Washington D.C. – Today, Representative Scott Peters (CA-50) took to the House floor to call out House Republicans’ hypocrisy on their “all of the above” energy strategy as they advance an extreme, anti-clean energy, and pro-fossil fuel agenda during their partisan “Energy Week.”

 

Rep. Peters began his remarks by stating, “The majority is once again choosing to engage in a partisan, unproductive, and unserious messaging exercise that they have dubbed ‘Energy Week.’ In 2023, the United States produced more oil and gas than any other country ever, and exported unprecedented amounts of liquified natural gas to our allies across the world. Simultaneously, 2023 was a record year for combined utility-scale solar, wind, and energy storage installations across the country. These clean energy projects can be found in nearly all Congressional districts, in all 50 states. My friends on the other side of the aisle claim to be champions of an ‘all-of-the-above’ energy strategy. But they are completely silent about these massive accomplishments that are not only driving significant investment to areas across the country, but are producing cheap, clean, American energy.”

 

He continued by highlighting the challenges we face, “We are facing extraordinary growth in energy demand from electric vehicles, AI, data centers, and the reshoring of domestic manufacturing – thanks to the efforts of President Biden and his administration. But we are lagging far behind China, which is dwarfing us in manufacturing, construction of clean energy resources, and the extraction and refining of critical minerals like nickel and cobalt. We need an unprecedented level of clean energy development and deployment to meet our climate goals and avoid catastrophe. If the majority is interested in talking about a long-term energy strategy to maintain affordability and reliability, we need to finally talk about transmission and the grid.”

 

He concluded by providing sensible alternatives to the bills House Republicans have chosen to focus on during their partisan “Energy Week,” “If we want to win the competition against China, Russia, and our adversaries in the 21st century, we need to come together again and work on the big ideas of the future. We should be voting on bills like my BIG WIRES Act with Senator Hickenlooper, which will ensure communities across the country benefit from the production of cheap and clean wind and solar, so that any one of our districts can count on reliable energy even when there are weather emergencies, and so that we can lower costs for consumers by increasing competition. We should be voting on my FASTER Act, so transmission lines aren’t stuck jumping between local, state, and federal agencies for the permits they need. We need to thoughtfully streamline the judicial review process for all energy projects, so that developers, agencies, and petitioners aren’t in limbo for years. We need certainty, not an unreliable and inefficient review process. Everything I have said today can and should be bipartisan.”

 

The full text of Rep. Peters’ speech as prepared for delivery can be found below:

 

Mr. Speaker, the majority is once again choosing to engage in a partisan, unproductive, and unserious messaging exercise that they have dubbed “Energy Week.”

 

In 2023, the United States produced more oil and gas than any other country ever, and exported unprecedented amounts of liquified natural gas to our allies across the world.

 

Simultaneously, 2023 was a record year for combined utility-scale solar, wind, and energy storage installations across the country. These clean energy projects can be found in nearly all Congressional districts, in all 50 states.

 

My friends on the other side of the aisle claim to be champions of an “all-of-the-above” energy strategy. But they are completely silent about these massive accomplishments that are not only driving significant investment to areas across the country, but are producing cheap, clean, American energy.

 

This is probably because so many of these wins were made possible by the historic bills House Democrats passed last Congress, such as the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

 

I was proud to include in those bills several of my priorities, including combatting methane emissions and encouraging the development of transmission infrastructure by ensuring the federal government has the tools it needs to step in and stop excessive permitting delays.

 

However, the laws we passed will not be enough.

 

We are facing extraordinary growth in energy demand from electric vehicles, AI, data centers, and the reshoring of domestic manufacturing – thanks to the efforts of President Biden and his administration.

 

But we are lagging far behind China, which is dwarfing us in manufacturing, construction of clean energy resources, and the extraction and refining of critical minerals like nickel and cobalt.

 

We need an unprecedented level of clean energy development and deployment to meet our climate goals and avoid catastrophe.

 

If the majority is interested in talking about a long-term energy strategy to maintain affordability and reliability, we need to finally talk about transmission and the grid.

 

We also need to work on speed. We will still fail if we let money sit in the bank by making good clean energy projects wait for years for permits to come through, and further delays if bad actors and nervous neighbors take them to court again and again. 

 

It is extremely frustrating that during “Energy Week,” we are actually taking the time to vote on whether strong regulations on methane emissions are necessary, or whether oil and gas producers should cover the cost of unplugged or abandoned wells. Are you kidding me! Of course we need to regulate methane! And of course, oil and gas companies should pay to clean up their messes!

 

How can Republicans say they support clean American energy, while simultaneously fighting against common sense regulations on methane, and not even engaging on how to expand and update the grid? The bills we are considering this week take us farther away from the solutions to the problems we are facing, and I am proud to oppose every single one of them.

 

Our country prides itself on accomplishing big things together, whether it’s winning world wars, constructing an interstate highway system, or discovering the next medical breakthrough.

 

If we want to win the competition against China, Russia, and our adversaries in the 21^st century, we need to come together again and work on the big ideas of the future.

 

We should be voting on bills like my BIG WIRES Act with Senator Hickenlooper, which will ensure communities across the country benefit from the production of cheap and clean wind and solar, so that any one of our districts can count on reliable energy even when there are weather emergencies, and so that we can lower costs for consumers by increasing competition.

 

We should be voting on my FASTER Act, so transmission lines aren’t stuck jumping between local, state, and federal agencies for the permits they need.

 

We need to thoughtfully streamline the judicial review process for all energy projects, so that developers, agencies, and petitioners aren’t in limbo for years. We need certainty, not an unreliable and inefficient review process. Everything I have said today can and should be bipartisan.

 

So, I will say to my Republican colleagues; let’s look beyond just oil and gas, and truly invest in an all of the above energy strategy that looks to the future, instead of clinging onto the past.

           

Thank you and I yield back.

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