Lower Energy Costs Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Chair, I thank the chairwoman for her leadership on this bill. The Lower Energy Costs Act is a product of countless hours of discussion between leadership, stakeholders, and our constituents, who are tired of higher costs for less reliable energy.

The United States has an incredible energy potential. We have vast resources of oil, natural gas, and other critical minerals essential for energy dominance.

Only a few years ago, we were a global leader in both oil and gas production. This was achieved through American innovation, domestic energy production, and investment from the private sector in developing our critical energy infrastructure.

Unfortunately, the Biden administration vowed to wage war on American energy. Starting on his very first day in office with the help of the Democrats here in Congress, the Biden administration has pursued radical rush-to-green energy policies that made energy less secure, less reliable, and more expensive for our constituents.

This has led to increased costs of energy and goods, hitting the most vulnerable the hardest. We should be about increasing the standard of living for Americans versus diminishing the standard of living that these anti-American energy policies actually do.

Energy is the foundation of everything in American life. When the cost of energy goes up, everything else does, as well. H.R. 1 should help America and will help America produce more, deliver more to our communities, and give us the ability to export and help our allies around the world.

The American people recognize this, and they are sick of choosing between paying their energy bills and putting food on the table, which is why they gave us the majority, to stop this radical energy agenda.

I am proud that my bill, Protecting American Energy Production Act, was included in this package. This provision will protect energy security and affordability by prohibiting the President from imposing a ban on hydraulic fracturing.

The discovery of natural gas through the shale revolution has made the United States a leader in energy production as well as emissions reduction and has allowed the United States of America, not our adversaries, to set the price of energy.

We are approaching the breaking point in our energy infrastructure. The so-called rush-to-green agenda has prevented the buildout of natural gas and other essential energy infrastructure, which is now reaching capacity. Many States, like my own State of South Carolina, are now at risk of approaching an energy deficit in the next few years if we don't immediately change our current regulatory framework.

Fortunately, H.R. 1 addresses these concerns by requiring States to raise legitimate water quality concerns for interstate pipelines and LNG export facilities through FERC's NEPA process instead of weaponizing section 401 of the Clean Water Act to block pipelines.

This change is critical to prevent the political agenda of States abusing section 401 to veto projects of national significance while preserving the ability of States to raise legitimate water quality concerns. New England States could finally get gas from the Marcellus shale instead of importing natural gas from Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and a lot of our other adversaries around the globe.

We have the resources here not only to meet our domestic demand but also to be a leading exporter globally.

Representative DeGette mentioned earlier about capacity and U.S. production and how that would limit available gas for American domestic energy production. The Progressive Policy Institute, which is far from a conservative think tank, put out an article, ``The Climate Case for Expanding U.S. Natural Gas Exports,'' which talks about using that domestically. I would ask you to read it.

This package also sets a framework to export our domestic resources so our allies will no longer have to rely on Vladimir Putin's energy oligarchy. The Democrats keep calling this the polluters over people act. That couldn't be further from the truth.

The reality is that their energy policies put Russia, China, OPEC+, and radical Green New Deal interests over the interests of the American people. The greatest beneficiaries of their policies are the CCP and Vladimir Putin.

Green New Deal policies leave us totally dependent on China for critical minerals that make all of our devices work. Even the green energy devices, wind and solar, need those critical minerals.

We have them here. We harvest them cleaner, more environmentally friendly than anywhere in the world. Let's produce them here. That is what H.R. 1 allows us to do.

H.R. 1 puts the American people first by unleashing American energy and securing our supply chains. It will increase American energy production and restore American energy leadership in the world. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Chair, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Latta).

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Chair, let me just say it is great to see the American people in the gallery for once listening to a debate on energy. It is so important to them.

Madam Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Idaho (Mr. Fulcher).

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Chair, I am glad the people at home are watching this on TV or here in person because they are learning that H.R. 1 is going to lower their energy costs.

Madam Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Weber), who is a valuable member of the Energy and Commerce Committee and whose State is a huge energy producer for our Nation.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Dunn), a new member on the Energy and Commerce Committee.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Chair, I am glad we have got so many members of the Energy and Commerce Committee to come down and show the American people how we are going to lower their energy costs.

