Frank Pallone: “Mr. Speaker, I once again rise in strong opposition to this bill. I have to say that I keep hearing from my Republican…”

“Mr. Speaker, I once again rise in strong opposition to this bill. I have to say that I keep hearing from my Republican colleagues about permitting reform. In fact, they have been calling this permitting week here in the House. The reality is they are not interested in any kind of permitting reform unless it involves streamlining the ability to eliminate barriers for fossil fuels, for gas pipelines, for example. They have no interest in dealing with permitting reform in general that, perhaps, would help bring clean sources of energy to the public. I would like to have more opportunities for clean energy and for renewables, and we can certainly work on permitting reform in that regard. However, the President doesn't want that. The President says that there shouldn't be any windmills, there shouldn't be any solar panels, and there shouldn't be any renewables at all. The only thing he wants to do is go back to fossil fuels: oil, gas, and coal. When I hear about permitting reform on the other side, I kind of laugh. That is because we could be working together with Republicans on proposals that would lower the costs of energy and unleash domestic clean energy. Permitting reform, in an effort to eliminate barriers to clean energy, could be on the table, but they don't want to do that.”