Lower Energy Costs Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Madam Chair, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Carl), another member of the House Natural Resources Committee.

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Madam Chair, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Graves), who has offered so much positive input on the Lower Energy Costs Act. He is the author of the BUILDER Act and added so many other great provisions to this bill.

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Madam Chair, I checked. We are in the 118th Congress, even though our colleagues keep putting signs up to describe their so- called Inflation Reduction Act, the polluters over people act.

We also know they call this the climate bill. Even President Biden, in his State of the Union Address, talked about the $370 billion investment in climate in the Inflation Reduction Act. We know that giveaway is not $370 billion but now is being projected to be $1.2 trillion in outlays--again, increasing inflation, not reducing inflation.

Madam Chair, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Tiffany), who is the chairman of the Federal Lands Subcommittee of the Natural Resources Committee.

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Madam Chair, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Valadao), who understands what bad energy policy does to rural America.

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chair, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. James).

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chair, when I see the sign about selling out clean air, I think about the coal-powered plant per week that is being built in China so they can manufacture the minerals that we need here in America.

I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Williams), the chairman of the Small Business Committee.

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Guam (Mr. Moylan).

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield an additional 20 seconds to the gentleman from Guam.

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chairman, thanks to Democrat energy policies, Putin, Xi Jinping, and the crown prince of Saudi are the ones that are drilling and mining their way to prosperity at the expense of the American public.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Smith).

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Colorado (Mrs. Boebert), another member of the House Natural Resources Committee

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield the gentlewoman an 30 additional seconds.

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chair, may I inquire as to the time remaining.

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chair, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Oklahoma (Mrs. Bice), who knows a lot about diversified energy because Oklahoma has the most diversified energy portfolio of any State.

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chair, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. LaTurner).

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chair, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. LaMalfa), another member of the Natural Resources Committee.

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Wyoming (Ms. Hageman), another member of the House Natural Resources Committee and the chairwoman of the Indian and Insular Affairs Subcommittee.

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Wyoming.

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chair, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins), another member of the House Natural Resources Committee.

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chair, may I inquire again as to the time left.

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chair, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Duarte), another member of the House Natural Resources Committee.

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Newhouse), the chair of the Congressional Western Caucus.

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Ezell).

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from South Dakota (Mr. Johnson).

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota. Mr. Chairman, I spent 6 years as a State energy regulator, and our focus was always on safe, affordable, reliable energy because we knew that that could power American prosperity.

Indeed, this abundance of American energy that we have been talking about can be a huge American competitive advantage in an increasingly uncertain world. Unfortunately, we have made it so difficult to do big projects in this country anymore.

If you need a strong piece of evidence, look at President Biden's unilateral canceling of the Keystone XL pipeline. Unfortunately, that is not the only piece of evidence.

It takes 5 to 7 years to permit an energy project in this country. It is an almost uniquely American problem. That same energy project could get permitted in less than half the time in countries like Canada and Australia.

H.R. 1, Mr. Chairman, is a huge step in the right direction. It prevents the constant relitigation of projects and of reviews that have already been settled. It moves the NEPA process into the 21st century by making sure that we have got an online permitting portal for projects. It creates deadlines for NEPA and other environmental reviews. Imagine that, a shot clock, a deadline, to make sure the government's work is done on time. Then, Mr. Chairman, it unlocks American energy by allowing the Department of the Interior to resume energy leasing and to repeal restrictions on the export and import of natural gas.

Mr. Chair, the abundance of American energy is a huge American competitive advantage. H.R. 1 makes that so.

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Feenstra).

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bean).

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Jackson).

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Bergman).

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Mr. WESTERMAN. Mr. Chair, I yield myself the balance of my time for closing.

It is a time for choosing. It is a time to choose whether you want to be with America or if you want to be continually supporting our adversaries across the seas.

H.R. 1 provides a solution to a problem that Democrat energy policy has created. Democrat energy policy means energy dependence.

H.R. 1, the Lower Energy Costs Act, means energy independence for America.

Democrat energy policy is a threat to national security.

H.R. 1 secures our country, secures our country's energy, secures our country's minerals, secures our country's food supply, and secures our country's future as we move forward.

Democrat energy policy is bogged down with their very permitting processes.

H.R. 1 will relieve those permitting processes. It doesn't undermine any bedrock environmental laws. It actually makes the environmental laws work. It allows projects to be permitted. Green energy projects, American energy projects, roads, bridges, transportation corridors, ports, navigable waterways, all of those things are being held up by the permitting process. H.R. 1 will be a great step toward making things happen in America.

Mr. Chair, I encourage my colleagues to support H.R. 1, to lower energy costs for Americans, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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