Electricity Security and Affordability Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. CRAMER. Thank you, Chairman Whitfield.

Mr. Chairman, I think pretty much everybody I talk to around here is familiar with the fact that North Dakota has 25,000 job openings with fewer than 10,000 people looking for work. It is not an accident. It helps, for sure, to have an 800-year supply of coal under the ground, to have some oil and some gas, but it also is an indication of a regulatory and tax climate that champions work, that champions investment, that doesn't apologize for having the lowest priced electricity rates in the country most times of the year. We also have a robust manufacturing economy as a result of those same policies.

Mr. Chairman, I believe that America's economic security and America's national security depend on America's energy security. I would love to see every Member of this body go to North Dakota and see what that type of development looks like. I would also like to have them breathe some of the cleanest air, see some of the cleanest water and some of the richest topsoil in the world. We are very proud of the fact that we can feed a hungry world while also meeting the growing demands of our economy.

If you really believe that there are several carbon-capture technology projects that are viable on power plants in this country, you should love this bill, because this bill actually prepares the standard for measuring that. It simply states that, for 12 consecutive months, six power plants--six different units--should be able to demonstrate it, with three of them being, of course, lignite, which is what we mine in North Dakota.

We don't have to compromise quality of life for a high standard of living--we don't do it in North Dakota, and we can replicate it across this country--but the EPA's overreach will hurt that. I think this bill actually helps it, and I am very proud of my colleague Mr. Whitfield for his bicameral-bipartisan approach to this problem and to the solution that he has come up with. I urge all of my colleagues to vote for it.

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