I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Walberg), a real leader on the Energy and Commerce Committee.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Chair, the rush to disaster is this rush to green energy policies without thinking about the replacement source of power generation that can be provided by American-produced natural gas, delivered to where it needs to be to produce the power and help lower carbon emissions for America.

I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Rose).

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Cammack), who is a valuable member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Chair, it is funny. I see polluters over people act. We are talking about increasing natural gas production and delivery in this country. According to EIA data, switching to natural gas has accounted for as much as 61 percent of U.S. emissions reductions from 2005 to 2020.

More natural gas--cleaner burning, American-produced natural gas-- delivered to where it needs to go will help us lower carbon emissions and make America more energy secure.

Madam Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Allen).

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Chair, it is my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Bucshon), whose State is at the crossroads of America.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Chair, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Meuser), whose State includes the Marcellus shale, which has an immeasurable amount of natural gas.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Chair, exporting U.S.-produced, cleaner-burning natural gas to places like Vietnam and China, which allows them to take their coal-fired power plants offline, actually lowers carbon emissions globally.

Democrats say they care about carbon emissions globally. Exporting clean-burning natural gas will help do that.

Madam Chair, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Palmer).

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Chair, I applaud leadership for allowing this bill to go through regular order. It went through three committees, 21 bills, hearings, markups, amendments offered, and here we are today.

Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Joyce), who is from a huge area of Marcellus shale, producing so much natural gas for our Nation.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Obernolte), a new member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Balderson), who is a new member on the Energy and Commerce Committee, and whose State has the Marcellus shale. They are a big producer in oil, coal, hydro, nuclear, and a lot of other things.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Chair, I am glad to have the author of the bill on the floor, Mr. Scalise.

Mr. Chair, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from West Virginia (Mrs. Miller), my guardian angel.

Mrs. MILLER of West Virginia. Mr. Chair, President Biden's threat to veto H.R. 1 tells everything we need to know about the bill. It will unleash American energy and bring down energy costs.

H.R. 1, the Lower Energy Costs Act, is about increasing domestic production, permitting reform, streamlining energy exports, and reversing President Biden's anti-energy agenda.

In the first week of Joe Biden's Presidency, he stopped American energy production by halting needed permits for energy production and shutting down the Keystone pipeline, also sending home 300 West Virginians who were out there working. He drained our Strategic Petroleum Reserves while failing to fix the problems that he had created.

Americans are sick of these policies, which is why they elected a Republican majority to be a needed check on the Biden administration's war on American energy.

H.R. 1 is necessary to jump-start American energy production, and is one of many crucial energy policies that I am looking forward to supporting.

Mr. Chair, I wish to enter into a colloquy with the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise), my good friend, the majority leader.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentlewoman from West Virginia.

Mrs. MILLER of West Virginia. Mr. Chair, I thank Leader Scalise for taking the time to highlight such an important project. He has been a champion of American energy and the Mountain Valley pipeline is a great example of domestic energy production.

I am from an energy-producing State and I have seen and lived the effects of bad energy policy coming out of Washington, which is exactly why I came to Congress to fight for West Virginians and my like-minded fellow Americans.

Today, I am introducing the complete American pipelines act, a bill to complete the Mountain Valley pipeline and other America-first projects that have been needlessly held up by leftwing radical courts.

All gas from the Mountain Valley pipeline will supply domestic energy markets.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from West Virginia.

Mrs. MILLER of West Virginia. Mr. Chair, this means lower energy prices across the country as supply will dramatically increase. The Mountain Valley pipeline is crucial to American energy. Remember that Americans' energy security is our American security.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Curtis), the vice chairman of the Energy, Climate, and Grid Security Subcommittee.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), who is a Florida Gator.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Chairman, we should fix the grid and harden it from the EMP threats and other things, but while we are doing that, we need the pipeline infrastructure to get the resources to where they need to go, and that is in our communities so that baseload generation can happen.

Mr. Chairman, there is a gentleman from Ohio who understands energy. He is the chairman of the Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials Subcommittee on the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Johnson).

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source