Providing for Consideration of H.R. 1965, Federal Land Jobs and Energy Security Act, and Providing for Consideration of H.R. 2728 Protecting States' Rights to Promote American Energy Security Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. FLORES. I thank Mr. Bishop for the time to discuss this rule and the important underlying legislation.

Mr. Speaker, everyone, Republicans and Democrats, like to talk about clean, affordable natural gas. Yet, the Bureau of Land Management has proposed duplicative Federal regulations on the very technology that has facilitated the shale energy revolution, and that is hydraulic fracturing.

States have a proven record in regulating hydraulic fracturing for over 60 years. Obama administration officials are already on the record stating that hydraulic fracturing is safe and that States have a strong role in its regulation.

The proposed BLM regulation of hydraulic fracturing on Federal lands appears to be a solution in search of a problem that does not exist.

The legislation that I have cosponsored with Mr. Cuellar, H.R. 2728, would stop this Federal overreach by recognizing States' authority to regulate hydraulic fracturing and prohibit the Interior Department from enforcing its proposed regulations in any States that already have a regulatory protocol for this technology.

There are already existing Federal regulations that apply to other energy activities on Federal lands. The tradition of States having a primary role in developing our onshore energy resources has contributed immeasurably to our shale energy revolution, however, and imposing another Federal one-size-fits-all-approach only hampers domestic energy production.

The Federal Government already takes 10 times longer to issue an energy activity permit than States do. Why would we want to give these bureaucrats any more flexibility or tools to deter activity on taxpayer-owned lands? After all, over the last 5 years, natural gas production on Federal lands is down over 20 percent, and the rest of the country has seen dramatic increases.

States are better able to decide how to craft environmentally responsible regulations that reflect both the geology and the water needs of their States. This is why American energy development continues to thrive on private lands and State lands, despite the decrease on Federal lands.

If left unchecked, the new BLM regulations are only the beginning of more Federal overreach that will eventually hamper production on private land.

We are in the midst of an energy transformation, Mr. Speaker, in the way that we produce energy in this country. This energy revolution has created hundreds of thousands of well-paying American jobs in the industry.

More importantly, however, energy from abundant, safe, affordable, and clean natural gas has put America in a position to be globally competitive in manufacturing, where we can create millions of great middle class jobs while simultaneously meaningfully decreasing greenhouse gas emissions, as we have seen over the last decade or so.

Today's rule provides for the legislation that helps us responsibly develop our taxpayer-owned energy resources, and we will later consider legislation that will bring energy to the marketplace.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the rule, and I urge support for the underlying legislation.

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