David Valadao: “In addition to our rich agricultural land, California's San Joaquin Valley is also blessed with an abundance of oil…”

“In addition to our rich agricultural land, California's San Joaquin Valley is also blessed with an abundance of oil, natural gas, and renewable energy sources. These resources should be utilized to create jobs, lower energy costs for American families, and reduce our Nation's dependency on foreign energy. Instead, misguided public policy and overreaching Federal regulations have cost the Central Valley thousands of jobs and increased the price at the pump for all Americans. Over the last several years, there have been dramatic changes in the energy policy of the United States. And as result, energy prices have significantly increased. Cap-and-trade legislation failed to pass the House in 2009. However, Washington bureaucrats have already implemented several parts of cap-and-trade through erroneous EPA regulations. These regulations put limitations on carbon emissions, diminishing oil and gas production in my district. Since 1976, the number of environmental regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations has increased 25-fold. Regulations developed and enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency have had a devastating effect on energy production in the Central Valley as the EPA and other members of the Federal environmental bureaucracy continue to wage war on energy producers, costing California thousands of high-quality, good-paying jobs.…”