Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. DAINES. Mr. President, today we will take steps to secure our Montana heritage and ``Made in Montana'' jobs. We will stand up for the Montana way of life.

Today we will pass a bill that for the first time would permanently reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund, an important piece of legislation ensuring that Montanans have access to public lands.

As a fifth generation Montanan and avid sportsman, I recognize how valuable public lands are and the importance of ensuring access for generations to come. In fact, during the summer recesses, when many Senators are traveling around the world, there is no better place that I like to be than the back country of Montana, like I was last summer with my wife, my son, and our dog Ruby in the Beartooth Wilderness. In Montana and throughout the country, the Land and Water Conservation Fund plays a critical role in achieving the goal of increased access and by helping to preserve and protect Montanans' opportunities to enjoy hunting, fishing, and other outdoor recreation.

LWCF keeps lands, like family ranches, in the family and working. It keeps forests in productive use through the Forest Legacy Program, such as in the Haskill Basin, where my good friend Chuck Roady of Stoltze Land and Lumber works. Today will be a victory for them--like Eric Grove of Great Divide Cyclery in Helena, MT, who has built his mountain bike business around the South Hills Trail System outside of Helena, facilitated by LWCF.

There are many other small businesses like Eric's in Montana that depend on our thriving outdoor economy.

This bill will also streamline the permitting for the export of liquefied natural gas, allowing more American energy to power the world.

Montana is the fifth largest producer of hydropower in the Nation, and we have 23 hydroelectric dams. This bill strengthens our Nation's hydropower development by defining hydro as a renewable fuel. Only in Washington, DC, would hydro not be defined as a renewable source of energy. I am glad to see we will get that cleared up with this bill today. This is great news for Montana, and it is well overdue.

This energy bill will establish a pilot project to streamline drilling permits if less than 25 percent of the minerals within the spacing unit are Federal minerals. That is of particular importance to Montana, given the patchwork of land and mineral ownership in the Bakken.

This bill will improve Federal permitting of critical and strategic mineral production, which supports thousands of good-paying Montana jobs and is essential to our national security and international competitiveness. The absence of just one critical mineral or metal could disrupt entire technologies, entire industries, and create a ripple effect throughout our entire economy.

For example, Stillwater mines in Montana is one of the only sources of palladium and platinum in the world. Currently, the United States has one of the longest and most arduous permitting processes for critical minerals in the world. This bill helps address those concerns.

Metal and nonmetal mining also has directly created more than 16,000 good-paying Montana jobs. In fact, mining overall helps support more than 22,000 jobs across Montana.

In Montana, energy supports thousands of good-paying jobs for union workers, for tribal members. Access to our State's one-of-a-kind public lands is critical to our State's tourism economy and our way of life. We in Montana say we work, but we also like to play, striking the right balance towards responsible natural resource development as well as protecting our public lands.

With today's passage of the energy bill, we will help unleash Montana's and our country's energy potential and uphold our country's commitment to conservation.

I urge adoption of the bill and commend Chairman Murkowski for her leadership.

Thank you, Mr. President.

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