Bruce Westerman: “It is good to see my colleague, Mr. Grijalva, here in the Chamber today. Although it is good to see him presenting his…”

“It is good to see my colleague, Mr. Grijalva, here in the Chamber today. Although it is good to see him presenting his amendment, I oppose the amendment. This amendment attempts to mirror the language in the Mineral Leasing Act for oil and gas production on Federal lands, but, unfortunately, there are some key differences. If my colleagues look at it in its whole, the amendment would make it more difficult to lease geothermal resources than to lease oil and gas. In fact, this amendment would triple the timeline for an agency to respond to a project applicant on whether their geothermal drilling permit application is complete or deficient. This is not a timeline for permit approval. It is a timeline for simply letting someone know if they submitted a complete application. Under current law, the BLM is already required to provide similar affirmation on oil and gas permit applications within 10 days. This amendment would create a timeline for geothermal permit applicants nine times longer than those BLM is already held to for oil and gas. The amendment also states that the NEPA review must be complete before final permit approval. This language is unnecessary. The bill does nothing to waive NEPA requirements. Additionally, the amendment would create a new option for the BLM to deny geothermal permits, effectively pulling the rug out from under energy projects at the last step in the permitting process. Mr.…”