WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, Congressman Bob Latta (OH-05), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy, led a hearing titled Assuring Abundant, Reliable American Energy to Power Innovation:  

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

Watch the full hearing here.  

Below are key excerpts from today’s hearing: 

Congresswoman Miller-Meeks (IA-01): “Most importantly, we have to pass thoughtful legislation that prioritizes affordability, abundance, reliability, and security. Dr. Goff, the Securing America's critical mineral Supply Act builds on the Department of Energy’s current efforts. Could you elaborate on the landscape critical minerals for the committee, which resources are most critical to energy supply and who supplies them and what actions the DOE is taking to secure these supply chains?” Dr. Goff: “Well, first, I think the present bill we’re looking at, the supply chain for critical minerals is a good step. It's doing an assessment, looking at vulnerabilities and looking at how we need to move forward.” 

Congressman Troy Balderson (OH-12): “In your testimony, you discuss the work you're doing to strengthen American supply chain, increase the production of domestic resources and approved permits for energy projects. As you're working to expand our energy systems, do you think it makes sense that we're also focusing on the reliability of the electric grid to ensure constituents have access to affordable, reliable, and secure energy to keep the lights on?” Dr. Goff: “Yes, it's critical that we maintain the grid to be able to get that power to the different communities, to the people, to the businesses as well. And a lot of those businesses, especially as we talked more and more about AI are requiring it to be very firm, reliable power delivered 24/7.” 

Congresswoman Julie Fedorchak (ND-AL): “We do want to make sure that the American people do have affordable, reliable and secure electricity. But alongside the American people, AI is critical for our economy as well as for our national security. We want to make sure that we have those capabilities on shore in the US. They're all very critical, and that's why we do have a major focus on addition as opposed to subtraction. We've got to make sure that we move forward on all energy technologies to make sure that we can try to meet all of those different goals.” 

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