I will continue to work with our chair to find a future of coal that is clean and good for our environment.

This hearing is an opportunity to demonstrate the value of a true 'all-of-the-above' approach to energy production.

In California, we are beginning an expansion of fracking for shale gas that may create an economic boom for the State.

However, in any technology, if we cannot make it safe, we should try and fix it to make it safe, and if not, certainly not expose consumers and citizens to any of the hazards that may exist in any project.

There is simply no place for politics when it comes to making sure that the water that our families rely upon is safe and that the homes that we live in are not put at further risk of a manmade disaster.

Still, fracking requires large, large volumes of water to successfully release shale gas.

As I have said before over and over in this Committee, I do support an all-of-the-above approach to energy production and I do believe that if we can make it safe, we should make it happen.

That said, when it comes to fracking, I still believe we need to proceed with extreme caution.

I look forward to today's hearing and for one example I wanted to highlight was the recommendation in the report to merge the Department's Under Secretary for Energy and Under Secretary for Science into a single Under Secretary for Science…

I represent a district in northern California that has two national laboratories, Sandia and Lawrence Livermore.

This hearing is very timely, for we just saw in this horrible accident how critical and relevant social media can be in times of crisis.