Blog: CODEL Diary: Bipartisan Delegation Examines Global Energy Challenges, U.S. Opportunities for Energy Diplomacy
Press Release
Earlier this month Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) led a high-level bipartisan delegation from the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce to key energy and policy hubs overseas. With the U.S. emerging as the world's leading energy producer, and the committee currently preparing major energy reform legislation with a focus on energy diplomacy, the members participated in a series of meetings with high-ranking officials and site visits to gather information about the energy challenges facing our allies. Throughout their visits the members discussed opportunities to help provide secure, stable supplies amid growing energy threats through American energy resources.
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We embarked on a mission to share our energy strength with our allies, and we came away with a profound new understanding of just how vital these partnerships can be," said Upton. "In established parts of the European Union, leaders are coming together to promote a unified energy market because of its potential for security, affordability, and innovation. In Ukraine, where the commitment to freedom and democracy is hard-fought each and every day, their energy aspirations are fundamental to their dreams for a peaceful future. We share their dreams and recognize their struggle. We applaud those who are making a difference on the ground. And we stand ready to extend the hand of friendship and the tools of diplomacy to move toward a brighter future."
Lisbon and Sines, Portugal
The delegation made its first stop in Portugal, identifying the nation as a case study in how European countries are working to diversify their energy portfolios. This includes efforts to diversify the energy sources they produce and consume internally, and to expand the number of countries around the world from which they import energy supplies. Members met with Deputy Energy Minister Artur Trindade and discussed how the Iberian Peninsula could support greater energy diversity, interconnectivity, and security for the European Union. Specifically, he noted that Portugal and Spain have made major investments in energy infrastructure, including LNG import terminals and renewables, and that the two countries could potentially export enough energy to the rest of Europe to replace 80 percent of the Russian gas Europe currently relies on.
Members then traveled to the Port of Sines to see Portugal's sole LNG terminal and regasification facility. Sines is a deep water port approximately 150 km from Lisbon with a series of terminals and nearby energy infrastructure. Members received a briefing and site tour and engaged in discussion with the plant operators about how an expansion in U.S. LNG exports would affect global energy prices and supplies, and what this would mean for bargaining power and influence with nations like Russia that currently dominate the European energy markets. Other topics of discussion in the meeting included safety and security, including cybersecurity, for Portugal's energy infrastructure. Finally, the members met with the Portuguese National Gas Association and discussed the country's changing energy mix and the consequences of its energy market reforms. Amid significant growth in renewable energy production, the nation has simultaneously seen an increase in the share of coal-fired generation even as it works to implement various EU emissions and efficiency targets, showing the overall role of pricing and reliability as factors in energy market decisions.
Brussels, Belgium
As host to the key institutions of the European Union, Brussels was the next logical stop for the Energy and Commerce delegation and its exploration of European energy market aspirations. The members began their visit with a trip to NATO headquarters for a meeting with U.S. Ambassador to NATO Douglas Lute. Ambassador Lute briefed the members and engaged in a dialogue about the overall security situation in Europe, with an emphasis on the role of energy in ongoing tensions and opportunities to strengthen the U.S.-EU relationship. Members also heard from representatives of the Energy Security Section, NATO Emerging Security Challenges Division.
Other visits in Brussels included meetings with the key leadership and organizational units in the European Commission and European Parliament engaged in energy security and policy reforms. At the Commission level, this included meeting with Maro efčovič, Vice President for the Energy Union, and a discussion with the Head of Cabinet and key advisors to the Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy. Within the European Parliament, the Energy and Commerce delegation met with representatives from numerous European nations representing energy and other policy concerns; they also joined a counterpart committee, the Committee on Industry, Research, and Energy (ITRE), for a formal dialogue with the panel's leaders.
Kyiv, Ukraine
The Energy and Commerce Committee delegation concluded its mission in Ukraine, a nation grappling with immense security and economic challenges. Joined by Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt, the delegation met with a wide range of the Ukrainian reform government's top officials including Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Minister of Defense Stepan Poltorak, Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn, and Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko. Continuing the trip's emphasis on legislator-to-legislator dialogue, the delegation also joined members of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) Foreign Affairs Committee for an action-oriented discussion about how the next generation of Ukrainian leaders is working toward partnership and eventual membership in the European Union as it pursues freedom, democracy, and economic stability and strength for its people.
The discussion in Ukraine focused extensively on the nation's energy challenges and the steps the government is taking -- some simple, some transformative -- to ease the grip of Russia and provide citizens with affordable, reliable power. One member of the Foreign Affairs Committee put the challenge in stark terms: "If we fail in introducing energy reforms, it will be the end of democracy." They discussed a wide range of solutions, from greater energy efficiency and usage monitoring through the installation of meters to diversification of its coal and natural gas supplies. Echoing what the delegation heard in the European Union, the Ukrainians emphasized that introduction of greater U.S. energy exports to the global market would have profound consequences, not necessarily through direct exports to targeted nations, but because of the power of competition to drive down prices and increase the negotiating power of countries that are otherwise at the mercy of energy-dominant regimes.
Conclusions
Members of the delegation were struck by how energy instability threatens democracy and economic prosperity around the world. They were also heartened by the outpouring of appreciation and collaboration from our allies, who are optimistic about a future in which we can partner together to secure affordable, efficient, and reliable energy supplies. A major element of the committee's Architecture of Abundance energy initiative is "Energy Diplomacy in a Changing World," a goal whose importance only grows amid energy threats around the globe. Continue following the committee's energy reforms online and stay tuned for more information about bipartisan efforts toward energy diplomacy
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