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we are funded by these television companies and more. ♪♪ 's supporting c-span as a public service along with these other television providers giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> energy secretary on clean energy any factoring investments modernizing the system and helping the u.s. better compete with china. our testimony before the house oversight and accountability committee is about two and half hours.

the committee will come to order i want to welcome everyone. the chair may declare a recess at any time. i now recognize myself for the purpose of making an opening statement. madam secretary i want to thank you for being here today before the committee. after traveling to saudi arabia and the united arab emirates last week. i am sure you are well received abroad. i hope the purpose to booster foster fuels. especially what president biden and his administration of the department of energy. getting to make it less

independent. president biden in the secretary should not be prioritizing when we have the natural resources to be energy independent. the biden administration pursuing policies threatening energy. today the 15th hearing at the fullen subcommittee level at the congress specifically related to the biden administration's policies regulations. our oversight hearings have examined a range of topics including energy efficiency standards, critical minerals, nuclear energy and the administration's ban on liquefied natural gas export permits to non-free-trade agreement countries.

decisions like the department's ban on new liquefied natural gas export permits just the most recent example jeopardize the energy security. jobs and producers. according to the center for lng increasing lng exports provides great economic benefits like bolstering labor incomes and lowering the cost of imported goods thereby protecting consumers from inflation. further, we know that increased lng sent to europe will safeguard the continent from russian gas. rather than ask questions about the consequences of the van or other administration policies, today we will likely hear democrats geminis u.s. oil and gas producers. while they politicize energy and target american producers average national gas prices search on president biden's watch to an all-time high. with an average national price of gas reaching more than $5 a gallon in the summer of 2022.

congressional republican chair different vision for america's energy future. on march 30, 2023 the republican majority house passed the lower energy act which would perform the process lower process for consumers and help restore u.s. energy leadership for the world. today, the committee has released a report detailing the harm the biden administration policy has inflicted on american consumers in the u.s. economy which i will enter into the record with unanimous consent. without objection to order. it is undeniable that gas prices are higher under the biden administration. gas prices search and go under $5 nationally in 2022 as a result the biden administration policies. as a rapidly overload our grid with its electrification and all cost push american consumers face skyrocketing electricity prices. electricity prices faster than the pace of inflation and more

so than any other commodity. our committee working the 118th congress range for the department span elimination of consumer choices for home appliances, historic depletion of the petroleum reserve and of course the waste of tax payer dollars on the secretary's now famous disaster for day summer 2023 electric vehicle road trip. this work has expanded to include the committee's governmentwide investigation into the chinese communist effort to target influence and undermine every sector and community in the united states including the energy sector. the biden administration's rhetoric of green new deal policies specifically its electronic vehicle mandates play directly. committee republicans will continue to conduct oversight of government waste, fraud and abuse. we will not stand by silently as the biden administration

subverts the independence and geminis as this critical industry. i now yield to the ranking member for his remark. >> mr. chairman, thank you. thank you for joining us today. i also hope that you are not driving around the world promoting more fossil fuel combustion and use. my colleagues have invited you here today to testify about president biden's so-called war on energy which we know does not exist. four better or worse the united states producing record high levels of oil and natural gas today. it is never been so high so our colleagues can breeze easy if that is their principal interest president biden in the department of energy in partnership with democrats in congress are making historic and necessary investments in clean

energy technology. climate change is the defining crisis of our time. we know that burning fossil fuels is by far the leading factor in contributing to climate change. fossil fuel companies knew this decades ago but suppressed. our recent staff support showed evolution of big oil's efforts to deceive the american public from outright denial of the facts that they understood in the 1960s and 70s and then more up to date subtle propaganda and disinformation efforts today to try to lead us away from the solutions that we need. because of this deception we have lost crucial decades in which we could have been systematically transitioning away from dirty fossil fuels to the cleaner alternative energies that we need. now we are forced to take much more dramatic actions to transition clean energy as quickly as possible. with every passing day the consequences of climate change

grow in intensity in just the last week we have learned not only are the sea levels rising, not only are we seeing record forest fires, record drought, record flooding in different parts of the country, hurricanes of record velocity, but there is even a greater disruption taking place to people's daily lives. there are swarms of mosquitoes in texas and unprecedented numbers and sizes. the oceans are actually changing colors. we are in a very rapid downward dissent because of climate change. researchers have found that the economic damage caused is six times worse than was previously predicted. estimating just 1 degree celsius of warning would cause the world to decline by 12%.

we already had more than 1 degree celsius and warming since preindustrial times. currently on track to hit 3 degrees celsius by the end of the century. we must break free from the carbon trap which will require significant effort investment into the clean energy transition the department of energy i believe it's doing that thanks to funding from inflation reduction act in the bipartisan infrastructure law. the historic investments the american people have made. the u.s. is on track by 2032 doubled the amount of clean energy we generate and to cut emissions by 40-50% compared to 2005 levels. the focus on clean energy has also spurred over $400 billion of new investments in clean energy by private companies. about half of which is being specifically invested in manufacturing today. the u.s. economy has added 800,000 manufacturing jobs to the start of this administration anticipated to create more than

1.5 million jobs over the next decade. we have not had an unemployment rate this low in more than 50 years. the clean energy economy plays a very important role in this economic renaissance. unlike my colleagues across the aisle who want to promote falsehoods about this imaginary war on energy, democrats recognize that the transition to clean energy is not just good for our climate and good for our planet, but also good for our economy and good for our communities. every single one of our districts is profiting right now from the benefits of projects funded by the inflation reduction act in the bipartisan infrastructure legislation. in fact, a company in kentucky, in the good chairman's district is receiving $480 billion and bipartisan infrastructure law funding for sustainable battery

manufacturing. another company in kentucky also insurance district which are used by way of illustration is receiving up to $35 million in federal cost share under the inflation reduction act to electrify nd carbonized its heating process. this is taking place all over america today. this is happening now. these types of investments are significant and historic. exactly what we need to move away from the dangerous dependence on fossil fuels. that is not a question of moral guilt speared the whole society is implicated in it. we have to save ourselves from the implications of it. i commend the work of the biden harris situation. i command you madam secretary for everything you've been doing to make sure the united states is able to transition effectively away from dirty energy to clean energy while also making sure our economy is strong. thank you, mr. chairman.

i yield back. >> we are joined by the honorable jennifer ground was sworn into office as a secretary of the u.s. department of energy pursuant to committee rule 9 g the witness will please stand and raise her right hand. do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give us the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god. let the record know the witness answered in the affirmative. thank you. we appreciate you being here today. look forward to your testimony. let me remind you madam secretary that we have read your written statement and it will appear full on the record. as a reminder please press a button on the microphone in front of you. when you begin to speak the line in front of you will turn green. after four minutes the line will turn yellow. we ask that you would wrap up. i now recognize the secretary for her opening statement.

