Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) highlighted the energy sector’s ability to elevate the United States’ leadership role around the globe on Saturday and its ability to create jobs and lower energy costs domestically.
Upton, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, delivered his remarks as part of the weekly Republican address.
“Energy is at the core of American life,” Upton said. “It supports jobs and our economy, and it affects everything from the price at the pump and the monthly electric bill to the cost of groceries – all of the things that Americans need to make ends meet. Schools, churches, hospitals and manufacturing plants in my home state of Michigan and around the country… they all depend on affordable energy.
The House of Representatives will consider several pieces of legislation this week that would improve the energy infrastructure, Upton said, and they would empower the United States to push back against “hostile” nations that supply much of the world’s energy.
“We are offering more predictable regulations that encourage investment, lower prices and create jobs here at home,” Upton said. “We’re making targeted energy efficiency reforms, which will also help reduce costs and eliminate waste. And we’re focusing on the safety and reliability of the electrical grid to protect against everything from security threats to brownouts and blackouts. We’re working to keep nuclear power safe and sustainable for the long term.”
Upton said recently-proposed EPA regulations that would cap greenhouse gas emissions at new coal-burning power plants would make it more difficult and expensive to use and sell energy.
“(President Obama’s) record of energy development on federal lands remains dismal,” Upton said. “And we all may rue the day that his president decided he could not say yes to the job-creating Keystone XL pipeline, which is going to displace energy from hostile parts of the world like Venezuela and the Middle East and replace it with supplies from our ally, our friend, Canada; instead, the project is in regulatory purgatory, and America waits and waits.”
Upton said the U.S. needs to foster the energy infrastructure and regulatory framework to support an era of abundance in the energy sector.