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Floor Speech

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Mr. HOEVEN. Madam President, I am pleased to join my colleague from Nebraska and others in discussing the importance of continuing to develop our energy resources here in North Dakota. We have the most abundant energy resources in the world, and we need to use all of them to develop and continue to build an ``all of the above'' energy policy.

Much of the Nation continues to experience very cold temperatures--in some cases, really record cold temperatures. In my State of North Dakota, coal typically provides 35 to 40 percent of the 24/7 baseload power generation to not only our State but to other States in the region. We supply both the MISO and the SPP power pools with energy for our region that they can count on 24/7--baseload energy. In the coldest times or in the hottest times--at peak energy times--they know that those baseload powerplants are going to be there to keep the lights on, to keep the heat going, and to provide whatever other power needs are called for. That is 24/7 baseload power provided all the time.

Also, not only is it 24/7 energy when needed and at peak times, but according to the Energy Information Office, in their October 23 report, North Dakotans paid the lowest electricity prices in the country--the lowest in the country. Let's compare that, for example, to California. California paid four times as much for electricity during the same time period.

My colleague from Nebraska just talked about electric vehicles. Well, you need charging stations for those electric vehicles. Where is that electricity going to come from? Particularly, where is it going to come from at times when you have peak power needs? You still need that electricity for all of these different purposes.

We have to recognize that, even as we develop new technologies and do all of these things that people want, we have got to have that baseload power coming from somewhere. We simply can't take our baseload energy-- our coal-fired electric--for granted, and our other sources have to be there. Again, we continue to develop new technologies and continue to press for the best possible environmental stewardship, but we have got to recognize that we need more energy and that we have got to continue to use all of our resources to generate that energy.

Access to affordable and reliable energy is not only a quality-of- life issue but, obviously, a public safety issue, and we have seen that with these record cold temperatures. That includes keeping our homes warm and our businesses running. It includes keeping the lights on for our critical infrastructure like hospitals, schools, police, fire departments, and many, many other public services that we depend on every single day.

But the reality is our electric grid only works when there is sufficient power generation available to meet demand in realtime. You can't not have that energy when you need it and expect the grid to keep working, and of course those vital needs to be met.

In its ``2023 Long-Term Reliability Assessment,'' the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, or NERC, as it is commonly referred to, is warning that our grid--our power grid--continues to face higher risks of blackouts and brownouts because of planned powerplant retirements alongside rising electricity demand.

Again, think about this. Whether it is electric vehicles, whether it is your computer or data processor, whatever it may be, we can continue to develop all of these new things--these new technologies and all of these things we want to do--but you have got to have the power to run them. When you go into the house and flip on that switch, where is that electricity coming from? People take it for granted, but if we don't have the baseload out there, you can't take it for granted because it won't happen.

FERC's Commissioners emphasized these concerns in testimony before our Senate Energy Committee last year, of which I am a member, and that included Commissioner Christie, who noted:

The United States is heading for a reliability crisis.

Once again, Commissioner Christie--one of the FERC Commissioners-- said specifically in front of our Energy Committee that the United States is heading for a reliability crisis because of the lack of baseload generation. We need to take this seriously. It is a national security issue.

Despite these warnings, the Biden administration's Green New Deal approach and regulations continue to accelerate the problem. This includes the EPA's proposed Clean Power Plan 2.0 and an unworkable MATS standard--new rules that seek to drive up the cost of operations for our powerplants. Of course, at some point, those powerplants are no longer economical, and that forces them to shut down.

In addition to its powerplant regulations, the EPA is proposing a new methane regulation, including, in just this past week, a new tax on methane. That was authorized by the IRA legislation. Again, it is a tax that is not only going to reduce supply but that will drive up costs on consumers. Somebody has to pay for that. It gets passed down the line, and consumers pay for it. That means higher electricity costs--not only less electricity, less energy but higher costs to consumers.

The Interior Department continues to restrict access to our taxpayer- owned energy reserves, which also drives up the cost of energy production because we produce energy on Federal lands as well as on private lands. Producing less energy here at home means higher costs, but it also makes us dependent on sources of energy from other parts of the world--in many cases, parts of the world that are unstable and have environmental standards that are vastly inferior to our own here in this country.

Once again, we have got to find ways to make American energy production less expensive and more reliable. That means producing the energy here at home. That means having an environment that encourages energy development, not more regulation and more taxes which make it harder to produce energy and drive up costs. That means energy from all sources--right?--meaning tradition and renewable--all sources with the latest technology.

So, again, if we are going to continue to develop all of these wonderful new things that we want to utilize, we are going to have to have the energy to make sure that we can power them. We are going to have to have the energy to make sure that, on the coldest day, we are comfortable in our homes for our families and all of those we care about.

In my State of North Dakota, we have over 700 years of coal supply alone, and we are developing the latest, greatest technology to produce that coal and are doing it so that we have baseload electricity, dependable low cost, and the best environmental stewardship. We continue to do that. America leads the world in this kind of innovation. Let's empower that. Let's empower that. It is, again, all about our country producing electricity here at home so that we are truly not only energy independent but energy dominant.

In fact, developing resources like natural gas and LNG helps our allies so they are not depending on countries like Russia or countries that are adversarial to us and our allies but rather that are working together--America and our allies--on important things like energy development. We can do that, and that is the kind of thing that we should be doing.

A little over a decade ago, we cracked the code on the shale production. In places like the Bakken in my State of North Dakota and at the Permian in Texas, we have produced incredible amounts of energy as a result. Again, that is not only important in terms of our economy, it makes sure that we don't have to get energy from places like OPEC. We all know the incredible problems that that has created for us through the years when we can't produce that energy at home and have to look at players like OPEC.

The fact remains that coal, oil, and natural gas remain vital to our economic interests and to our national security because these resources are reliable and energy-dense compared, in many cases, to renewable energy, which only provides energy part of the time.

What do you do when you need energy and the Sun isn't shining and you are only dependent on solar energy? What do you do when you need energy, and you are relying on wind power, and the wind isn't blowing? We have got to have this baseload electricity.

Again, this is common sense. This is about having an energy policy that truly empowers this country to produce more energy; to do it with the best environmental stewardship; to make it reliable, dependable, affordable; to make sure it is there 24/7, every day--on the coldest day, on the hottest day--for whatever those growing needs are. Let's make sure we have that energy here at home. Let's not just be energy independent but energy dominant. We can do that in this country, and we need to do it in this country.

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