>> thank you so much, chairman, ranking member raskin and members of the committee. i am so proud to be here representing more than 100,000 talented hard-working public servants who make up the department of energy. three years ago i joined this administration believing that if america could come together around a national energy strategy we could restore american manufacturing. we could create jobs. we could address the climate crisis and become energy independent and secure. today we are doing just that. america is back. thanks to congresses efforts in the vision we are executing a focused deliberate strategy that positions our businesses to dominate our workers to compete and our communities to arrive. it is working. we are rebuilding our manufacturing back bone.

since the passage of the infrastructure law, for example, companies have announced more than 600 new or expanded plants on american soil just for clean energy. hundreds of billions and planned investment for batteries, for electric vehicles, solar, wind, nuclear and more. tens of thousands of jobs being created from the industrial midwest to the industrious mid-atlantic to the southern battery belt to the southwest sunbelt to the west coast to the gulf coast. by reassuring and on shoring any fracturing supply chains we are also just checking up to our global competitors. right now china possesses 65% of the world's lithium and 100% of its graphite which are critical for the 21st century technologies. but because of the president investments, u.s. graphite production is expected to increase 25 fold by 2030. lithium production is expected to increase 85 fold.

through it all, we have spurred a nationwide effort to modernize america's energy system which will bring more clean power to more families at lower cost. .... .... last month d.o.e. finalized energy conservation standards for domestic power transformers that will increase their efficiencies and competitiveness while saving americans jobs. in short congress and the president have crafted a historic strategy to invest in america and d.o.e. is proud to help implement it. we recognize we have been entrusted with resources to do

so and that's why at every step of the way we are taking extra measures to protect the american taxpayers investment that meets the goals set forth by congress and to avoid potential for, fraud and abuse. we set up new processes for offices to coordinate on program designed so we are eliminating redundancy leveraging expertise across the department and learning from past experiences from day one we prioritized hiring specialists in projects and program oversight and grant management financial and audit oversight and we regularly and practically seek guidance from d.o.e. office of inspector general on how to best protect the integrity of our investment. our continued cooperation will be essential for keeping this momentum in building a stronger and safer future for the american people. i look forward to your questions. thank you. >> thank you grandma to madam secretary. we will begin our questions and

we will begin with the gentleman from louisiana mr. higgins. >> thank you mr. chairman and secretary thank you for appearing before us today. things are moving rather quickly today. i-mile ask you to focus here. the department of energy determined whether exporting lng to our allies around the world is within the public interest, yes or no? >> we are in the middle of the study. that is updating her assessment. >> would that be in no? >> we are in the middle of updating. >> not yet determined. >> that would be in no, maam, please. let's not filibuster each other. i asked you a simple question. has the department of energy determined whether exporting lng to our allies around the world is in the public interest?

them answering a simple way we are in the middle of updating. >> that would be a no. have you gotten to the end zone? >> we are in the middle. >> that would be no, you have not made to the end zone yet. this is what we are dealing with mr. chairman. we can't get a straight answer about this administration. we will see. you are on record today. why have you issued a long-term ban on export permit approvals prior to determining whether or not exporting lng is within the public interest? >> number one we have not issued a ban in a particular topic not long-term. it is a pause to update our assessment. the assessment will be done by the first quarter of next year. >> why have you issued the band according t. york -- >> it is not a ban. it is not a ban sir.

>> we are going to get a straight answer out at you today are we? >> it is not a ban sir. >> what statute of authority do you claim to have two issue the permit and i will use your language for issuing permits statutory authority? the natural gas act requires whether we determine whether authorizations for export of liquefied natural gas are in the public interest. >> precisely mr. chairman that like to enter into the record what i'm about to read citing from section 3 of the natural gas act title xv u.s. code 717 bravo the commerce and trade exportation of our importation of natural gas lng terminals under paragraph alpha mandatory authorization order it says in the quote the commission shall

issue such order upon application unless after opportunity for a hearing to find come not trying to find in the process of finding are talking about finding or riding about finding, it finds that the proposed exportation or importation will not be consistent with the public interest. mr. chairman i asked that it be entered into the record. >> without objection, so ordered. >> in the natural gas act as i just stated it clearly states that you shall issue permits unless you find it's not in the public interest which has not yet happened and yet you have issued, you have mandated a pause. you have not issued permits. how can you pause for a minute and approval if you have not determined exporting lng is or

is not in the public interest? >> we are updating our system and to make that determination certain. >> is that your answer? >> yes. >> that's your answer? i asked you how. >> the axes unless in the public interest. >> balao requires you, does the law require you to issue permits unless you have determined it's not within the public interest? >> yes. >> it's determined it's not within the public interest? >> that's why we are doing it. >> deal bomb administration conducted a study in 2014 and 2015 to continue the process non-fda export authorization application while updating the studies. the precedent established by all the democratic president in your department that states if you

have an application that has been completed and are standing by then you guys should move forward while you are in the process of not quite getting to the end zone on determining whether or not it's in the public interest. it's clear to me that the american men and women around the country are watching today and we recognize that you do not have the authority nor the precedence to take actions that you have indeed taken. this pause mr. chairman jeopardizes billions of dollars of interest, american jobs, american families and a clean reliable energy source that contributes to our national security and energy security and security by allies. this is yet another illegal action by the biden administration being forced upon we the people. mr. chairman nye yield.

