Political Quotes

“I thank the chairman for yielding and for your leadership on this issue. Let me pick up where the gentleman left off relating to the comments made by the opposition to climate change's role in extreme weather conditions. Mr. Chairman, a couple of years ago, there was a weather condition that many people out here refer to as the polar vortex; in North Dakota, we call that winter, but I think what a lot of people don't know is that, during that cold snap, they don't know how very susceptible and fragile our system of transmitting and distributing electricity was, largely because we don't have the base load generation that we once had largely because of this attack on base load fuels like coal, and that is really what we are talking about. Mr. Chairman, I spent 10 years prior to coming to Congress as one of those energy regulators, one of those people in the State agency the Governor would consult as per this law, the Governor would consult before determining whether they should opt out of the clean power plan. It was my responsibility to make sure North Dakotans had reliable electricity, that a grid system and a distribution system was reliable and could deliver on a regular basis, as needed, electricity and that the rates remained as they are still today in North Dakota, among the very lowest in this country. I also had regulation over the coal industry.…”