Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my bill, H.R. 7377, the Royalty Resiliency Act. This legislation is a commonsense fix to an accounting problem that has plagued both energy operators and personnel at the Department of the Interior for years. Due to a myriad of reasons, including staff shortages and burdensome oversight, the BLM has encountered significant delays in approving communitization agreements, costing both the Federal Government and private industry billions of dollars. Ensuring the Department of the Interior completes CAs in a timely fashion is something my office and the administration are continuing to work on, but this piece of legislation fixes an erroneous accounting issue that has been plaguing the Department of the Interior. We all know that the Federal Government is not the best at returning your money, and the Department of the Interior realizes that timely and accurate royalty allocations are not only good for development but, more importantly, are the fairest way of conducting business. That is why during a March 6, 2024, House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee hearing, Benjamin Gruber, Deputy Assistant Director for Energy, Minerals, and Realty Management supported my legislation. Mr. Gruber stated: ``The department recognizes the importance of timely approval of units and CAs and supports H.R. 7377.'' I would also like to take a moment to recognize and thank my team on Natural Resources along with Eric Haley, who is on my staff.”