>> i recognized representative raskin. >> thank you and welcome to the committee and thank you for your hard work on behalf of the american people. let me start with something that i mentioned before which is we actually have record high production of gas and oil right now, isn't that right? >> that's right. >> will you explain how that's measured and monitored? >> the oil and gas industry are record exporters of gas and that has been stopped. we are the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas. we are the world's largest producer of oil as well. >> you are undertaking this public interest process the very distinguished gentleman from louisiana just invoked and you are in the middle of that process so you have paused in

the lng export permit process. what effects will that actually have on lng exports in the near foreseeable future? >> thank you for the question because it has absolutely no impact on any exports that are happening now. we have authorized 48 billion cubic feet of exported liquefied natural gas, 48 billion. that is three times what we are currently exporting. we are the largest exporter of 14 billion cubic feet in addition we have authorize another 22 under construction, that are currently under construction. so much has happened in terms of exports of liquefied natural gas since the last assessment was done we have exploded in our authorizations. this pause only applies to

what's coming down the pipe. everyone is under construction everybody who is authorized to doesn't have a final investment decision reseed. we are the leading exporter and we will continue to export and it will not affect jobs and what's happening already in terms of exports. >> our colleague invites us to imagine there's a category a ban on exports of liquefied natural gas and that there is some sort of cut off. is there a cutoff? >> there is no cutoff. there is no cut off. it have to do with what's in the public interest and there's a huge amount we have authorized. >> that assessment is going forward and not about any of the projects we have right now. >> that is correct. >> we want to try to restore proportion in reality to the conversation but i know there's this effort to define your

policies is a war on energy. can you just respond to that convoluted rhetorical claim? >> i think with the united states right now would be considered energy dominate. we are number one in the oil and gas. we are number one in exports and we are aggressively seeking to be larger in our deployment of renewable energy as well which is what congress has given the authority to do. we are an energy country and we will remain an energy exporting country even as we continue to deploy, deploy, deploy renewable energy. >> the ex-president just like before whole bunch of oil and gas executives and essentially commanded that they give the campaign a billion dollars because you are going to release a rash of regulations reversing climate progress in reversing

the policies in the administration to give promise to auction off more oil drilling in the gulf of and repeatedly chanting at rallies and drill baby, drill. what would happen to our climate goal if we actually undertook to reverse all of the progress made under the biden campaign? >> obviously we want to get to netzero by 2050 as the nation but also in conjunction with all other nations on the planet to address climate change for the reasons that you stated in your opening statement in terms of the number of extreme weather events which cost us so much more than addressing climate change. in the end we have a responsibility to our citizens. >> as secretary of energy do you think client -- climate denial

is dangerous? >> of course it is. it's dangerous to our economy as well. the opportunity of for clean energy is enormous across the country. >> i remember there was a time when the secretary of energy would appear to be at odds with the secretary of the epa in people working on the environment tell us about the insight of the administration but you have these record levels of gas and oil production and other renewable energy moving forward but do you see your job as opposed to the job of the people who are working for our climate? >> not at all. we work in conjunction with the department of interior and the upn to work together and we want to make sure we are producing energy enough to keep the lights on but we do it in the cleanest way possible. >> thank you for your hard work and i yield back. >> for download from texas. >> thank you for much and miss

secretary welcome. we have had a series of days are on both sides we asked questions expecting complete answers on a bipartisan basis and we are delighted that you were here. since the last 10 minutes hearing about how great of a job secretary is doing in education tommy about liheap dumping billions of gallons of oil into the northeast every year. >> liheap? >> liheap. >> the low income heating? >> right. it uses diesel. that's the federal government low income opportunity in hampshire to keep people warm, poor people. in 2008 we are putting an increasingly amount of money into this. we are dumping billions of gallons of home heating fuel

into the northeast rather than going to a clean solution. you talk about all these great things that happened but but ths government of the last four years and president obama took billions of gallons of home heating fuel and today airing your sitting here talking about what a threat all this is that the lg companies are doing. why do you talk about liheap? >> liheap keeps the lights on for the poor. >> i know it does. >> it's important. >> i know notice so what have you done to turn that natal around? when you want to ban natural gas. >> will want to do is to make sure poor families have the same ability. >> i agree with that. >> one of the programs. >> natural gas is far cheaper.

>> natural gas is right now you are very correct. >> it has been in its cleaner which is your main thesis. madam secretary i want to talk about advanced technology vehicle manufacturing program and this was designed as an opportunity the congress gave the secretary to innovate for altar efficiency vehicles and it should contain zero marios and ratios -- scenarios and ratios almost anyone who would qualify based on the ratio of making cleaner energy and yet i see where your department is going on the side of other ideas. the no electronic vehicles just ask a visn hertz they can even get rid of them. the loss of jobs, the amount of problems that come with these

and get i see your department giving money, loans to ev projects as opposed to others that may qualify also. could you please talk about that? you have one minute and 47 seconds maam. >> the tm program to the loan program was directed by congress so yes it is encouraging the development of technology or the businesses who are building batteries or extracting criminal -- critical minerals for batters that the united states is not the holder to other countries we are building our own energy security here. that's the intent of the loan program. >> and the amount of percentages given to ev's as opposed to other competing ideas. >> that particular program is designated for advance vehicles. >> these would be advanced vehicles. these are the people who offer

along for ev. >> we are not foreclosing on any of that. >> i'd like to follow up with you slightly to ask could you provide me the information about the amount of people who have brought under this vehicle program and alter vehicles and find out what% you have given in that amount of money to ev versus other applicants that may have come under that same sort of vehicle and i'd appreciate knowing that but i want to thank you for taking time with us today and we will be following up on this liheap issue to find out specifically what d.o.e. thinks about hundreds of billions of gallons of diesel fuel into the northeast on an annual basis.

mr. chairman nye yield back my time. >> the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes mrs. norton from washington d.c.. >> thank you mr. chairman. secretary in the time since president biden find the inflation reduction act and bipartisan infrastructure law communities across the country are already benefiting from investments in clean energy and climate and climate resilience. in fact right here in the district of columbia that i represent the inflation reduction act is able the general services administration to upgrade several government buildings from fossil fuel steam power to electric heat pump technology. the upgrade to the ronald reagan building and international trade center alone will strengthen our climate features and are expected to save more than $6.2 million of taxpayer dollars every year.

secretary powell are projects like this one transforming communities across the country? >> we are very interested in all projects that are community-based to reduce costs for people. whether it's energy efficiency or the a generation of clean energy in giving people the ability to take control of their own energy pitch or in partnership with communities and on an individual basis. we are all in on all manner of efficiency and energy and supporting communities in doing so. >> the inflation reduction act in a bipartisan infrastructure law are critical investments in our country's future in the first year of the inflation

reduction act enactment we added 170,000 jobs and climate resilience with the protection of more than 1.5 million additional new jobs over the next decade. secretary howe has president biden's investment in an america -- america's energy creating new jobs and opportunities across the country including the energy sector? >> to your point so far it's about 800,000 jobs that have been created as a result of the bipartisan infrastructure law and the inflation reduction act which is a projection it will be 1.5 million. we have created over 50 million jobs and 50 million does it and created since this president took office more than any president in any term in american history. part of that have to do with the focus on clean energy and the opportunity that it brings to employ people.

