'Equitable Energy Development Is Crucial': Lee Touts Programs To Combat 'Environmental Racism'

3 months ago

During a House Science Committee hearing prior to the Congressional recess, Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) questioned Dept. of Energy Deputy Secretary, David Turk, about environmental justice provisions and clean energy transitions.

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Transcript

00:00back. The chair now recognizes the gentlelady from Pennsylvania, Ms. Lee, for five minutes.

00:04Thank you, Mr. Chairman. DOE programs are essential to supporting key issues like environmental

00:11justice and energy efficiency, as well as industries like the building of green homes

00:17in all of our districts, but particularly mine, of course. As we continue to ensure

00:22that policies in Washington are focused on people like my constituents in tackling environmental

00:27racism, your leadership in that of Secretary Granholm in addressing these issues through

00:31equitable energy development is crucial. Building on the progress of recent years, environmental

00:37racism and injustice in western Pennsylvania and across the nation are pressing issues

00:42that will require further bold and equitable public investments in climate justice and

00:48community resilience and green union jobs. Achieving energy equity in our communities

00:52won't be easy, of course, but your leadership in that of Secretary Granholm, again, in advancing

00:58these commitments to these priorities will help to protect the environment and improve

01:02the quality of life for countless Americans. With that said, the fiscal year 2025 budget

01:08request for the Fossil Energy and Carbon Management Program Office amounts to only 2 percent of

01:14the Department's requests at this funding level. How is the Department limited in addressing

01:19the nationwide problem of standardizing methods and technologies to locate, plug, and remediate

01:24abandoned oil and gas wells?

01:26Well, thanks for your focus on energy justice, environmental justice. It's something, as

01:31you said, that we spend a lot of time and focus on and are trying to do everything that

01:35we possibly can, including by bringing extraordinary funding tools to the table, like the increase

01:40in weatherization that helps folks around the country, including in your district, to

01:46the tune of $372 less that they pay on their electricity bill because of that support.

01:51And I could give you other examples.

01:53Your question on oil, abandoned oil and gas wells, this is a big, big deal. We have some

01:59funding streams that have been given to help us on that front, but we need to do a lot

02:03more. There's so many abandoned oil and gas wells out there. There's such a need out there.

02:08We do need to work with Congress and make sure that we have the appropriate level of

02:11support, the appropriate level of funding to do right, not only because it's a big emitter,

02:17but because these are all in communities, real communities, your communities, your constituents,

02:22and we need to do right by those constituents.

02:25Can you describe what the DOE is currently doing to address this? Of course, the funding

02:28streams are incredibly important, but to what end? Are we seeing any success, or are there

02:35any other things that are happening right now?

02:38Yeah, so we are, and we do have some significant funding streams, but they're not enough. So

02:43just last week, we announced something called our MERP program, which is methane emission

02:48reduction program. It's $850 million. It's a competitive grant program. We've put out

02:54some funding to states and local governments through a formula grant as well that's complementary.

03:01But one area that this money can be focused on are abandoned oil and gas wells and making

03:05sure that we're reducing emissions on that front. But again, it's not as comprehensive

03:12as we need to have it. It's not as robust as we need to have it. Because we have, it's

03:16amazing how many abandoned oil and gas wells we have around the country. It's just an immense

03:21number. And so the scale of the challenge here is just huge.

03:24Yeah, certainly. We have 750,000 undocumented wells just in Pennsylvania alone. So it's

03:30certainly an issue that we are joining you in attempting to tackle. I'm proud that our,

03:36my bill, the Abandoned Well Remediation Research and Development Act passed the House and hopefully

03:41the Senate soon enough. Shifting gears just a bit, Pittsburgh has one of the highest energy

03:44burdens in the country, the second highest in the US among minority households. Between

03:49the city of Pittsburgh, DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory is developing technologies

03:54to safely and efficiently generate, distribute, and store energy. This work has proven essential

03:59in removing barriers to accessing clean energy, reducing energy costs for vulnerable populations,

04:04and promoting investments in energy-saving home upgrades. Itemizing 33.1 million, 3.2

04:10million increase, sorry, which is a 3.2 million increase in funding from fiscal year 24, will

04:15support NETL technical staff needed to perform acquisition, finance, succession, planning,

04:21and legal functions, and will support the federal workforce who provides management

04:24of the laboratory. Deputy Secretary, would you be able to provide an update on the level

04:30of funding the department expects to provide to support NETL's program, direction, infrastructure,

04:35and research and operations? Yeah, happy to do so. I don't have that number right off

04:39hand, but happy to follow up with you. And NETL's doing such great work. You know that

04:45as part of NETL is in the Pittsburgh area. It's an incredible lab, and there's so much

04:51that they can do, so much we can leverage with our national labs on energy burden more

04:55generally, right? Those who can least afford to pay energy, we need to focus in particular

05:00to reduce their energy burden, just as your focus. And thank you for your leadership on

05:03that. Thank you. Thank you so much for joining us and for your testimony today. I yield back.

05:09The gentlelady's time has expired. The chair now recognizes Dr. Baird.

'Equitable Energy Development Is Crucial': Lee Touts Programs To Combat 'Environmental Racism'

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