[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 100 (Thursday, June 8, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S2017]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 Energy

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, summer is almost here and with it, summer 
driving season. With gas prices up 48 percent since President Biden 
took office and inflation still a major problem, the cost of those 
family road trip miles is likely to be on the American people's minds.
  It is not just the cost of gas that can be challenging in the summer; 
hot temperatures can bring a corresponding increase in electricity 
bills as families rely more on their air-conditioners. With electricity 
prices up 22 percent since President Biden took office and, as I said, 
with inflation still a major problem, those bills can be a stress.
  It is not just energy prices that are of concern this summer. A 
recent article in the Washington Post entitled ``Fresh blackout threats 
emerge as power grid faces a stressful summer'' noted:

       The nation's power grid is in precarious shape heading into 
     what could be an especially hot summer . . . with much of the 
     country at risk for outages if it experiences scorching 
     weather scientists say looks increasingly likely.

  Much of the country is at risk for outages.
  The reliability of our Nation's electric grid is becoming a serious 
concern, and it is being driven in part by attempts to move our country 
off conventional energy before we have the necessary technology to rely 
mostly on renewables.
  In February, the PJM Interconnection, which manages a substantial 
part of eastern America's electric grid, released a report warning that 
fossil fuel plants are being forced to retire at a faster rate than new 
renewables can be brought online, at a rate of roughly two to one. As 
the report underscored, that situation is being driven by anti-
conventional energy policies.
  The Wall Street Journal, which weighed in after the PJM report was 
released, noted that ``most projected power-plant retirements are 
`policy-driven,' the report says.'' In other words, powerplants aren't 
closing because they have reached the end of their operating life; they 
are closing because the policy is designed to discourage conventional 
energy.
  I am a longtime supporter of renewable energy. In fact, I come from a 
State where 80-plus percent of the energy that is actually produced in 
my State is renewable. But the fact is, technology has simply not 
advanced to the point where our Nation can rely solely or even mostly 
on renewables, and attempting to move to zero-emission energy before we 
have the technology and resources to get us there is going to result 
not only in price increases but in serious deficiencies in our Nation's 
energy supply.
  I say ``going to result in,'' but, as I have mentioned, premature 
attempts to move us to a Green New Deal future are already compromising 
the reliability of our electric grid, and the Biden administration has 
been driving the problem with its anti-conventional energy policies.
  While the President has made isolated positive energy decisions--and 
I would note approving the sale of E15 fuel for this summer as an 
example--in general, his Presidency has been characterized by 
environmental extremism and hostility to conventional energy. This year 
alone, he closed off a substantial part of the Arctic to oil and gas 
development, and his Environmental Protection Agency has finalized a 
rule that threatens to close a number of fossil fuel-powered 
powerplants and undermine the stability of our electric grid even 
further.
  These are policies with far-reaching negative effects. An unstable 
electric grid, for one, can be a very serious problem. It is not just a 
matter of inconvenience. Electricity blackouts threaten key systems. 
Soaring temperatures without the relief of air-conditioning can leave 
elderly Americans vulnerable. The President's anti-conventional energy 
policies are not victimless. They have consequences, and we are well on 
our way to seeing those consequences in action.
  The solution here is simple. The President needs to stop undermining 
our Nation's energy supply with policies that attempt to prematurely 
push us onto renewables, and he needs to unleash American energy 
production, conventional as well as renewable.
  We did receive some good news on the energy production front last 
week with the passage of the debt ceiling agreement that the President 
reached with Speaker McCarthy. Thanks to the efforts of Speaker 
McCarthy, the Fiscal Responsibility Act makes a downpayment on 
permitting reform by placing a 2-year time limit on environmental 
impact statements and a 1-year time limit on environmental assessments. 
It also implements a ``one Federal decision'' framework that 
establishes a lead Agency and single document stream for permitting 
decisions. Currently, it takes an average of 4\1/2\ years--4\1/2\ 
years--for an environmental impact statement. These reforms will shrink 
that timeline and help both conventional and renewable energy projects 
get off the ground more quickly.
  However, there is more work to be done to streamline the permitting 
process, and I hope we will be able to find bipartisan agreement on 
further reforms. Bogging projects down in environmental review for half 
a decade provides no meaningful environmental advantages, delays 
valuable energy projects, and can discourage domestic energy 
production.
  Additional permitting reform should be a priority. Senators Capito 
and Barrasso have put forward comprehensive contributions to the 
discussion, the RESTART Act and the SPUR Act respectively. The House 
has passed H.R. 1, the Lower Energy Costs Act. Collectively, these 
bills would resume Federal lease sales for oil and gas developments, 
set timelines against endless legal challenges, and advance an 
American--American--``all of the above'' energy comeback.
  After 2\1/2\ years of demonstrated hostility to conventional energy 
production, the President seems unlikely to change his ways, but he 
still has time to embrace a more realistic approach to American energy. 
I hope that the increasing fragility of our electric grid--to say 
nothing of higher energy prices--will encourage him to take a more 
``all of the above'' approach to energy production. Otherwise, he may 
be remembered for presiding over not just an inflation crisis but an 
energy crisis as well.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.