>> according to the department of energy because of the inflation reduction act in the bipartisan in for structure role by 2030 we are projected to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40% at 2005 levels but it's projected that the clean energy electricity will account for 80% of power generation by 2030 compared with 42% in 2022. in addition president biden's leadership will help families save up to $38 billion in the electricity bills by the end of the decade. senator granholm how has the inflation reduction act and the bipartisan infrastructure law enabled the department of energy to invest in clean energy and fossil fuel alternatives?

spun the statistics you set said are so wonderful because they happen to be accurate and a 40% reduction in co2 emissions it's actually 50% if you include what the private sectors doing and what other states are doing. what these have done is enabled the federal government but also the private-sector to really make investments because they contain carrots and we are all about that at the department of energy said so the grants from infrastructure law that inflation reduction act have created an environment where america has become an irresistible nation for investment in clean energy. we are the envy of other nations for having been so forward-leaning on creating jobs here so it's very exciting time for responsive addressing climate change but also saving jobs in america.

>> i'm thankful the administrations leadership in addressing our country's energy future and i yield back. >> the chair recognizes mr. mr. biggs for five minutes. >> thank you secretary and thank you for being here. we talk about that zero by 2050 you are talking essentially about eliminating hydrocarbon-based fuel. is that correct? >> it's also using some hydro carbon that's been the carbon eyes. >> can you name the benefits of fossil fuel as an energy source? >> it is dense and to keep the lights on in the transportation going. it's an important part of her energy mix. >> it's cheaper and reliable. >> it's all of that and it's clean. >> when you have the benefits to the overall benefits when you talk about that zero and our

climate friends don't really include the personal benefits for the economic benefits. can you name some economic benefits? >> clearly our economy has been built upon fossil fuels and our economy is driven by fossil fuels that fossil fuels that created problems with climate change. that impacts the economy to slip clean it up. >> let's talk about some other things. with fossil fuels we saw dramatic increase over the last 130 years of longevity in -- rates. and also a dramatic increase in sanitation and health impacts that were good, right? >> i would not know that i'd attribute it to fossil fuels. we have seen an increase in health. >> what the petroleum based products you have up there

affects virtually every aspect of your life what you are wearing and the health apparatus to use some of those come from petroleum based products, right? and the petroleum based products impact every and part of the economy. >> the largest grid operator release and the part about the timely arrival of the resources. what they are getting at there is reducing reliable energy resources before reliable sources come on line and that's really what we see happening and that's the anticipation that's why some states talking about brownouts that are coming their way and they are concerned about that. as am i. let's talk for just a second about electric vehicles that we can. the funding came with the ira and the federal budget estimated

this budget plan right here. in a hundred and 13th congress we passed the ira and my democratic colleagues did and they provided ceo in jcps to eliminate spending and tax breaks to cost around $400 billion by moving to electric vehicles heavy-duty electric vehicles in $3 billion for postal electrification. that's a net of a foreign to billion dollar cost. since that bill has passed now for the same programs the estimate that the subsidies would be $1.1 trillion over the same period of time. now of that $7.5 billion was generated for nationwide electric vehicle charging infrastructure and get it's been reported we have now for

charging stations i believe it is reported by nbc. does that sound accurate to you? >> no, it doesn't. how many charging facilities do we have? i'm sorry seven delta in four states. >> let me explain this. the national electric vehicle initiative required states to develop a plan in order to be eligible for that 7.5 billion. the approved all of those plans. all of the funding has been released to the state. these are all state programs so now 36 states have released solicitations to build up those charging stations. 22 states have announced awards. there will be an additional 2000 stations by the end of 2024. >> you are guaranteeing that there will be 2000? >> that is the forecast. >> that is your forecast. the result is you put those in

the taxpayers are putting those in all of these taxpayer subsidies, subsidized and ford can't even sell their cars. most of these lots can't sell sell them for that like to introduce into the record they are cruel where ford is announcing massive losses of $1.3 billion they are losing on average $130,000 for every ev that they sell. >> without objection, so ordered. >> thank you. the gentleman yield back in the chair recognizes mr. -- from massachusetts. >> welcome madam secretary and thanks for your good work. really quick on my heap the reason we have to get people low income low-cost heating oil because the lot of poor folks have oil for their furnace. >> unfortunately but that's why

are we are working so hard to whether it's and update peoples homes. >> exactly. and we are working with the gas company to try to modernize some of it and make it a cleaner energy source. i appreciate the work you are doing on that. i'm really interested in read short shoring some of the energy supply back to united states. as a grant that we put in the bipartisan infrastructure law that allows battery materials that ev batteries and all the components that go into that. we want to bring that home. right now there is one u.s. company that's competing for that grant. there headquartered in my district but they do all their manufacturing in texas and michigan. that's where the job would be created. they do great work and the only u.s. company bidding for this and i just want to put a stake and a flag in the ground taking

a look at that it's been a wild. >> what is the name of the company? >> cabin corp. they are us-based company and they do their work here or they create carbon amyl tools and other things for these batteries. i'm just lighting up for you to look at that. thirdly myself mr. connolly and some others mr. raskin put in $3 billion for a post office to electrify the post office. the post office has is 737,000 vehicles but it's the second-largest after the department of defense the second largest owner of vehicles in the united states. we put $3 billion to help them convert to electric vehicles. i talked to the postmaster general dejoy. he's doing it as fast as he can

they are dealing with the resources that we gave them. we need to do this faster. when you think about it this is a wonderful opportunity for us to accelerate an amplified the use of electric vehicles. think about the pattern in which the post office uses their vehicles. they charge them overnight and they deliver it during the day and they come back in charge overnight. those charging stations, if we had charging stations in every post office that were available to the public completely during the day because post office is there everywhere, everywhere. it's an opportunity here but we have to deploy the charging stations. they are close to everybody's homes. we have facilities that could house hundreds of these charging stations. we can keep the postal fleet there overnight when nobody uses them and offer them to the public perhaps during the day. i just think it would give a

