Bruce Westerman: “I oppose this amendment. It would gut the bill by conditioning enactment on a determination by the Secretary of the…”

“I oppose this amendment. It would gut the bill by conditioning enactment on a determination by the Secretary of the Interior that the Bureau of Land Management and other relevant Federal permitting agencies have received adequate funding to resolve permitting staff shortages. If Members felt the urge to laugh when I stated that, they are probably not too far off because this amendment doesn't really pass the laugh test. I have never heard of a Federal agency admitting to having enough funding or enough staff, and this amendment simply is a poison pill because the action it is conditioned on simply will never happen. The issue is not DOI staff capacity but burdensome permitting processes that take years, produce duplicative reviews, and consume thousands of hours for regulators and project proponents alike. Actually, we passed a bill just last week that will help resolve any issue that may be there. H.R. 7409 would decrease the administrative load on staff and field offices by not requiring a Federal permit for geothermal energy produced on State and private lands. That bill would rapidly streamline the approval process by relying on the States' permitting procedures rather than the duplicative Federal process. My friends on the other side of the aisle had a chance last week to free agency staffers from their redundant work, but many opposed the bill. Let's not forget that last Congress, as the gentleman from Arizona (Mr.…”