“We want to make energy as clean as we can, as fast as we can, as long as it doesn’t raise costs on American families.”
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor highlighting his bipartisan amendments to the Energy Policy Modernization Act that the Senate is debating.
One amendment, authored by Sen. Barrasso and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI), creates a prize to encourage innovation in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and permanently sequestering it.
Transcript of Senator Barrasso’s remarks:
“For the past week, the Senate has been debating the way that America produces and uses our energy.
“We’ve talked about how these issues affect our economy, how they affect our communities, and how they affect the world – the world we hope to leave for our children.
“As senators have come to the floor and offered their ideas, I’ve tried to keep one basic idea in mind.
“And that idea is: we want to make energy as clean as we can, as fast as we can, as long as it doesn’t raise costs on American families.
“I think that’s the goal of so many members of the Senate with regard to this bipartisan legislation.
“I want to talk today about two of the bipartisan ideas that some of us have offered to make this legislation even better.
“One of the first amendments that the Senate took up on this bill was an amendment that I offered along with Senator Schatz.
“It passed by voice vote.
“He’s a Democrat, I’m a Republican – this was something that both of us think is a very good idea.
“This amendment creates a prize system to encourage new technologies that can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and permanently sequester it.
“A lot of members of this body talk about reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
“Some of them want to reduce this by cutting the amount of emissions of carbon dioxide.
“Some want to do it with a carbon tax – some others want to do it through banning some of the energy sources that we need today to power our economy.
“The problem with that approach is that it severely reduces how much energy we as Americans can use – and it raises the costs of energies on hard-working families.
“We just got the new economic numbers that are out in terms of new economic growth in America. For the last quarter of last year: 0.7 percent. That’s the last quarter of 2015.
“That is nowhere near the growth that we need in this country for a healthy economy. It’s not there.
“Cutting back on the types of energy resources that Americans can use by some of these proposals – or by making that energy much more expensive – that’s not going to help our economy grow like we need it in terms of having a healthy, strong economy.
“So this amendment that Sen. Schatz and I introduced looks at the issue from a very different direction.
“It looks at the carbon that is already in the atmosphere.
“This amendment says we should be looking much more at finding a way to remove that carbon dioxide.
“To get that done, America needs to invest more in developing the new technology that can accomplish it.
“Not just through more spending or more government research, but by setting up a series of prizes for different technical breakthroughs.
By doing that, we can turn to ingenuity and innovation to solve the problem.
“Now, that includes the private sector, it includes universities – even just someone who’s out there today tinkering in their garage and coming up with a great idea.
“Prizes like this, Mr. President, are not a new idea.
“Back in 1714, the British government offered a big prize for the first person to invent a better way for measuring longitude.
“It was a clock maker named John Harrison won the prize – and his idea transformed our ability to sail the seas.
“In 1927, Charles Lindbergh flew nonstop from New York to Paris, and helped create the modern aviation industry.
“He took that flight to win a $25,000 prize sponsored by a New York hotel owner.
“The prizes created by this amendment – there is more than one – several prizes are meant to encourage that kind of new thinking, and that kind of bold action. So, that’s one of the amendments, one of the bipartisan ideas.
“There’s another idea I’d like to talk about – bipartisan again – an amendment we voted on yesterday, number 3030.
“This was an idea that had bipartisan support – my lead co-sponsor was my friend from North Dakota, Senator Heitkamp.
“This amendment would have expedited the permit process for natural gas gathering lines on federal land and Indian land.
“Gas gathering lines are pipelines that collect unprocessed gas from oil and gas wells, and then ship it to a processing plant.
“At the plant, the different kinds of gases – methane, propane – are separated from one another.
“Then they are shipped out again to other pipelines to locations where they can be sold, and used by people. To power our country, to power our economy.
“That’s what the producers want to do.
“The problem is, we don’t have enough of these gathering pipelines now to gather up this gas, to send it to the processing plants.
“So a lot of times, there’s only one option, and that’s to flare or vent that excess natural gas at the well.
“If there were more gathering lines, then we would have a lot less waste.
“You don’t have to take my word for it.
“Late last month, the administration proposed a new rule that restricts this kind of flaring at oil and gas operations on federal land and on Indian land.
“In that rule, the administration admitted that the main way to avoid flaring – they said – ‘is to capture, transport, and process that gas for sale, using the same technologies that are used for natural gas wells.’ Makes sense.
“The administration said that the rate of energy production in some areas ‘outpaces the rate of development of capture infrastructure’ to capture the gas.
“They said that production – and this is the administration – has ‘overwhelmed the capacity of the gathering lines.’
“And Sen. Heitkamp and I were talking about ways to deal with the problem.
“So even though the administration seems to recognize, and give voice to, the problem, its proposed rule doesn’t actually address the problem or provide a solution. And Sen. Heitkamp and I have a solution.
“The rule doesn’t do anything to speed up the permit process for natural gas gathering pipelines. The president ignores that component.
“Whether you agree with this new rule or disagree with it, the only practical way to reduce the venting or flaring of natural gas is to build more of these gathering lines.
“The rule won’t work without them.
“If we don’t build up the infrastructure to solve this problem, the administration’s rule would end up pushing oil and gas production off of federal lands, off Indian lands, and this is completely unacceptable. It’s unworkable.
“The Obama administration says that this type of gas venting and flaring is bad for the environment.
“They say that the government is losing royalty money because the gas isn’t being sold.
“I agree.
“The bipartisan amendment that Senator Heitkamp and I sponsored would solve both of these problems at once.
“Even though we weren’t able to get that amendment adopted yesterday, this is an idea that all Republicans and Democrats should be able to support.
“It would help America to get the energy we need – and do it in a cleaner way, and again at a lower cost. That’s the goal.
“I know that senators on both sides of the aisle are going to keep talking about this idea, and keep trying to get it enacted into law.
“These are just two commonsense bipartisan ideas that Republicans and Democrats have offered to solve the energy challenges America is facing.
“In my home state of Wyoming, people know we need to balance a strong economy and a healthy environment.
“They are in favor of using our natural resources responsibly.
“Part of that is remembering that these are resources, and resources should be and can be used.
“We should also recognize that another important resource we have in this country is American ingenuity.
“We should be investing in it, and we should be cutting through the red tape that holds back innovation.
“Abraham Lincoln once said that when we face new and difficult challenges, ‘We must think anew, and we must act anew.’ Think anew and act anew.
“Lincoln knew the importance of setting a big goal – and of unleashing the ingenuity of the American people to get it done.
“He had the vision for the Transcontinental Railroad.
“He also signed the original charter for the National Academy of Sciences.
“We must think anew, and we must act anew.
“It’s not enough for environmental extremists to say that the resources have to stay in the ground.
“That’s not realistic. It’s not responsible.
“America can do better – and the American people are ready to be a part of the solution.
“They’re ready to make energy as clean as we can, as fast as we can, without raising costs on American families.
“They need us to help show the way.
“With the kinds of bipartisan solutions that I’ve been talking about today, I think that we can take a step toward reaching that goal.”
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