real boost to the use of ev's the ease of which needs to be enhanced. >> 100%. all locations that are easy and so i locations where you haven't seen a big uptick in electric vehicles like rural areas. like postal services are everywhere and they are great example of what we'd like to see happen. we have now 180,000 charging stations across the country 180,000. we hope to get to 900 by 2030 and the private sectors that the pullout but that's what the states are willing to fill in the gaps were charging stations use every 50 miles along the charging corridor. >> thank you. is the program that we are hitting on in new england is a

combination in massachusetts and the other new england states. it would allow us to repurpose one of the other power plants in our area in massachusetts and connect them to the wind turbines that we have going offshore. so it's a joint program. we have facilities in southern connecticut in maine, northern maine and that's really important that if we are going to convert that the heavily populated area and we to upgrade our grid. that's the power up wind program that we are pushing so i'd ask you to take a good hard look at that as well. >> mr. chairman nye per share courtesy and i back. >> the gentleman yields back on the chair recognizes mr. perry from pennsylvania. >> thank you mr. secretary. appreciate you being here to answer questions for us. i've a letter from t. km

regarding the power facility in adirondack canyon county. according to the pgm your connections spokesman for pgm region in the state of maryland are facing reliability shortages. phm analysis shows that the activation of the unit would cause severe voltage drops in thermal violations across seven pgm zones which would lead to widespread risk in baltimore and the media surrounding areas. let me make that plain for everybody. entered into an agreement with the sierra club cannot produce power, to not produce power. so the pgm which operates in multiple states is scheduled to power from various facilities is asking that agreement be held in

advance until a reliable source can be built. but they are going to do that. the only thing that's going to save baldemore from blacking out and going without power is an emergency designation from the secretary of the department of energy. there's not enough time. even if we wanted to build it and we don't. let me be clear here they'll it is that pennsylvania where i live provides the power in our land is taken by eminent domain to send the power to baltimore who has a perfectly functioning power plant right now in adirondack county because of the agreement they are going to shut it down so my two questions is the department of energy in support of these types of agreements between the sierra club and town energy to shut

down plants? number one and number two copper you committed to at the emergency declaration that will be required when the plant shuts down for over 1 million customers to have power in the 21st century? >> i'm not familiar with that agreement. i want to make sure the power stays on and we have additional power to make sure that there's enough for people. that's why we are working so hard to ensure we are deploying it. >> i have the letter and i assure you it is real and it is dated december 5 of 2023. it's not new and it's not a new concept. it's coming so assuming let's look at it this way i don't want to assume on your behalf by the assuming and it will be entered in the record and all stake my reputation what pgm is offered assuming that is correct are you willing to commit to an emergency declaration so that the lights and the power can stay on for 1 million customers

by the department of energy? >> we are always willing to exercise emergency power the lights go out. >> do think it's fair that the people of pennsylvania have two watch their land be up to send power to baltimore when they have a perfectly operating facility? is it fair that we do that in the facility can be transition. i know everybody cold, i do not put a lot of people do. the requirements just keep on increasing such that the planet can no longer remain viable economically under the conditions the federal government has set. but is it fair that pennsylvania then have to provide the power and the transmission across its landed baltimore? >> i think there other solutions. >> i think there too and i think we can pursue them. i hope we can can pursue them but i appreciate that madam secretary. and little bit of time i have

left representative biggs talked about the loss of money to the car companies in delaying production of its own new electric suv. the day of lost $130,000 on every ev $5.5 billion in 2024 and signed a 8.5% decline in delivery and gm lost $7 billion in q4 of 2023. this is all happening at taxpayer expense. the increase of ev usage in sales is by the federal government's not because of the private-sector. the private sectors declining so with that while you were here at the -- as the current cabinet secretary would you commit to saying on the record that you will not support the bailout of the car companies once we bankrupt them and once these happen. we are already heading there. he down this bora.

it cost -- the car companies are not saying they are going bankrupt. they are excited about the trajectory. >> they are continuing with their plan. >> because they are forced to by the federal government. >> there's a 30% increase year-over-year for demand. >> did you have something you wanted to enter into the record? >> thank you mr. chairman nye to enter this order from the pgm. >> without objections the word now the chair recognizes ms. bush. >> thank you. secretary granholm thank you for

talking with me when you were in the st. louis area about these issues. we are here to discuss the climate crisis of course as well as the devastating impact of nuclear created and completely abandoned by the federal government that has devastated my community to this day. we know you weren't in the seat at that time. secretary as you know black and brown people from the front lines of the climate crisis and we have been the most impacted by the failure of the government to clean up toxic. also it is essential that while we prioritize the transition to clean energy we also addressed the legacy of the pollution in our community. we have been grappling with the nuclear contamination left over from a the manhattan project particularly in coldwater creek which is the same waterway as

well as the westlake landfill. in march of this year the senate passed legislation that would reauthorize the radiation exposure compensation act which provides compensation for people sickened by the u.s. testing of nuclear weapons as well as expanded to include st. louis and other areas that have been historically excluded. now we are running out time in the house. it's set to expire june 7. they only have four legislative days left. secretary granholm do you support the reauthorization? >> yes. >> thank you. could you tell us what impact would a lapse have on our victim's? >> thank you. it's critical that they date take responsibility for the fallout of these activities in world war ii on humans no matter where they are.

it's unfortunately an a lot of our communities and it takes a long time to eradicate all remnants. we have a responsibility as a nation and i hope they live up to that responsibility. >> thank you and thank you for the conversation we had about this and thank you for your action. i know if we do not expand victims will contain to suffer and i've seen my community members and i know some who have died. while it's making their communities whole we must do the work to clean up the ways. i've recognize a lot of the cleanup has been done before i'd like to ask you about this. we often hear lots about the benefits of nuclear energy is a clean alternatives to fossil

fuels. madam secretary how is the department chairing that the by nuclear energy is handled in a proper way? >> thank you for that question. we are in the middle of a site raised process, community-based siting process for nuclear. currently as you are aware nuclear is largely stored around those plants which is safe but it would be helpful to the united states to have a national repository of nuclear. we are in the process of this consent-based fighting effort. there've been 12 entities that have been funded to reach out to communities who are potentially going to raise their hands and decide how to compensate who will do that service for our nation. it takes a bit of time and we are modeling it after a couple of other nations to do the same thing. it takes a bit of time to ensure

that we get it right but we are in the process of doing that and communities that are willing to do that. >> thank you. appreciate that the communities involved in the report. when we do business in the st. louis area we talk about the cleanup specifically in st. louis and as you know the army corps is the administrator for the these sites. madam secretary how can i work with you to follow up on your commitment to work with the army corps to get a jobs training program funded to train members of her committee to expedite the cleanup of the manhattan project ways. >> lets you and i follow-up on that together. >> okay. i sincerely appreciate the department's efforts to ensure that this cleanup and

