Terminating the National Emergency Declared with Respect to Energy

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, I am pleased to come to the floor again today to discuss my resolution to block the Democrats' natural gas tax, which I will call up right after we vote to affirm President Trump's national energy emergency declaration.

The Biden administration's tax and regulatory onslaught over the past 4 years have driven up the cost of energy and led to a national energy emergency for our Nation.

One of the most egregious examples is a new tax on natural gas, and that is why I am leading S.J. Res. 12, a Congressional Review Act resolution to block this tax from taking effect.

My resolution will rescind the rule implementing the Democrats' natural gas tax that the Biden administration finalized late last year.

Congressional Democrats and President Biden mandated this new tax under the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which was, of course, the Inflation Acceleration Act, taking inflation all the way up to 9 percent. The Environmental Protection Agency issued its final implementing rule on November 18 of last year.

The EPA's natural gas tax rule imposes stringent methane emissions charges on qualified petroleum and natural gas infrastructure, starting at $900 a ton for emissions in 2024; it then goes up to $1,200; and then, ultimately, up to $1,500 per ton in 2026 and subsequent years.

Unless overturned, this would be the first time the Federal Government has ever imposed a direct tax on emissions. This new charge can equate to an effective tax increase on natural gas on top of other taxes of more than 5 percent.

This will have a disproportionate impact on small oil and gas producers in my home State of North Dakota and across the country, many of which already operate on thin margins and cannot afford the high costs to comply with this onerous rule.

Simply put, this is a punitive tax that will be passed along to consumers and will force energy developers to shut in production. That means higher prices to heat your homes. That means higher prices to cook your food. That means higher cost of natural gas for all consumers. Also, less supply of domestic energy means higher gas bills for consumers and an increased reliance on energy imports.

Instead of new taxes and regulations designed to stifle production, we should be supporting innovation to maximize the use of our abundant and affordable oil and gas reserves.

Our energy producers utilize the latest and the greatest technology, enabling more energy production with the best environmental stewardship.

Today, the United States is the world's largest oil and gas producer, and at the same time, we have also led the world in emissions reductions

Since 1990, U.S. natural gas production has doubled--this is an interesting stat. Since 1990, U.S. natural gas production has doubled; yet at the same time, we have reduced total emissions by 20 percent-- double the output--double the output and a 20-percent reduction in emissions. We have been able to increase crude oil production by 60 percent over the same time period.

When I was Governor of North Dakota in 2000, our State was producing less than 100,000 barrels a day. We took that up to 1.5 million barrels of oil a day. This doesn't just happen overnight. It is because we work to provide the regulatory certainty to empower innovation and entrepreneurial spirit to unlock the potential for energy development in our State and in our country.

As North Dakota became an energy powerhouse, our State producers have worked hard to meet the challenges of managing growing volumes of natural gas associated with oil production.

North Dakota producers have endeavored to dramatically increase the targeted gas capture rate from 74 percent to 95 percent over the past 10 years, again, through innovation, through technology--the latest and greatest methods that we have implemented.

Producers want to improve on that rate--and we continue to--but the Biden administration and its Green New Deal allies tried to make it-- and, in fact, did make it--harder to permit the very gathering systems that we needed to capture that natural gas. So they impeded our ability to reduce emissions.

Instead of supporting more gathering lines and interstate pipelines, the Biden administration's natural gas tax will hinder domestic production.

Further, because our Nation generates over 40 percent of our electricity from natural gas, burdensome taxes on natural gas producers will result in more expensive and less reliable electricity, more inflation for consumers across the country as a result.

Also, less production at home makes other nations and our allies abroad more dependent on adversarial nations that have no regard for environmental standards. Think Russia. Think Venezuela. Think OPEC.

At the end of the day, energy security directly impacts our economic and national security. This is about taking the handcuffs off and empowering our energy producers to increase supply and bring down prices for American families and businesses. That is why we are working to roll back the Biden administration's disastrous policies on energy, like this natural gas tax.

I want to thank EPW, Chairwoman Capito, and the 25 other cosponsors of my resolution.

I urge all of my colleagues to support this Congressional Review Act resolution.

I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues and the Trump administration to repeal this misguided tax on natural gas, while increasing energy production across the board in this country with good environmental stewardship that will truly make America energy dominant once again.

I yield back all remaining time.

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