At Wednesday's Senate Energy Committee hearing, Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) questioned Energy Department nominees.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Mr. Chairman, thank you. Senator Hickenlooper. Thank you Mr. Chair. Ms.
00:09Beyer, obviously Coloradans support conservation protection for our public
00:15lands like most states. These lands boost the 17 billion dollar
00:20recreation economy, not to mention all the wildlife and watershed benefits that
00:25accrue. You're nominated for a role that would oversee the Bureau of Land
00:29Management which manages lands for multiple processes or uses. You're
00:34certainly experiencing the oil and gas side of things, but you're also going to
00:38have to transition to a broader lens now and look at making sure that we ensure
00:43healthy lands, diversity of landscapes, reliable access to outdoor recreation.
00:50Will you work with us to make sure that we maintain these approaches to
00:55conservation and protection of our public lands? Senator, I appreciate you pointing
01:00that out and absolutely I agree with you and commit to working with you on that.
01:03Great, thank you. Mr. Garrish, nuclear energy could play a huge role in our
01:12national security. And I share the frustration of many organizations, Nuclear
01:18Energy Institute, Colorado Nuclear Alliance, Nuclear Innovation Alliance, that the DOE has let go,
01:24more than half its staff at the Loan Program Office, the Loan Program Office LPO, one of the most
01:32effective federal offices supporting new nuclear projects in the United States. How is the
01:41administration, from your perspective, plan to expand domestic nuclear energy while
01:47simultaneously dramatically reducing the staff that would be most critical for that expansion?
01:52Well, I am hopeful that as applications come into LPO for additional nuclear projects,
02:00that there is sufficient staff to handle them. And I see no reason that currently, and I'm not
02:07totally familiar with the staff situation in LPO, but I anticipate that we will have the staff to handle that.
02:15So, if you find there's insufficient staff, you will raise your voice and say, we need more staff?
02:20Indeed.
02:21Good. Good to hear that.
02:23Dr. Travnik, the Department of Interior recently announced some of the emergency
02:30permitting procedures to accelerate the development of domestic resources, critical minerals.
02:35As has been noted, this initiative seeks to reduce multi-year review processes to, well,
02:44as much as possible, but in some cases as quickly as 28 days. I'm an outspoken, I guess I'd say, supporter
02:53of bipartisan permitting reform. I emphasize bipartisan permitting reform. But I am concerned about some of these drastic actions.
03:01What are the litigation risks of taking such dramatic steps to accelerate these timelines without an act of Congress?
03:09In other words, are we creating far more obstacles and problems in the future than we, than we, as we seek to circumvent the existing structure?
03:17And then how do you justify operating under a national energy emergency while excluding key technological technologies like solar, wind, energy storage from these new permitting procedures?
03:32Senator, thank you for the question. Yes, we have been directed through the presidential order in regards to the energy emergency that we see here in this country.
03:39I know that this committee has been active as it relates to finding ways to streamline the permitting processes.
03:46The, the team at Interior has been working very hard to, to try to see if there's any ways to streamline them even further.
03:53And that's where you did see this, this last week where there was a new permitting process that was, that was rolled out to try to expedite that to, to make sure that we can develop the resources.
04:03Also get the infrastructure needed to, to make sure that we're, we're getting that clear energy dominance.
04:09At the same time, it also is looking at just ESA, NHPA. I know there's a question earlier also too related to, to tribes.
04:18So the, the department's going to work really hard to, to implement that.
04:21Great. Thank you. And I'll ask you each just, there have been some, I think in some quarters serious discussions about,
04:29large scale sales of public lands for the, for the generation of revenue for the federal government.
04:36I just wanted to ask each of you to give your authentic opinion as to whether that's a, a worthy outcome.
04:47Um, and if I, and I'm a great believer in, in, in budgets and, and, uh, frugality.
04:53Uh, but I think wide scale sale of public lands just for the generation of revenue seems, uh, very ill-advised.
04:59I just want to hear each of your opinion on that.
05:02Uh, thank you, Senator, for the question. We know as it relates to, to federal lands, there's a lot of multi-use efforts that are associated with them.
05:10Um, so.
05:11I was just talking about the sale. So I understand multi-use and I understand that.
05:15And I, in some mountain towns you can sell an acre or two from the BLM that they can use for affordable housing or workforce housing.
05:22I get that. I'm not against that. I'm talking about larger scale sale of public lands to generate revenue, solely to generate revenue for the federal government.
05:30Yes. And at the Department of the Interior right now, we do have a directive through an executive order to review all of those public lands,
05:35seeing if there are any opportunities. Uh, so it would be working with the states, looking for opportunities to see if there is any opportunity.
05:42So you're okay with that. All right.
05:44Senator, Congress has the authority to dispose of, of public lands. Um, and I agree with my colleague, uh, from the interior perspective, we would look to the states, um, any state looking to do a lands transfer.
06:00So you said Congress has the authority, but then you're going to look to the states. So look to the states to advise Congress.
06:06That's the question. I'm just, I'm not trying to be a, uh, uh, trouble. I'm just trying to make sure we get on.
06:12No. I understand, sir. I, I meant that in the context of, I'm sure there is a role for the Department of Interior.
06:19I do not currently work in the building. Um, but my understanding of the Constitution is that it gives that authority to Congress.
06:26Right. We agree. Mr. Garrish.
06:30Senator, I am not familiar enough with this subject to be able to provide much of an opinion.
06:35However, it would seem to me that, as I understand it, that this is a matter for Congress.
06:42Thank you, Senator, for the question. I, I, I appreciate the issue that you raise as the, as the nominee for the, uh, uh, EIA administrator position, which is policy neutral. I, uh, unfortunately, uh, am not able to respond.
06:57All right. Thank you. I'm, I'm out of time.
07:01Thank you, Senator Hickenlooper.