Alan Lowenthal: “I want to be very clear about the situation on public lands because there are a lot of misleading statements that are…”

“I want to be very clear about the situation on public lands because there are a lot of misleading statements that are being thrown about. We heard that the majority insists that oil and gas production on Federal lands is down. To support this, they often show misleading charts that compare apples to oranges or use visual tricks to hide the facts. The facts are Federal onshore oil production was up 71 percent between 2009 and 2015. All the panic that we have heard for years that President Obama is trying to shut down oil and gas was based on as much reality as the claim that he was coming to get everyone's guns. I will say it again: there was a 71 percent increase in oil production on onshore Federal lands under President Obama's watch. And it is the oil producers that are wasting and leaking methane at a faster and faster rate since it is not a product they care about. They just want the oil. With an unfortunate likely return to a drill-at-all-cost mentality under President Trump, we need the BLM methane waste prevention rule more than ever. I urge my colleagues to defeat H.J. Res. 36 and support cutting down on methane waste. I reserve the balance of my time. {time} 0945”