communities like mine people depend on. thank you for recorder work and i look forward to working with you. >> the chair recognizes the representative from tennessee. said tennessee is a hub for nuclear energy and abide administration isn't interested in the small modular reactors. can you tell me how you are helping with that deployment? thanks very much. the funding in the 24 budget for small modular reactors as well as the approval to be able to advance nuclear reactors of different designs. we have about $12 billion that we are funding nuclear writ large including the uranium strategy and the helium strategy for the small modular reactors. stay can you give me a timeline? they keep telling me 10 years

and that was about five years ago. >> i sure hope not i have the nuclear regulatory commission has approved the design of one of the small modular reactions -- reactors but we are eager to partner with utilities and the tech community who are going to be needing cleaned basil power and have small reactors attached to her example data centers but that kind of strategy. >> do you have a timeline they could you give me a date to expand cares what we'd like to see the utility step up to be a will to do this. but it's certainly not the federal government for pulling it back. sad may switch gears. what responsibility is the federal nuclear security administration. >> are you talking about transporting fuel? >> no maam. i want you to speak and i was going to follow-up with the

numerous reports that the federal protective services officers describing the suspicious occurrences of uaps over nuclear facilities. >> let me say the defense department has said there is no evidence of ufos etc. in the united states however at those sites there may be drones that may be enough areas so we are definitely looking at that and making sure our national security sites are protected if a program related to countering drones. >> this is about drones practices prior to drones even. what protocols does the department of energy have been responding to uav settings. people joke about this i get a lot of questions about this from my constituents who i would appreciate you answering.

>> certainly their protocols when we see anything unusual in our national security sites are writ large. >> i'm going to switch gears. the proper use, is the proper use of the reserve the strategic petroleum preserve considering its intended purpose to protect against significant supply distributions from a natural disaster? is at the harper use of that reserve? >> it is. >> if the u.s. were to face a military threat how would you describe her ability to respond to extreme energy expended to could have the largest preserve in the world right now. >> what is your strategy to help lower the prices at the gas pump without robbing our emergency reserves. >> the reason the street

teaching petroleum reserve -- there was a disruption in global supply. >> including asking our allies around the world to do the same. >> how many of our military devices utilize russian energy? >> i'm not aware. >> under your leadership the department of energy is targeting gas stoves washing machines and refrigerators and clothing dryers based on unquantified benefits related to climate public health. how do you balance that unquantified benefits for massive cost burdens imposed on american manufacturers and consumers. >> first of all americans will save $2 trillion in energy

savings because their appliances are more efficient. we are required to do that. >> yes maam poor folks when they do this they have to buy these things. i know the corporations love it when we put these rules and regulations in but i really wish we had more time and i wish you would show up when we ask you to. tenneseans are reminded of this leadership every time they go to the -- and you should be ashamed for your lack of accountability to congress for not showing up when you are asked. we had to threaten you with a subpoena to get you all here. i yield back. the gentleman yield >> and the chair recognizes mrs. brown from ohio. send secretary granholm its great to see you. i'm glad we have that chance a couple weeks ago the fine hairs hairs -- diverse and disadvantaged communities and the five partisan of the

structure law to pass these bills and salons of leadership of speaker pelosi and president biden which are already making a difference in the communities across the country including my district. last year these cleveland city school just received $100,000 the bipartisan infrastructure law to make critical energy upgrades to lower energy use and costs, improve indoor air quality and promote healthier climate environments. have i to think you first-hand for that investment in ohio the 11th congressional district. secretary granholm can you share with us the size and scale of the investment the biden harrison frustration has been implementing since these laws were passed and specifically how they have brought investment in opportunities to disadvantaged low income and marginalized communities? >> thank you so much for the question and thank you for raising their renew america's schools program. if congress has anything to

consider into the future we need to provide more school districts and disadvantaged communities the ability to upgrade their schools because it was so successful. the department of energy under the bipartisan infrastructure law and the inflation reduction act is responsible for about $98 billion worth of bonds to be able to make our nation more energy independent and have our energy run cleaner. we have as a result given out grants and they have taken advantage of tax credits to companies that are producing products to get us there. as we give out grants to want to make sure all communities benefit. of community benefits agreement shows how they are deploying a local community and how they are benefiting the local community and it is an agreement. we are monitoring it and

enforcing those agreements. as a result we are seeing that double the amount of job creation and benefits are going to disadvantaged communities than the rest of the population relative to size. we are excited about that and we are excited about the incentives that have been built into the tax credits to locate disadvantaged communities because that too is causing much more investment in communities that may not have seen it otherwise. >> thank you so much and as we continue our transit into a clean economy want to touch one point in the decarbonization movement which you put forward along with ohio's own secretary of housing and urban development marsha fudge in an environmental protection agency administrator michael regan. this blueprint highlights the need for investments and expansion of the electric vehicle charging stations.

these patients stations must be constructed distributed and built equitably prioritizing low income and underserved communities. nearly every auto manufacturer from gm to afford to jeep has plans to expand and convert to fully electric fleets within the next decade along with other vehicles like school buses and vans but he cannot leave these communities behind with this vital aspect of energy security and access to transportation. secretary granholm can you speak to how have the biden harrison administration is supporting construction of charging stations for marginalized communities? >> thank you so much paid $7.5 billion that congress approved under the bipartisan infrastructure law for charging includes a significant component to go to communities that don't have access to charging right now particularly in cities particularly poor communities and particularly [roll call] communities places where the private-sector has not yet built up charging stations.

the challenge for all of this for example of bits in a dense urban environment where do you put the chargers and what if people don't have garages or access to grozny when if they are in an apartment building? all of those questions and is a business model where trying to figure how to incentivize charging stations and easy way. a long street parking if you create chargers you pull them from the street lamps work sample and are there other ways, creative ways to use technology to be able to give access to charging for the bottom line is we won't charging to be ubiquitous. we want to be accessible by for but he. >> thank you so much that even my republican colleagues who did not vote for these groundbreaking both contain to take credit for these investments that they are bringing to every corner in every sector of our country. this is a testament to the value for the m. precedent and historic biden harrison democratic led investment in the

american people the economy and their future and with that i yield back. >> the chair recognizing -- recognizes mr. donnell. >> on january 18 at 2024 the house held a hearing empowering america's nuclear energy. i have several questions to be answered at a later date to the nrc and frk have both responded that the d.o.e. has not. do you have the commitment and will you commit to responding to my questions over the next 30 days? >> definitely we will commit to responding to your questions and i know it's in the review process but we are happy to sit with you in person and brief you in its in the review process. >> on secretary that was generated now may pick you up for five people sitting behind you. what are the review processes do you have? >> this is beyond them. >> i know it's beyond them.

