John Shimkus

The conversations we have had all point to the release of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve causing prices to go down 4 cents a gallon for, you know, a maximum amount of time of a week or so.

You noted there is broad agreement among energy experts and economists that increasing domestic oil production will have no noticeable impact on U.S. gas prices for the foreseeable future.

The amount of red tape and the studies and reviews that have to be gone through to be able to move forward on Federal land are not comparable to States.

The legislation that is before us, the Strategic Energy Production Act, doesn't tie the hands of the President whatsoever in order to access or release energy from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

So essentially it is saying you can't go do the one thing that will work until you go do the thing that won't work, which doesn't make any sense to me.

This administration promised before the election that they were going to bankrupt coal.

How is taking coal out of our energy mix consistent with the All of the Above energy strategy?

Isn't it a self-fulfilling prophesy that if you issue rules that nobody could meet that we won't have electricity generation by coal?

American jobs, Canadian jobs, third-largest oil reserves on the planet. We need to work with our allies and friends the Canadians to recover that.

There are no better environmental stewards than any country on Earth.

The benefits in terms of additional secure oil and thousands of jobs is simply too important for us to give up on.

I for one would like to see more Canadian oil flowing into America.

America can and must increase its domestic energy production and there is much that we can learn from the Canadian experience.

This Keystone debate is really kind of goofy because we only spent 3 1/2 years to study it.

I want to put that on the table.

I would think that the Department of Energy would welcome that because the Blue Ribbon Commission said two things, right?

As you hopefully know, this past Tuesday, the Board of County of Commissioners from Nye County, Nevada, unanimously sent you a letter notifying you of their consent to host a proposed repository at Yucca Mountain.

If the Federal court orders you to pursue the Yucca application at NRC, do you have the staff to pursue it?

Isn't it true, Secretary Chu, that you espouse European gas prices for the United States?

This unwavering local support helped to sustain the project during periods when Federal and State agencies had to work through disagreements over the issue

The importance of the local communities

And will you meet with Nye County to initiate a cooperative negotiated process?

Would you do that for me, please? Thank you.

The desire and the goal of this administration.

I am an original sponsor on Dr. Gingrey's bill along with Dianna DeGette, Anna Eshoo, Gene Green and other members.