Bruce Westerman: “I guess things depend on the perspective from which you look at them. They took the geothermal plant picture down that…”

“I guess things depend on the perspective from which you look at them. They took the geothermal plant picture down that was up on the other side of the aisle, but I will point out that if that plant were to be built on Federal lands, it would go fully under Federal permitting process. We are talking about facilities that are built on State or private lands that are close to Federal lands. What we are really talking about is not what is on the surface; it is what is below the surface. If the geothermal energy that is going to this facility, if 50 percent or less of that is coming off of the Federal estate, then the developer would not have to go through the Federal permitting process but would go through the State permitting process. They would still pay the Federal Government the royalty for the geothermal energy that is coming off of the Federal estate, but they just wouldn't have to go through the Federal permitting process. You can look at that and say, oh, they are being exempted from the Federal permitting process, but if you look at it from the other perspective, why should a State or private landowner be subject to the Federal permitting process on their private or State land just because less than half of the energy that is going into this facility is coming off of the Federal Government? Should the Federal Government be dictating to States and private businesses and private landowners what gets developed on their land?…”