let's move on. let's talk about nuclear fuel. we have 88 tons of nuclear fuel and for people watching this hearing it's basically the size of one olympic pool. many countries including france are great friends and partners around the globe have invested in recycling nuclear fuel now and the amount of nuclear fuel we have that states we could power the united states for 400 years. is the d.o.e. going through in exploring recycling nuclear fuel and instead of the constant conversation and dogma about nuclear you think the impact the rods is within the nations interest? >> i do and we are looking at that and i'm interested in it as well. it's a program that we should continue to fund. >> when you say interested what does that mean? >> we have labs working on the research related to it and we have funded a couple companies

that are doing that. we think it's an important aspect of how we deal with nuclear. >> all right, good. i want to follow-up with you on that. i'm glad that my colleague from tennessee time with you talking about modular reactors and microreactors. i think it's important that the american people understand the future of power in the united states for everything from ai quantum digital access to her current needs for energy apparatus we will need maximum amounts of power and would you agree that solar panels and wind turbines won't be able to fill fill that need? >> if you had batteries certainly not saying that one have to be at the expense of the other. they both can happen. >> ms. secretary you would agree that better technology has not changed that much. >> oh it really has. we can have a conversation about that. >> i want to go back to the gentleman from louisiana.

he went down a line of questioning with you about the administrations pause on with the natural gas. for decades the department of energy position on liquefied natural gas has been a safe and it's clean and it's in the nations interest to be pro cured and used in the united states did transport and trade around the globe. in short what is changed at the department of energy? >> the volumes have increased so much when he did take another look. it's not the ones that have been approved are not in the nations interest that they were and they are and they will continue to operate. the question of how much more new expansion and what will be the impact in the united states if we export or natural gas and what does that do it -- we export 100 if we export the

amount that authorized that's about half. what is that due to prices at home and that's a question? >> do believe more supply on the market decreases crisis and wouldn't the decrease price be to the benefit of the country? >> for sure it would be. >> one of the questions we are looking at we also have to take a look at what it does for global supply our allies all of that. >> again this is a good conversation for congressional hearings are timely. consider what's happening right now in ukraine isn't in the public interest here in the united states to increase exports of liquefied natural gas to cut down on the ability of the russian regime to earn money in the open market? >> we are exporting natural gas. >> hold on secretary. >> reclaiming my time. we are going to debate the hearing. you have put a positive and you are saying it's in the public interest that you can identify

what the public inches is because it's in the public interest for prices to go down. the american public's interest to limit the ability of the russian regime to earn more money on the open market with their resources. we do agree with that? >> apostates not affect that. >> it affects their ability to earn money. you know that just like i do. >> right now it's a brief. back of time. >> how long is the pause? i would argument and secretary the pause that you are doing is against the law because you have not finalized your parameters that what you really cannot in any event of having finalized we need to execute the permits are waiting in mr. chernihiv back. >> the gentleman yield back on the chair recognizes. >> thank you chairman. madam secretary first i want to thank you for your longs -- strong leadership of the department of energy i want to talk with you will bet about the broken and disconnected texas

grid turcotte not just in texas but the national implications of not fixing the texas grid. i want to start off by thinking in the department of energy for putting a million dollars towards electric reliability in texas including the recent 30 million-dollar investment to help people like san antonio texas. we still have a long way to go. we have had so many mass power outages and hundreds of mass power outages over the last few years in texas making us one of the most electric grids in the country. most people remember and think about this it was it relates to 10 million texans that lost power. hundreds of people died in the wake of that storm you madam secretary said many things i agree with. you said interconnecting the texas grid would be great for texas and great for texas to consider connecting to its neighbors but he said interconnecting texans could benefit the rest of the country because in good times texas is

generating all sorts of clean energy which we could send those clean ions out to take advantage of the market is eager to upset and i couldn't agree more. it would require texas to interconnect with its neighbors. my office worked with your department to draft this legislation and we were heavily on your study which pinpoints our nation's most significant transmission needs and identifies national interest electric transmission corridors. just last week the department of energy announced preliminary list designation is important because it unlocks federal financing for transmission texas was missing from your list and that was confusing to me because you and i agree that interconnecting texas provides reliability to save americans live save money and it's an economic winner and we can't reach our climate goals without interconnecting the grid.

that's because texas leads the country in wins generated in only second to californian solar generation and upcoming m.i.t. study finds between 9 gigawatts and 36 gigawatts of interconnection between texas and its neighbors to get us to 4% co2 reduction nationwide and 33% co2 rich action in the state of texas. in the next few weeks i want to send a letter to your department urging you to do everything it can to interconnect the grid or transmission planning and i'm interested in hearing from you madam secretary if you're considering adding texas to your final list of recent -- designations. >> thank you for your leadership on this. it covers the panhandle of texas but it does not connect turcotte. i stand by this is texas call.

to vertex state sovereignty on this but i do think when you consider the ability for a neighboring state to help in a time of crisis and they are more weather events that are happening and affecting grids i think the nation would love that. similarly for those developers who are in texas and want to take advantage of economy of clean energy to be able to export that power would be good for texas to but that's just me. i'm just the secretary of energy. i'm not running texas so i look forward to working with you to see how we might get there but it would be important to create a national grid that would include texas. >> i appreciate that and they are energy connections in an out of texas and there is a huge market demand to make further interconnections. oftentimes politics have gotten in the way and in the state and national interests. i would argue this this is a jua

texas issue and that neighboring states that need power in texas have to be a part of the solution. meantime between here and full interconnection are there any other actions that d.o.e. can take to enhance greater reliability for transmission in an out-of-state? >> grid reliability gas. we obviously thinks the grid was going as program where funding to make sure all states have the ability to access clean power and upgrade their grid. we are interested in well as funding things like advanced technology and grid advancing technology such as dynamic line reading which would make it more efficient for energy to be transmitted across grids and in the connectivity partner would hope in the next round we could have this conversation about affirming texas but we do respect how the state uses it.

