Energy Action Team
Floor Speech
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Mr. WEBER of Texas. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, the things that make America great are the things that America makes.
Now, how do we do that?
We have a stable, reliable, affordable energy supply.
Mr. Speaker, I want you to think with me here for a second. We have to have a strong America. Whether it is a typhoon or whether it is a hurricane or whether it is famine or flood or pestilence or civil war--no matter what it is--when the world has a catastrophe and they dial 911, who is it who answers?
It is the Americans--isn't it?--with our military, with our might, with our goodness, I would argue. So I would argue that, for the world to be a safer place, we must have a strong America.
How do we do that?
Like I said, a stable, reliable, affordable energy supply.
Mr. Speaker, this is not just about jobs and the economy. This is about a strong America that leads this world and makes the world a safer place to live in. I would further argue, Mr. Speaker, that you are seeing the result of an administration's policy. Around this world, we are seeing the results of people who understand that the current policy is weak, ineffective, and to be trampled upon.
It is bewildering to me and, quite frankly, to many Americans that the President and his administration continue to stand in the way of the potential that this country has to offer with respect to domestic energy production for the reasons I just stated. In fact, the President has canceled lease sales and has effectively closed off 85 percent of our offshore resources from exploration. Yet the majority of Americans support tapping these resources so that we can make our country more energy independent--and again, so the world is a safer place to be.
This country needs a President who will empower our energy sector, not suffocate it. I always say, as I did in my opening remarks, that the things that make America great are the things that America makes. Mr. Speaker, when more things are made in America, more Americans will make it in America. When government gets out of the way, we can create thousands of good-paying jobs and a whole lot of affordable, reliable, dependable, secure energy. Then and only then, when more things are made in America, more Americans will make it in America.
The energy sector, as the gentleman said, is one of our Nation's leading job creators, and much more can be done to unleash our energy in these United States. Just look at my home State of Texas. Texas has been responsible for close to half of all new jobs created in the United States since the end of the recession. Texas has allowed the energy industry to flourish while, at the same time, protecting the environment.
Shale gas development, which is booming because of innovations like hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling--despite this administration--is leading to billions in new investments in my district alone, billions in my District 14 on the gulf coast of Texas, for example. Chevron Phillips Chemical Company is investing $6 billion to build two polyethylene plants in Sweeny, Texas, bringing 400 new permanent jobs and 10,000 new construction jobs to my district alone. You all know polyethylene is used to produce common plastic products we use every day, and it is derived from natural gas. In addition to many other projects, two companies in my district are waiting to invest billions--with a ``b''--of dollars in liquefied natural gas export facilities, which would bring an untold number of new construction jobs to my State and the Nation.
It is a puzzle to me that this administration, instead of encouraging more of this kind of private investment nationwide, has decided that what we need now are more regulations. Are you kidding me? Just this past March, the administration announced that it is in the process of developing regulations on methane emissions from various sources, including from hydraulic fracturing sites. This is despite the fact that methane emissions have fallen by 11 percent since 1990. Such government overreach, which, undoubtedly, will also encompass emissions from cattle--if you can believe that--will raise costs for consumers, destroy jobs, and hurt energy production. This administration is so extreme it is proposing to regulate cow emissions. Now, in Texas, we call that a lot of bull. This Obama administration is out of touch with everyday Americans and is out of control with energy regulations. The administration's announcement on methane emissions is just one small piece of a much larger regulatory strategy.
Take the EPA, for example. The EPA is requesting millions of dollars to conduct a study of hydraulic fracturing, which is a technology that has been safely utilized by the oil and gas industry in Texas since at least 1947. In at least three cases, the EPA has blamed hydraulic fracturing on water contamination. In all three of those cases, they were forced to retract their conclusions. Therefore, I suspect the purpose of their study is only to justify further regulatory actions.
Most importantly, we cannot forget that the administration is planning to repropose a new rule on ozone this December. When originally proposed in 2010, this regulation was widely cited as the most expensive regulation in history, which would cost hundreds of billions of dollars and put over 80 percent of our Nation out of compliance--80 percent of our country in nonattainment when it comes to ozone regulations. Mr. Speaker, I would offer that the EPA needs to use common sense when it comes to the common sense of their nonattainment.
Unlike our counterparts in the Senate, the House has passed legislation to expand domestic energy production. It has acted to hold the Obama administration accountable for its regulatory agenda. On June 26, with my support, the House passed H.R. 4899, Lowering Gasoline Prices to Fuel an America that Works Act. If enacted, this legislation will require the administration to move forward on the new offshore production that the gentleman was referring to in areas that are projected to contain the most oil and natural gas resources by requiring new lease sales and by streamlining permitting. I could go on and on and on.
I will tell you, Mr. Speaker, even though, when he was running, the President said he had an all-of-the-above energy strategy, the truth is it is none of the above. He is in the process of killing the coal industry. Make no mistake. Fossil fuels will be next.
Let me close by saying I call on the President, as the gentleman did, to permit the Keystone pipeline. Let it get built. Let America continue to be an energy leader in the world. Let America be solid and strong, and let us, once again, have a safe world.
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