Domestic Energy and Jobs Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. McKINLEY. Mr. Chairman, under this legislation, Congress creates a Transportation Fuels Regulatory Committee with the Secretary of Energy chairing the committee.
My amendment is simple. It will require the Secretary and the committee, during their deliberation, to consult and receive input from the National Energy Technology Laboratory.
If we're going to analyze and report on the impacts of the rules and actions of the EPA on our Nation's fossil fuels, then we should make sure that the committee established under this legislation consults with our Nation's fossil energy laboratory. NETL is our only governmental research, design, and developmental laboratory dedicated to domestic energy sources. It's only fitting we make that they are included in this process.
NETL works with academia on over 275 projects across this country, as well as private entities, having provided over 450 projects in 2011, nearly 400 private sector projects, and over 100 not-for-profit laboratories. NETL's work in 2011 alone provided over 2,000 projects, 89,000 jobs, and over $18 billion in total funding in every State in every congressional district.
NETL's research and development into our transportation fuel sector began back in 1918 in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, with petroleum research. In fact, synthetic gas research began at NETL in 1946.
To note some other successes, NETL worked in conjunction with academia and private industry to develop horizontal drilling in our Nation's natural gas fields.
Now, some say that Secretary Chu, being the chairman of this committee, will consult with his own fossil energy team. Maybe that's true, Mr. Chairman, but this is the same Secretary of Energy who has worked with President Obama to slash our fossil energy research budget by 40 percent over each of the last 2 years. This is the same Secretary of Energy who should be promoting coal, oil and gas, but, instead, makes derogatory comments, such as ``coal is my worst nightmare.''
What we can do here today is ensure that the Transportation Fuels Committee and the Secretary consult with our government's fossil energy experts. If you support having input from government, private sector, and academia experts, then support of this amendment would be appreciated.
Mr. Chairman, I also wish to thank Chairman Upton for his support of this.
I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. McKINLEY. By the way, I'm just a little happy right now. I just got a text that my grandson won his baseball game tonight, 15 14. It's a tournament he's playing in. So be nice over there now.
Mr. Chairman, once again I would like to reference the Transportation Fuels Regulatory Committee created by H.R. 4480. My amendment will look at the analysis that the committee will develop.
One of the problems our oil and gas industry faces is the vast, ideologically motivated regulations they must endure. However, other nations do not seem to impose such overburdensome policies and regulations upon them. Instead, countries in the Middle East and Asia promote their oil and gas industries and work to make it easier for these countries to get their gas products to market.
This amendment would require the committee to conduct an analysis of other nations' regulations, policies and enforcements, or lack thereof, of their oil and gas industries. Saudi Arabia, China, and India do not overwhelm their oil and gas industries with excessive regulations. They help them to thrive.
This committee needs to look at what these other nations are doing to grow, stabilize and sustain their oil and gas industries, and ultimately compare it to what we're doing here in the United States. We ought to help our industry, and this amendment helps to show how we can improve and stop hindering development of our natural resources.
Ultimately, I offered this amendment because we are supposed to be a Nation leading by example over the rest of the world. With this economy and millions of people unemployed or underemployed we really ought to be saying to our regulators, just because you can doesn't mean you should. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.
Mr. Chairman, again, I wish to thank Chairman Upton for his support of this amendment and the opportunity to offer it here.
I yield back the balance of my time.
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