Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, let's get to our second point of business here and break down this myth that oil companies need even more permits. This is simply not true. In fact, the oil industry already possesses more than 9,000 unused drilling permits on Federal lands. Nearly 5,000 of those permits were approved in 2021 alone. The oil industry already has at least 10 years' worth of unused leases at its disposal. They are only producing oil or gas on roughly half the area that is already leased. There are nearly 14 million acres onshore and more than 9 million offshore that are currently under lease but not being used for oil production. Why lease even more? My amendment prohibits oil and gas leasing on Federal lands in a way that would increase even further our net carbon emissions. That is to say, we shall not include any Federal lands where oil and gas leasing would increase net carbon emissions. Mr. Chair, I urge adoption of the amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.”