Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRIFFITH. Mr. Chairman, my amendment is just plain and simple common sense. It addresses the importance of all types of research and development funding at the Department of Energy--specifically, the energy research conducted at the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management.

In my ideal world, I would have virtual parity between renewable energy and fuels and research on ways to reduce the environmental and climate impacts of fossil fuels.

Any effective plan to counter climate change and handle increased energy demand must take into account our Nation's vast supply of natural resources and our talent for technological innovation.

China is projected to increase its emissions for the foreseeable future and reportedly began construction in 2023 on coal units equivalent to 70 gigawatts of power. This statistic doesn't take into account the large number of coal-fired plants China is financing in Africa and other countries with emerging economies.

Rural folks in India do not have access to reliable, baseload electricity in their homes. India has begun using renewables, but to lift the poorest citizens up, they will have to increase their use of fossil fuels, like the particularly low-grade coal mined in their country.

In the developing world, more energy means more hope and less poverty. More hope and less poverty is a good thing. We really take it for granted in this country when we cut the lights on that we will have lights that turn on. We take that comfort for granted.

I don't blame folks in developing countries for using fossil fuels. Leaders in those countries would have a difficult case to make to choose to condemn their people to poverty because of a lack of energy.

We know that much of the world will continue to use fossil fuels for decades to come, and that is why the United States needs to be a leader in finding new ways to control emissions with carbon capture and better ways to control pollutants.

That is why DOE funding for fossil and renewable research is so important. We need to produce and export better, cleaner, more efficient energy technology.

DOE plays an important role in this R&D, but it can do more for fossil energy. Over the years, this research has borne some fruit, including projects, some at Virginia Tech and some at a company called MOVA in Pulaski County in my district, where researchers have been able to create more advanced filtration systems to be used on smokestacks of all varieties to take out pollutants.

In the past few fiscal years, the spread between the renewable energy research account and the fossil energy office has really gotten off kilter. In the underlying bill, $1.966 billion is appropriated for energy and efficiency and renewable energy while $857 million is appropriated for fossil energy.

I applaud Congressman Fleischmann for really closing that spread from the last fiscal year and working toward an increased focus on the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management.

I am advocating with this amendment that we shouldn't ignore our fossil fuel and carbon mitigation research. My amendment increases the fossil energy and carbon mitigation account by $8.75 million, or 1 percent, with an offset from the departmental expenses account.

I am not against renewable energy. I just believe we shouldn't put most of our eggs into one basket.

To meet expanding energy demand, a comprehensive, all-of-the-above energy policy must include robust funding for R&D at the Federal level. These funds will continue to shorten the timeline to really make clean energy and carbon mitigation technologies available for commercial use.

Mr. Chair, I urge all of my colleagues to support an all-of-the-above energy policy and, more importantly, an all-of-the-above research policy at DOE, and I ask them to vote in favor of this amendment.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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