Political Quotes

“I thank the good chairman from Arkansas for his leadership on this issue. Mr. Chair, I rise today in strong support of my bill, H.R. 1449, the Committing Leases for Energy Access Now Act, or the CLEAN Act. To begin developing geothermal resources on Federal land, developers must first obtain a lease. While there is significant potential in this resource, 90 percent or thereabouts of the Nation's viable geothermal resources are located on Federal land. It makes lease sales crucial to the expansion of this energy source. On the map behind me, Mr. Chair, you can tell just some of the regions where this resource is available, and it is vast. However, the time and costs associated with multiple environmental reviews, as well as the overall leasing and permitting processes, result in development schedules longer than many other power production projects. The Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 currently requires the Secretary of the Interior to hold ``a competitive lease sale at least once every 2 years for land in a State that has nominations pending.'' However, this timeline is not always adhered to. As the chairman mentioned before me, some States, like California, have not held a competitive geothermal lease sale since 2016. If any State needs to be doing more proactive work for clean baseload, it would be our friends in California. This legislation, H.R.…”