SEC and the 
Federal Reserve are attempting to force banks and other financial firms 
to consider the effects of climate change when lending money and in 
investing decisions--an absurd overreach into the private sector by 
activists posing as public servants.
  Just as companies are laying off employees and freezing hiring in 
preparation for the looming recession that is coming, here comes the 
government to lay down more regulations that will cost a fortune--an 
absolute fortune--to comply with. But it won't just cost the companies. 
It will cost the American taxpayers billions to administer all of these 
new regulations.
  So how many climate scientists do you think the SEC has on their 
staff to put in all these regulations? I will give you that answer. 
Zero. None. But they plan to spend enormous amounts of money to be the 
new climate police.
  Then, there is the massive $1.2 billion infrastructure law passed 
last year. Huge amounts of your taxpayer dollars are being spent on 
green energy programs, including billions to advance what the White 
House calls environmental justice. Government Agencies, like the EPA 
and the Department of Justice, expanded their ``equity and justice 
offices'' to selectively funnel money to certain communities of their 
choosing.
  This buildup of bureaucrats to harass businesses, farmers, and energy 
producers is all in the name of climate justice. Is it just to 
encourage Americans who can't afford gas to go out and buy an electric 
vehicle, the average of cost which is $65,000? Is that what they are 
trying to do? No.
  In fact, it is insulting. This list of anti-American energy actions 
is nowhere near comprehensive, but it does make this administration's 
priorities perfectly clear: more redtape, less affordable energy.
  For nearly 2 years, more and more power has been given to government 
elites while affordable energy production has been crippled. And to 
make matters worse, the Biden administration elites push their climate 
agenda on average Americans all the time. And what are they? They are 
nothing but hypocrites.
  Take, for example, President Biden's hand-picked climate envoy, John 
Kerry. Mr. Kerry spends his time warning Americans that they will 
suffer unless they believe his extreme climate theories and change 
their behavior. He insists on it. Meanwhile, he flies around on his 
private plane, staying at one of his multiple homes and sailing on his 
yacht.
  What concessions has he made to make our lives better? It seems to me 
he is living pretty comfortably. But he is not cutting back. He is 
asking you to cut back.
  When he led our country's delegation to the United Nations Climate 
Change Conference just a few weeks ago, he flew in one of the 400 
private jets from around the world that took leaders to Egypt to talk 
about this climate change.
  I talked about Mr. Kerry. I don't even want to get into a discussion 
about our multimillionaire buddy Al Gore, who has made millions on 
climate change, and that everything that he has predicted has not come 
true--not one thing. But he has made millions of taxpayer dollars over 
the years.
  These are the same people telling farmers--the same people telling 
farmers--to find new jobs and average people to ride a bike to work, 
when they are out there making money off climate change and being 
hypocritical and telling you to change your lifestyle. President Biden, 
John Kerry, and Al Gore and climate activists want pain and suffering 
for you but not for them. It is absolutely hypocritical, and I am 
hoping the American people see right through it.
  Time and time again, Americans are told to ignore the obvious 
consequences of President Biden's policies and be thankful for the 
meaningless actions he has taken. After gas prices hit historic highs 
over the summer, President Biden took to draining our country's 
Strategic Petroleum Reserve to bring prices down just before the 
election--how convenient.
  But Americans are still feeling the pain at the pump and paying 
record-high prices for almost everything because fossil fuels power our 
entire economy. It is a simple fact that it is clear to the American 
people but lost on the leftwing activists running this administration.
  They are being figured out. They are too busy warning us of a climate 
crisis to address the energy shortage that they have created, which is 
nowhere at its peak. It is still coming.
  This winter things are going to get a lot worse, a lot worse for the 
American people. Almost half of all American households use gas for 
heat. This year, the average family that relies on natural gas will pay 
28 percent more to stay warm than they did this time last year--28 
percent and rising.
  That number could even go higher on energy shortages, when they 
worsen, which they will. This kind of price increase can devastate 
working families. But, again, instead of promoting American energy 
production to bring down prices, this administration has demonized and 
discouraged fossil fuels at every corner, at every opportunity.
  Just a few weeks ago, while responding to climate activists, 
President Biden promised there would be ``no more drilling,'' we are 
done. This promise ironically came just days after his administration 
blamed oil and gas producers for not drilling enough. His incoherent 
energy agenda has created uncertainty and distrust among the energy 
producers we rely on to survive.
  And his administration's obsession with energy sources that are 
inefficient and unaffordable, like wind and solar, do nothing--I mean, 
do nothing--for families who won't be able to heat their homes in the 
next few months. Americans should never have to choose between being 
fed or being warm--never. But that is where these progressive energy 
policies are taking us and have left us.

  All this has been in the name of fighting back against the so-called 
climate crisis that has yet to materialize. It has not materialized. 
They scare you with it. We are all environmentalists. We love this 
country. We love this world that we live in. We are all concerned about 
it, but we should not put people in this world in harm's way.
  The energy crisis is here. We will see it every day. Americans will 
feel it every day if we do not act. The Federal Government should 
reverse policies across all Agencies--Agencies that restrict energy 
production, that place undue burdens on businesses, or put foreign 
agreements above domestic priorities. We cannot restore our economy 
until we revive our energy sector. It is not possible. It is not going 
to happen.
  The safety, security, and the well-being of the American people 
depend on the leaders in Congress having the courage to stand up to 
these green activists and stand with the American families who need to 
fuel their cars and need to heat their homes.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Rosen). The Senator from Delaware.
  Mr. CARPER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to complete my 
remarks before we start voting.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. CARPER. Madam President, I just want to take a minute. I am not a 
green zealot or environmentalist. I am an environmentalist. I care 
about this planet. But I just want to say, while my colleague is still 
on the floor, that I am a recovering Governor, a recovering Governor 
from Delaware. The 8 years I was privileged to be Governor of our 
State, more jobs were created in those 8 years than in any years in the 
history of the State of Delaware. I didn't create one of them, but we 
worked hard to create a nurturing environment. I think I know something 
about doing that.

[[Page S6878]]

  Going forward, we are going to need fossil fuels for probably as far 
as the eye can see. We are going to need natural gas. We are going to 
need petroleum. We are going to need them for our homes. We are going 
to need them for our buildings. We need them for our businesses.
  Let me just tell you something else. The State of Delaware is 
sinking. My State is sinking. Seas around us are rising. My State is 
sinking. Down in the Gulf of Mexico, the State of Louisiana, during the 
next 100 minutes, they are going to lose a piece of land to the ocean 
the size of a football field.
  A month or two ago, when they had the big French bicycle race that 
they have every year, they had to literally stop the race in parts of 
the Tour de France because the road was melting.
  We are seeing sea levels rise. It is not imaginary. It is actually 
happening. In 10, 20, 30, 40 years--when these pages down here are my 
age--it is going to be one heck of a problem. And the question is, Are 
we going to do anything about it? Are we going to do anything about it 
in ways that create jobs and economic opportunity?
  We can walk and chew gum at the same time, we can address climate 
change, we can address global warming, and we can create jobs and 
economic opportunities. There are plenty of ways to do that. We have 
shown that in the IRA, or the Inflation Reduction Act, and also in the 
bipartisan infrastructure bill. We need to do more of the same.
  That is not why I came here. I came here to talk about three separate 
but important topics.