Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act of 2014

Floor Speech

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Mr. President, I rise to offer an amendment to the unemployment insurance legislation we are currently considering. While we all want to help those who are unemployed, the real solution is to get them a job, is to create a growing economy and more jobs. We need to get this economy going. One way we can do it is by empowering our energy sector.

That does not mean spending more government money. What it means is taking the shackles off billions in private investment that is ready to go into energy development in this country. In 2011, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce commissioned a study. The study took a look at the energy projects that are stalled in this country due to government bureaucracy and redtape.

That study found there are more than 350 energy projects, projects that will both produce renewable energy as well as projects that will produce traditional energy that are stalled at a cost of $1.1 trillion to the American economy, at a cost of almost 2 million jobs for the American people.

I want to take a minute to read from that report:

In aggregate, planning and construction of the subject projects would generate $577 billion in direct investments, calculated in current dollars. The indirect and induced effect, where we apply the multiplier, would generate an approximate $1.1 trillion increase in U.S. Gross Domestic Product, GDP, including $352 billion in employment earnings based on present discounted value over an average construction period of 7 years.

Furthermore, we estimate that as many as 1.9 million jobs would be required during each year of construction.

Two million jobs. Many of these projects are still blocked by government redtape and the permitting process. That is why I have introduced a States First All-of-the Above Energy Plan for our country to get these projects going. If you think about it, it just makes sense. The States, after all, are the laboratories of democracy. Let's make them the laboratories of energy for our country.

The right energy plan is about much more than just energy. It means economic growth, it means national security, and it means jobs--jobs for those who are currently unemployed and jobs at a good wage. Today I am offering amendments to the unemployment insurance legislation that will do all of those things.

The first one I wish to talk about for a minute is the Energy Security Act. I am pleased to join with the senior Senator from Wyoming Mr. Barrasso and also our ranking member on the Energy Committee, Senator Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, as well as other cosponsors on the legislation, Senator John Cornyn of Texas, obviously a big energy-producing State, Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, and Senator David Vitter of Louisiana.

What the Energy Security Act does, quite simply, is first it approves the Keystone XL project. This is a more than $5 billion pipeline that has been in the permitting process now for more than 5 years. We are now in the sixth year of the permitting process trying to get a permit from the administration. We have thousands of pipelines all across this country, millions of miles of pipeline, and here is a project that for 6 years the administration has held in limbo.

The latest greatest technology moves Canadian oil, our closest ally, Canada, moves oil from Canada as well as oil from my State, North Dakota, and Montana to refineries across the United States. We import 50 percent of our oil. Do Americans want to get that from the Middle East or do they want to produce it here in our country and get it from our closest friend and ally, Canada? That is an obvious answer. That is why in poll after poll, 3 to 1, Americans want this project approved. But it remains in limbo, now in its sixth year of the permitting process on the part of the administration.

So when I talk about those 350 projects, when I talk about $1.1 trillion in GDP, when we talk about almost 2 million American jobs that study performed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce identified, you can see what they are talking about when you talk about this project that has been held up now into the sixth year.

The legislation, the Energy Security Act, would approve that project, but it would also approve the 24 pending applications that would allow us to export LNG, liquefied natural gas, to our allies who need that help. Right now in this country we produce 30 trillion cubic feet of natural gas a year. We consume about 26 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. That is growing rapidly. Believe me, I know. We are flaring off natural gas in our State that we want to get to market. We need a market for that product. But right now we are not allowed to export liquefied natural gas to countries such as the NATO countries.

Look what is going on in Eastern Europe, such as what Russia is doing in Ukraine. What is next? One of the reasons Russia is able to take that kind of action and the European Union is reluctant to put sanctions in place as a response is because Europe, Ukraine, are dependent on Russia for natural gas for energy. Over one-third of the supply of the EU's energy comes from Russia.

So we have an opportunity here. We can create economic activity. We can create jobs. We can use that natural gas we produce beyond what we need here at home to help our allies and at the same time stand up to Russian aggression. That is why I say this is about jobs. This is about getting our economy growing. But this is also very much about national security, our national security here at home, energy security for our country, but also security working with our allies to stand up against the kind of aggression we see from Russia and from President Putin right now.

In terms of jobs, the Obama administration's State Department, their own State Department, has estimated the Keystone XL Pipeline during the construction phase will create more than 40,000 jobs. That is just that one project, more than 40,000 jobs. If you look at some of the studies, very conservative studies on job creation that will occur by approving these LNG applications, the National Economic Research Associates identifies more than 45,000 jobs that would be created by expediting approval of those permits.

Let me give you two examples so you understand the magnitude of what we are dealing with here. Cheniere Energy wants to invest $11 billion in an export facility at Corpus Cristi, TX. That is not one penny of government spending--not one penny. We have a huge deficit and we have a huge debt. We have got to get on top of it. That means controlling our spending, but that means we have to have economic growth.

So here are companies willing to invest and create jobs and create economic growth and create tax revenues--not raising taxes, creating tax revenue. Why in the world do we hold them up? How does that make sense? How is that common sense? Here we are on an unemployment insurance bill where we are going to spend more government money to pay people who remain unemployed when we could approve these projects and put them back to work at good-paying jobs. Instead of growing the deficit, we could actually create tax revenues from a growing economy--again, not higher taxes, from a growing economy that helps reduce our deficit and debt.

