Paul Tonko: “I thank the gentleman for his yielding, and I thank him for his work as ranking member on the Energy and Commerce…”

“I thank the gentleman for his yielding, and I thank him for his work as ranking member on the Energy and Commerce Committee. Mr. Chairman, with H.R. 6, we are embarking on a policy that will lock us into higher and more volatile natural gas prices, and that will erode a key advantage we have for domestic manufacturing, that being low natural gas prices. Natural gas is used widely throughout our economy. It is, indeed, a valuable commodity, and we should be setting policy to ensure that we use it efficiently and effectively. LNG terminals are expensive to build and require a lot of energy to operate. The contracts signed by exporters commit them to exporting LNG for anywhere from 10 to 20 years. We already had a small taste of what happens if there is an unexpected event that increases domestic demand when ready supplies are low and exports have increased. At a time when we are producing record amounts of propane, we had some of the worst shortages and price spikes we have seen in years. It was not entirely due to export increases, but it was definitely a factor. Many of our communities are paying the environmental costs of this natural gas boom. This bill is now going to deny them the benefits associated with sacrifices. There are very real concerns that this legislation would harm economic growth, job creation, and American manufacturing.…”