[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 49 (Wednesday, March 20, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H1239-H1240]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       LOOKING BEYOND OIL AND GAS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Peters) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PETERS. Mr. Speaker, the majority is once again choosing to 
engage in a partisan, unproductive, and unserious messaging exercise 
that they have dubbed energy week.
  In 2023, the United States produced more oil and gas than any other 
country ever and exported unprecedented amounts of liquefied natural 
gas to our allies across the world.
  Simultaneously, 2023 was a record year for combined utility-scale 
solar, wind, and energy storage installations across the country. These 
clean energy projects can be found in nearly all congressional 
districts in all 50 States.
  My friends on the other side of the aisle claim to be champions of an 
all-of-the-above energy strategy, but they are completely silent about 
these massive accomplishments that are not only driving significant 
investments to areas across the country but are producing cheap, clean, 
American energy.
  This is probably because so many of these wins were made possible by 
the historic bills House Democrats passed last Congress, like the 
Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
  I was proud to include in those bills several of my priorities, 
including combating methane emissions and encouraging the development 
of transmission infrastructure by ensuring the Federal Government has 
the tools it needs to step in and stop excessive permitting delays.
  However, the laws we passed last Congress will not be enough. We are 
facing extraordinary growth in energy demand from electric vehicles, 
AI, data centers, and the reshoring of domestic manufacturing, again 
thanks to the efforts and leadership of President Biden and his 
administration.
  However, we are lagging far behind China, which is dwarfing us in 
manufacturing, construction of clean energy resources, and the 
extraction and refining of critical minerals like nickel and cobalt.
  We need an unprecedented level of clean energy development and 
deployment to meet our climate goals and avoid catastrophe.
  If the majority is interested in talking about a long-term energy 
strategy to maintain affordability and reliability, we need to finally 
talk about transmission and the grid.
  We also need to work on speed. We will still fail if we let all the 
money we have set aside sit in the bank by making good energy projects 
wait years for permits to come through and further delays if bad actors 
and nervous neighbors take them to court again and again.
  It is extremely frustrating that during energy week, we are actually 
taking the time to vote on whether strong regulations on methane 
emissions are even necessary or whether oil and gas producers should 
cover the cost of unplugged or abandoned wells.
  Are you kidding me? Of course we need to regulate methane, and of 
course oil and gas companies should pay to clean up for the messes that 
they made.
  How can Republicans say they support clean American energy while 
simultaneously fighting against commonsense regulations on methane and 
not even engaging on how to expand and upgrade the grid?
  The bills we are considering this week take us farther away from the 
solutions to the problems we are facing, and I am proud to oppose every 
single one of them.
  Our country prides itself on accomplishing big things together, 
whether it is winning world wars, constructing an interstate highway 
system, or discovering the next big medical breakthrough.
  We should be voting on my FASTER Act, so transmission lines aren't 
stuck jumping between local, State, and Federal agencies for the 
permits they need.
  We need to thoughtfully streamline the judicial review process for 
all energy projects so that developers, agencies, and petitioners 
aren't in limbo for years. We need certainty, not an unreliable and 
inefficient review process. Everything I have said about that today 
could and should be bipartisan.
  Mr. Speaker, I will say to my Republican colleagues that we should 
look beyond just oil and gas and truly invest in an all-of-the-above 
energy

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strategy that looks to the future instead of clinging onto the past.

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