Dianne Feinstein: “I rise on behalf of Senators Snowe, Reed, Sessions, Kennedy, Collins, Dodd, Boxer, Clinton, Lieberman, Cantwell, Kerry…”

“I rise on behalf of Senators Snowe, Reed, Sessions, Kennedy, Collins, Dodd, Boxer, Clinton, Lieberman, Cantwell, Kerry, Schumer, and Murray, to offer this amendment to the Energy bill on the siting of liquefied natural gas import terminals. Let me clearly state that the problem is not whether to site these LNG terminals, but where. To give control to a remote Federal agency, when States are concerned about the safety of residents near a proposed site, we, the cosponsors of this amendment, believe is a mistake. This Energy bill would give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, known as FERC, exclusive authority over siting onshore liquefied natural gas facilities. Our amendment would provide each State's Governor the same authority to veto, approve, or attach conditions to onshore liquefied natural gas facilities as they now have with respect to offshore liquefied natural gas facilities. This amendment is not concurrent siting. It does not require the applicant duplicate the application process, nor does it add additional time and money to the entire application process. It simply states Governors will have 45 days to approve, veto, or attach conditions to a project after FERC issues its final environmental impact statement. This chart, I think, says it all. Increased demand for LNG means we need new natural gas supplies, and liquefied natural gas is one of the options available to us. Let me be clear.…”