Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I would like to reinforce a point that I made in my opening statement. Oil and gas companies and the industry would like to say they have done a tremendous job cutting methane emissions on their own. In fact, just this week, the Western Energy Alliance spearheaded a letter saying: ``Methane emissions from oil and gas production have declined by 15 percent since 1990, without any Federal regulations.'' What we have been hearing today, and my friends on the other side, is continually using some variation of this reduction that they say occurs. The problem is, and I repeat that the problem is, is that claim is just flat out false. That is the definition of an alternative fact. Methane reduction, since 1990, has come entirely from natural gas storage, from the distribution and the transmission of natural gas. Out in the field, however, what we are talking about, out in the field, where companies are actually drilling, methane emissions are up. For natural gas production, methane in the field, methane emissions are up by 31 percent. For oil production, emissions are up a staggering 76 percent. Mr. Speaker, the industry has not fixed this problem on their own, and they are not going to fix this problem on their own. Only strong rules and oversight are going to hold companies accountable to reduce methane waste and, for that reason, we must defeat this resolution. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.”