Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce hosted a field hearing in Midland, Texas, on the benefits, opportunities, and challenges to expanding American energy from the local energy community perspective. Congressional Western Caucus Vice Chairs John Curtis (UT-03) and Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA-01) and Western Caucus Members Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-05), Jeff Duncan (SC-03), August Pfluger (TX-11), Dan Crenshaw (TX-02), Michael Burgess (TX-26), and Buddy Carter (GA-01) participated.

“Our primary energy objective is to ensure reliable, secure, and affordable delivery of energy to Americans. To their homes, to their businesses, to the grocery store, and everywhere in between. We must build upon our nation’s diverse and abundant natural resources to
create more secure supplies and more dependable power. And we must work to develop a predictable regulatory landscape, one that unleashes America’s unmatched genius for innovation and technological leadership,” said House Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers. “Unfortunately, this administration has signaled repeatedly their intention to reduce oil and gas production in coming years. Today, we’ll hear from witnesses on what this would mean for communities like Midland: lost jobs, lost revenues, and lost livelihoods.”

“We unfortunately have an administration that’s taken a whole-of-government approach to wage war on American energy production. President Biden has repeatedly promised to phase the industry out of existence and has followed through by creating uncertainty and issuing regulations to make energy harder to produce, more expensive for consumers. The rest of the ‘Green Agenda’ has also compromised our energy security, making us more reliant on our adversaries for sources of energy,” said House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, & Grid Security Chair Jeff Duncan. “We produce oil and gas cleaner and safer than nearly anywhere in the world. We need policies that reflect this reality instead of ones that undercut this success. We need to unleash more American energy.”

“I call Utahns the best environmentalists in the world and many of them are producers of fossil fuels or work in the energy industry. They are disturbed when they hear and they see the shutting down of fossil fuel production in the United States, and then they hear the messages to Iran, to Venezuela, to Russia to produce more,” said House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, & Grid Security Vice Chair and Western Caucus Vice Chair John Curtis. “I agree with the Mayor of Midland, when she said, ‘virtue signaling and the rhetoric that have come from the federal level tell us oil and gas is evil or not on the side of the average American or on the side who care about our environment. Our premium advances in science, engineering methods and process have yielded the safest, most environmentally responsible barrel of oil in the world.’ We must stop villainizing the fossil fuel industry and recognize that the innovation that we need for a clean energy future starts here. With the people in this industry, working to provide the energy we need for our nation and the world.” 

“A study by the National Bureau of Economic Research in March of 2019 estimates by driving down gas prices, not only did that help Midland, but by driving down natural gas prices, the fracking revolution saved more than 11,000 American lives annually from 2010.” said Vice Chair Miller-Meeks. “The best way to protect people from heat and cold excess mortality deaths is access to plentiful, cheap energy, and that often means carbon-based fuels.

“If you listen to the White House, oil producing regions are greedy and unpatriotic, but nothing could be further from the truth as we look out on the crowd today. The story of the Permian Basin is one of innovation, it’s one of unending entrepreneurial spirit, and community,” said Rep. Pfluger. “I’m incredibly proud to show off my district, to have the conversation here, and to talk about the importance of delivering affordable, reliable, secure energy, not just to Americans, but around the world.”

“We all know that we in America have not gotten as much credit for decreasing carbon emissions as we should,” said Rep. Carter. “The United States of America has decreased more in the last decade than the next 12 countries combined—while still growing our economy!”

“Demand is going to increase around the world no matter what,” said Rep. Crenshaw. “So, somebody’s gotta produce that, should it be us or should it be the Saudis?

“The technology that is developed here because of the expertise and the investment is exported to other areas, and you all are doing it so well here that the overall carbon footprint of the United States year over year since 2005 has gone down, and it is because of exporting that technology,” said Rep. Burgess. “The country, the world benefits from that.”

These Congressional Western Caucus Members and House Natural Resources Republicans heard from four witnesses during the field hearing:

• The Honorable Lori Blong, Mayor of Midland, Texas, and President of Octane Energy
  
• Mr. Adrian Carrasco, Chairman Midland Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and President of Premier Energy Services
  
• Dr. Michael S. Zavada, Professor of Biology & Geosciences, Chair, Department of Geosciences, The University of Texas - Permian Basin
  
• Mr. Steven Pruett, President and CEO, Elevation Resources, in Midland, and Chairman of the Board for Independent Petroleum Association of America

“We believe that the secure, affordable, reliable, and responsibly-produced oil and gas of the Permian Basin is a critical component to promote human flourishing both domestically and abroad,” said Lori Blong. “The pipeline and the infrastructure permitting headwinds, the current SEC-driven ESG movement, and the current administration’s vow to put an end to fossil fuels are all creating growing market distortions and need to be reversed. These policies prevent individual Americans and American businesses from growing, from creating jobs, and the energy security that we otherwise could [have].”

“I am often disturbed by the attacks that groups display against this very important industry,” said Adrian Carrasco. “The oil and gas industry is very responsible and I get to see it firsthand. I challenge those that don’t understand or go by hearsay to come visit an oil well and a facility site. All are invited to see the innovation, the safety, and the importance of taking care of the environment. Oil and gas operators and service companies have positive impact on employment, building strong communities, and quality of life.”

“The Permian Basin, known for its supplying a major portion of America’s energy, will remain so in any new paradigm that’s emerging for the future, and that’ll be at least for the next 50 years,” said Dr. Zavada. “I believe if rational and cooperative investment in the development of all forms of alternative energy will not only diversity our energy portfolio but continue the long-term tradition of west Texas as the major source of America’s energy needs.”

“One thing that people miss is the amount of petroleum that goes into making a wind turbine or solar panel,” said Steven Pruett. “There’s a massive amount of coal that’s used to burn the silicone to make a solar panel, the components of a wind turbine are resins and petroleum-based products. And the amount of mining that goes on, which is all diesel-driven equipment to mine lithium and cobalt for batteries. There’s a huge supply chain that depends on petroleum to make renewable power possible.”

Click here to watch.