WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Bob Latta (OH-05), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy, delivered the following opening statement at today’s hearing titled Assuring Abundant, Reliable American Energy to Power Innovation.

Subcommittee Chairman Latta's opening statement as prepared for delivery:

“Welcome to today’s legislative hearing Assuring Abundant, Reliable American Energy to Power Innovation.

“Today, we will hear from representatives of the Department of Energy and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and industry stakeholders as we consider 14 bills that span the needs of our energy sector. 

“The legislation before us seeks to address systemic issues that are holding back our country’s economic and technological potential. 

“The prosperity and security of our nation has always been linked to abundant, reliable, and affordable energy. 

“Today’s challenges are no different – we need reliable and affordable energy to fuel developments in artificial intelligence, reshore domestic manufacturing facilities, support the agricultural industry, and lower costs for hardworking Americans. 

“All the while, abundant energy resources can reduce the influence of adversarial nations like Communist China, protect against foreign subterfuge, and support our allies abroad.

“This year, our Energy subcommittee has heard extensive testimony from grid operators, utilities and co-ops, energy sector experts, and leaders in the AI community regarding the needs of our energy industry.

“Simply put – we need more energy, and we need it fast, to put the country back on a path towards prosperity. Many of the bills before us today will do just that. 

“At our recent hearing with all 7 regional grid operators, we heard about the growing reliability crisis being caused by federal policies, like the Clean Power Plan 2.0, that are driving out baseload power and threatening the reliability of the grid.

“This sentiment is shared by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, or NERC, who have been raising red alarms about the growing reliability crisis for the last five years. 

“Importantly, the Reliable Power Act will task FERC as a rightful reliability watchdog against unreasonable government overreach. 

“We know that dispatchable generating resources provide the necessary stability, inertia, and spinning mass to maintain frequency and voltage support of the electric system. 

“The GRID Power Act will ensure these resources are prioritized and added to the system in a timely manner.

“As we have also heard from regional grid operators and the experts in the power sector, misguided States’ actions that limit dispatchable resources are having an outsized impact in the growing reliability crisis.

“Two bills under consideration today, the State Planning for Reliability and Affordability Act and the Reliability Protection for States Act, will encourage States to take a greater role in protecting reliability and affordability and hold States accountable for the impacts of policies that could undermine an efficient electric system. 

“Additionally, this committee has continued to observe supply chain constraints for critical grid components that are slowing generation development at a time where demand is projected to skyrocket. 

“The Electric Supply Chain Act, which I intend to introduce, takes a proactive approach to identifying and addressing emerging issues that affect the power sector.  I know my staff has reached out to Minority staff about working on this bill together.  I hope that one of my Democratic colleagues will join me in the effort.

“Similarly, I know that Republican staff has offered to work with Democratic staff on the Hydropower Relicensing Transparency Act, and even have a Democratic Member lead on the bill.  We hope to find bipartisanship together to preserve this important generating resource.

“Alongside these efforts, several bills under consideration today will improve federal permitting processes to unleash our abundant natural resources and fuel economic development. 

“At our hearing with a local representative from the pipefitters union and oil and gas industry earlier this year, we heard about the economic benefits of energy infrastructure development and family sustaining careers for union brothers and sisters.

“Consideration of the Improving Interagency Coordination for Review of Natural Gas Pipelines Act and the Promoting Cross-Border Energy Infrastructure Act could greatly improve our permitting processes and ensure that our nation can lead in the next generation economy. 

“Given our nation’s role as the premier energy producer on the global stage, the Unlocking Domestic LNG Potential Act will unleash exports to support our allies and leverage American energy dominance to advance our national interests. 

“We also have included, at our Democratic colleagues’ request, legislation from my Ranking Member colleague on the interconnection queue. While I may not agree with everything in the bill presently, I look forward to working with the gentlelady from Florida to see if we can land on an agreeable position.

“Altogether, the bills before us today represent an opportunity for this committee to refocus the federal government’s approach to the energy sector to ensure abundant, reliable, and affordable energy to power innovations of the future. 

“The nation and world are safer when the United States is energy dominant. 

“I yield back the balance of my time.”

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