So the Cheniere Energy project, $1 billion investment facility in Corpus Christi, creates a market for some of the natural gas that is now being flared off, according to the Perryman Group, 3,000 direct construction jobs, far more indirect jobs during the construction phase. Here is another project. Exxon wants to build the Golden Pass LNG facility at Sabine, TX, which is on the border between Texas and Louisiana. That is a $10 billion investment. Perryman Group estimates that between both the direct construction jobs and indirect jobs, on the order of 45,000 jobs for that project during construction, almost 4,000 permanent jobs.

So you can see when we talk about NERA, the National Economic Research Associates, saying, hey, there are going to be 45,000 jobs for these projects, that is a very conservative estimate. It creates so much more--not just good-paying jobs but also a growing economy, cash revenues to help with the deficit and national security, and security working with our allies at a critical time, a critical time in Eastern Europe.

In addition, I have offered other legislation I filed, that I am now offering as an amendment to this unemployment insurance bill--again, legislation that will create jobs and help people get back to work.

The second one I want to mention is the Empower States Act. The Empower States Act gives primary regulatory responsibility to the States when it comes to regulating hydraulic fracturing. The reality is, a Federal one-size-fits-all approach does not work for hydraulic fracturing, because the way hydraulic fracturing is done across this country is different in different States. The way they hydraulically fracture in States, for example, in West Virginia, where they are going after natural gas is very different than the way they do it in North Dakota where we are going after oil. We drill down 2 miles, 2 miles vertical drill bore to reach the oil, and then we drill out for miles at that level.

We produce primarily oil and natural gas--huge amounts of natural gas and gas liquids as a byproduct--but we are miles away from any potable water, which is much closer to the surface, so it is very safe. The water that is produced--both the frack water as well as the water that comes up with that oil and natural gas--we put back downhole through saltwater disposal wells, in essence recycling the water. Anything that can't be reused goes back downhole and that creates a recycling process.

That is different than the way it is done in the Marcellus shale in places such as New York, Pennsylvania, and it is different than the way it is done in West Virginia and different than the way it is done in the Utica shale in Ohio. There are some similarities with the way it is done in Texas in the Eagle Ford, where they also drill for oil.

But the point is, the way this is done, the technologies that are used, even the product we are going after--and certainly the formations are different across the country.

When we put a Federal one-size-fits-all approach in place, it doesn't work. Not only does it not do the job in terms of making sure we have the right kind of regulation, it holds up projects. It prevents job creation. It doesn't allow our economy to grow. It doesn't empower us to produce the energy that could be produced across this country with the right approach, with the right energy plan.

As far as job creation, our State is now the fastest growing State. We have the lowest unemployment, and we have the fastest growing economy, 7.6 percent in the most recent statistic versus a 2.6-percent average for the other States. Again, this is about creating a growing economy. It is about creating jobs.

Also, I am offering the Domestic Energy and Jobs Act legislation I filed as an amendment to this bill. DEJA is a series of bills that has already passed the House. This is all legislation that has already passed the House. So we know if we can get a vote in the Senate, the legislation we can pass in the Senate has already gone through the House. We are already a huge distance on the journey to getting this done.

What does the Domestic Energy and Jobs Act do? It does exactly what the title says. It reduces the regulatory burden, it sets goals, it helps us produce more energy and create jobs.

For example, we establish an American energy development plan for Federal lands. We have all of these Federal lands--millions and millions of acres of Federal land both onshore and offshore. The Department of Interior should have a plan to develop energy on those public lands, and they should set goals to do so. This legislation would require them to do just that.

We freeze and study the impact of EPA rules on gasoline regulations. That benefits all Americans at the pump, not only small businesses that are looking to hire people but families, all consumers.

We provide onshore oil and gas leasing certainty, meaning that the Department of Interior has to approve the permits within a stipulated, reasonable period of time. It advances offshore wind production. This is about producing renewable energy as well as traditional energy. It streamlines the permitting process. It provides access to the National Petroleum Reserve for development in Alaska. It requires the BLM to hold live Internet auctions. Let's use this new technology to encourage investment in job creation and energy development in new and creative ways.

It establishes rules on surface mining that make sense, commonsense rules. It increases States' revenue sharing for Outer Continental Shelf drilling, offshore drilling, and it also offers lease sales off the Virginia coast.

Clearly, developing these new areas creates revenue for the States, creates revenues for the Federal Government, creates more energy for our country, and creates more jobs--not spending Federal money, investing hundreds of billions of private dollars that are currently sidelined in these new and exciting projects.

Finally, I am offering the stream buffer rule legislation that I filed as a stand-alone bill. I am offering that as an amendment as well to this UI bill. The Department of Interior wants to implement a Federal one-size-fits-all rule for stream buffer zones, meaning mining proximity to rivers and streams. Again, a one-size-fits-all, one-size Federal approach for every situation does not work. Allow the States to take the primary role in regulating the stream buffer zones and let them do what makes sense.

With all of this legislation, we can empower hundreds of billions in private investment. We can put that investment in good old-fashioned American ingenuity into getting our country going, getting our economy growing, and getting our people back to work.

We can do it. The way we can get started is simply by voting. That is what we do in the Senate. That is what we do in this Senate forum. Let us put forward our ideas and let's have a vote. If it passes, we can do these things. But why in the world wouldn't we get a vote? That is what this body is all about. Let's have the debate. Come to the floor and let's have a debate. Let's debate each one of these and a lot more. That is what we do. Then let's vote. That is how we will decide. That is what the American people expect us to do. They sent us to the Senate to do just that.

The question I have is why aren't we voting on these amendments and a lot more if we are serious about getting people back to work? If somebody wants to come down and refute this, come on down, do it, and then let's vote.

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