{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom-news-releases-barrasso-republicans-are-united-in-restoring-americas-energy-dominance/", "Barrasso: Republicans Are United in Restoring America\u2019s Energy Dominance", "2023-05-03", "2023", "2023-05", "Republican", "Senate", "WY", "John Barrasso", "B001261", "www.barrasso.senate.gov", "barrasso", "https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom/news-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) spoke on the Senate floor today about how our country can restore its energy dominance and lower the cost of living for American families.\n\nExcerpts from Sen. Barrasso\u2019s remarks:\n\n\u201cIt is a joy and privilege to join my colleague from West Virginia, Senator Capito on the floor today to talk about legislation that we\u2019ll be introducing tomorrow.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s about permitting. I come to the floor to talk about ways to lower prices for American families and restore our country to energy dominance.\n\n\u201cOf course, the way to achieve this is by fixing our broken permitting process. There is a lot of work to be done, there is bipartisan support to do it.\n\n\u201cSo she\u2019ll be introducing along with me our legislation tomorrow, and this legislation is going to streamline a very complicated permitting process.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s going to speed up American infrastructure, energy, as well as mining projects.\n\n\u201cTaken together, this legislation will address fatal flaws in today\u2019s federal permitting process.\n\n\u201cThe current system moves in very slow motion. Too often, as Senator Capito said, there\u2019s no motion at all. Things are stopped in their tracks.\n\n\u201cToday\u2019s process forces project developers to endure a maze of regulations, mountains of paperwork, expensive studies, and bureaucratic foot-dragging.\n\n\u201cIt takes an average of four-and-a-half years now just to complete an Environmental Impact Statement for one single project.\n\n\u201cIn some cases, it can take a decade or more to get final approval for a project. Even if a project makes it through, the regulatory roadblocks to get a permit, will inevitably will be challenged in court.\n\n\u201cProject opponents are skilled at exploiting our broken permitting process to stop all progress. Litigation can drag on for years and cost millions and millions of dollars.\n\n\u201cIn my home State of Wyoming, activists are suing to cancel hundreds of federal oil and gas permits. These permits were issued after years of environmental reviews.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re frivolous the lawsuits, but they\u2019re happening all across the country. The longer it takes to get a permit, the more a project costs.\n\n\u201cThe more it costs, the more a likely developer will either pull the plug, or give up before even starting. The result is that energy prices go up. People feel the pain.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s because investments aren\u2019t made, jobs don\u2019t materialize, and projects of national importance\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t get built. I\u2019m talking about projects like oil and gas wells, pipelines, transmission lines, wind and solar farms, power plants, roads, tunnels, bridges, and mines.\n\n\u201cTo see what I mean, take a look at this chart from The Economist, they call it \u2018Cancel Culture.\u2019\n\n\u201cIt shows that for the past several years, more miles of interstate gas pipelines have been cancelled than have been built. Let me repeat that, this shows [over] the past several years more miles of interstate gas pipelines have been cancelled than have been built.\n\n\u201cWe used to be able to build things in this country. Not anymore. It\u2019s not that we don\u2019t know how. It\u2019s that we\u2019re not being allowed it shouldn\u2019t take longer to permit a project than to actually build it. In too many instances, it does.\n\n\u201cThe American people inevitably lose when that happens. The permitting process must change so we can lower costs for families and unleash American energy.\n\n\u201cWe can\u2019t keep today\u2019s broken process and expect to stay ahead of rivals like China.\n\n\u201cTaken together, the legislation that Senator Capito and I are introducing is going to streamline the permitting process while preserving environmental standards.\n\n\u201cThis will put America back in the lead. Project developers need to expect a system that is predictable, and delivers a timely answer.\n\n\u201cOur legislation will do that by sticking to four basic principles. First, real reform must benefit the entire country, not a narrow range of special interests.\n\n\u201cOur bills are technology and fuel neutral. By that we mean we don\u2019t put a thumb on the scale for politically-favored technologies.\n\n\u201cThis is going to help expedite projects from both conventional and alternative energy sources. We need all the energy here in America. Second, our legislation includes enforceable timelines with specific time limits on environmental reviews.\n\n\u201cThird, we place time limits on legal challenges to prevent endless litigation, intended solely to kill new energy projects.\n\n\u201cFinally, our legislation prevents the executive branch from hijacking the process to meet its own policy preferences.\n\n\u201cThe energy bill that I\u2019m going to introduce focuses on streamlining improvements to produce more American energy and more American mineral resources.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s going to lower costs for families, it\u2019s going to enhance America\u2019s energy security. It\u2019s going to reduce reliance on China, Russia, and other adversaries for energy as well as key minerals.\n\n\u201cA key aspect of my energy bill is to resume federal onshore and offshore oil and gas lease sales.\n\n\u201cThe Biden Administration has tried from day one to block access to federal lands and waters\u2014regardless of the law.\n\n\u201cWe cannot allow any administration to deny, defy, and disregard the law.\n\n\u201cMy bill also will speed up the production of critical minerals used in renewable and battery technologies.\n\n\u201cOur country is blessed with large mineral deposits. Some in your home State. My home state in Wyoming, in particular.\n\n\u201cWe have large reserves of coal, uranium, rare earths, and other minerals.\n\n\u201cYet it often takes over ten years in the United States to get a mining permit.\n\nOur competitors in China move much faster, as do our northern neighbors in Canada\n\n\u201cUnlocking domestic mining means we will no longer have to rely on China and Russia for critical minerals. Finally, my bill will ensure the affordability and reliability of our electric grid.\n\n\u201cWe will have American energy that is affordable, that is reliable, and that is available. The House recently passed the \u2018Lower Energy Costs Act.\u2019 The Senate now has an opportunity to pass our own legislation.\n\n\u201cWe can pass bipartisan legislation that unleashes American energy, boosts our international competitiveness, creates jobs, and lowers prices.\n\n\u201cThis starts with today, fixing today\u2019s broken permitting process. Democrats said last year that this reform is necessary. Senator Capito and I are bringing solutions to the table.\n\n\u201cIf Democrats are serious about fixing the broken process, meaningful reform is possible.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:07:47Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom-news-releases-barrasso-republicans-are-united-in-restoring-americas-energy-dominance/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9335861541330814, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}