Propane Education and Research Enhancement Act of 2014

Floor Speech

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Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas, and a special thank you to my friend, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Latta).

This is a commonsense piece of legislation, but I think it is important to note, for many of us, and my colleague mentioned, last year when the propane shortage came, folks can prepare--and we understand out in Ohio and Minnesota with our harsh winters that you prepare for these things--but the situation with propane came so quickly and so fast that the imposition that it made in some cases could have become life threatening, where propane tanks were running empty and families were counting on it to heat their homes. We have a lot of agricultural uses in drying our row crops where it is critically important, and I think it is important to note that at that time the gentleman from Ohio stood up and became a national leader on this issue and I think helped not only alleviate at the time but start doing things like this looking to the future.

This is what we should be doing. This is smart, making sure that our markets work correctly and making sure that the intent of Congress is followed and making sure that our consumers are well served. I thank you for that. I think this is exactly what our constituents expect. I know there are a lot of folks in southern Minnesota who have benefited from this.

This is a fairly simple fix. It comes from a misinterpretation. But I think the point that the gentleman has brought up that is critically important, markets are starting to function. We are seeing this, but this is an education piece. I think when we educate the public right on this, and you heard some of the implications of that, by not doing that, when they stopped all education on this, the propane shortage of last winter came quickly. It came fast, and it had immediate repercussions.

I would say once we correct this deficiency, amend it, it will make a difference. It will enable the propane industry to use its resources to mitigate price spikes, and it will more accurately let consumers know what the price of propane is.

So I think this is a fairly simple fix. But nothing is simple in Congress, as we know, and nothing is simple when you are dealing with a complex commodity such as propane. But I do think that as we move into this winter, knocking on wood is one thing, but leadership like the gentleman from Ohio has shown is also helping us.

I encourage my colleagues to support this commonsense piece of legislation and move this forward. Again, this is what we are sent here to do, to try to make things a little bit better and make sure our markets function correctly and make sure our constituents are being educated correctly.

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