Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I rise today to offer an amendment to H.R. 21, the Strategic Production Response Act. I represent the Second District of New Mexico, home to the Permian Basin. Public lands are where I hunt; they are where I fish; they are where I live. They are part of who I am, and they are part of the culture and the tradition of my district. Now, my amendment is simple. It requires the Departments of Energy and the Interior to publish a report on the number, the location, and the owners of all unused permits to drill for oil and gas on Federal land. We must proactively look at the resources the energy industry already has and is not using. I am proud that my district in New Mexico is one of the top energy producing districts in the United States, so I am well aware of the vast resources that are available to us. Today, there are over 9,000 unused permits for drilling across 26 million acres of public land. I will say that again: 9,000 existing unused permits locking up public lands for no other use. Why wouldn't we look at these existing permits before locking up new Federal land? That is just common sense. I know that in my family, when the pantry is full, we don't go to the grocery store to look for more. That is called hoarding. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is a critical tool to ensure that Americans don't pay the price for global shocks in the energy market and the volatility in the global energy market.…”