>> i think the vast majority of texans would agree that we could overcome a smaller level politics i appreciate your time. >> ms. luna from florida. >> secretary granholm unrepresented asked you about dod denying. >> my understanding department of defense is looking at this issue to report about it. >> i have lot of questions such as quickly as possible. there've been claims and reports including those in this committee suggesting the u.s. government potentially including the department of energy has been involved in technology to cover uap. for example the pentagon program aims to technologies although it's ultimately not establish can you clarify whether the proper energy has involved in any such effort either historically or currently in

reversing. >> i have no knowledge of the printers of reports indicating frequent drone incursions of drone incursions up at d.o.e. facilities including an ensign on april 1 at 2021 to lawrence livermore national laboratory. can you detail the deal is current secretary to present -- prevent unauthorized drone activity and uaps? >> we have a whole counter drone ever to make sure all of our national security in our labs are protected and i encourage -- there's a holser is the protocols and not right for discussion of public setting. >> unclassified materials were just being reported as drones

but i thank you guys should be upgrading that program. there've been documents sightings over the facilities if you want to call them drones and a report on april 302018 over ll nl in one investigation has been connected with regards to the sightings and what conclusion do you have about the nature and origins of that? >> happy to follow up with you on that. >> i will submit for public record these questions considering the deal is involvement in nuclear research facilities how does he coordinate with agencies like department of defense to investigate uap sightings? >> we reported that department of defense because of our national security and nuclear mission. >> are you able to cite any specific investigations? >> i don't have information on that. >> as of right now will submit questions for you after this in a timely fashion and again for those that might continue i

would urge you to look at classified material and we be happy to provide your office with that. i'll follow up on one other question and i'll close it out. does the d.o.e. you work with jsoc jsoc to handle security measures? >> we work with all of the security entities around the federal government. we are part of an overall olive government effort on both cyber as well as national security. >> you work with jsoc? >> yes, we do. >> thank you very much mr. chairman nye you bet. >> the gentlelady yields remain in time. madam secretary what's the exact location of this administration with respect to nuclear? >> we are in favor of nuclear power. >> has the biden administration identified communities that are welcome, there are communities abound america that would

welcome nuclear and i represent one. there are communities that would be receptive. does the administration have a database of communities? you can say you are for it but the citizens here supported nuclear? >> yes we are investing huge amounts in nuclear power and advancing small modular reactors advanced nuclear reactors and we are supporting them with congress as. we firmly believe it's an important part. >> what's the timeline? >> it is now. we are always encouraging new facilities and as you're probably aware it just turned on its fourth unit we are supportive of that. that was made possible. >> with respect to that what about coal? what is the exact position of the frustration with respect to

cold because there is an effort to continue to shut down coal-fired plants. i personally believe cole needs to be in the entire energy portfolio representing coal producing districts. we also have lot of coal-fired facilities left in kentucky that have uncertain futures. what is the position of coal? >> obviously coal is coal burned and has huge co2 footprint. clean coal. >> is there good clean coal? we are excited to pursue that and we have been looking at that technology for a national energy technology lab on how you can capture and sequester co2. we know lots of coal plants are shutting down because of economics.

we also want to help energy communities to be able to produce the power for the next 100 years too and that's way allowed the incentives that have been adopted by congress and we are implementing are to put facilities on those coal plants for example nuclear facilities in coal plants would enable us to be able to employ those workers and power nation for the future. >> my time has expired and now have more questions. >> the chair recognizes representative. >> thank you madam secretary. the pleasure. climate crisis is real but the planet is burning and it's on fire. or you mitigate harms and ensuring a healthy environment with clean-air pron policymakers have a responsibility to everything we can to transition

from fossil fuels. that's why i was pleased to partner with the city of cambridge in my district to deliver $1 million in federal funding to create friendly accessible electric vehicle charging stations. madam secretary was some of my colleagues across the aisle have spread disinformation about ev's is co-founder and cochair of the future of transportation caucus i would like to set the record straight. investing in electric vehicles is good for the environment, good for people's pocketbooks, good for public health and it is good for job creation. and regarding that least -- lest these can you speak on how the office of energy jobs is helping folks taking advantage of opportunities from the proliferation of electric vehicles? >> we are seeing as you've noticed all that these job sites opening up factories to create batteries for electric vehicles

and assembling the batteries into the vehicles. it's a new thing so the question is how do you create a workforce that's capable of taking on this whole new sector of the economy? so the office of energy has been working with our friends in labor to be able to create with our community colleges to create a workforce curriculum for example for batteries for electric vehicles that can be adopted and any part of the nation and have certified workers to be with to do that. every time you have a new factory open up there's an opportunity for an economic cluster in that cluster have to include the workforce component of it and that's what the energy jobs office is doing. >> thank you. i'm encouraged by the development that we are already sing and look forward to our partnership. i want to ask unanimous consent entry to the record if "boston

globe" article entitled what ev slowdown puts electric transmission is still booming in massachusetts. >> without objection, so ordered. >> i want to discuss the commonwealth energy. it announced a would stand for academic center for liability resilience of offshore wind led by the university of amherst and partners from across the nation from the university my district oregon state and the hbcu of maryland to the university of -- it will propel a goal outlined in the great new deal and a key part of the biden/harris of is climate agenda. excited to see this work pickup because their exciting benefits as a renewable wind resource. and jobs well-paid union backs

jobs. secretary granholm how can congress support a workforce development and offshore wind energy for manufactures to electricians and beyond? >> thank you so much for that of the biggest thing that congress can do in congress has done in terms of providing the incentives for these wind developers and the ability to build a wind turbines in united states instead of importing them especially after went from europe so there has been a huge cluster of activity around just that creating a workforce for those jobs. once the jobs come me you want to train people for the jobs that are there rather than a hype this -- hypothetical job to come. >> one more in these last 30 seconds. i want to build upon a question posed by my colleague congressman brown from ohio. how is the department of energy insuring marginalized communities benefit from job opportunities in the greene

economy. i'm not sure the greene economy is inclusive to black and brown low income folks especially those who were hardest hit by the climate crisis representing our front-line communities. >> congress has been sparked by providing additional tax credits like an additional kicker if they development goes into the disadvantages community. d.o.e. is part by requiring community benefits for the grants we give out requiring the private-sector entities to get it grant and have to have an agreement with the community about how people will be employed and trained in how the community will benefit. >> thank you. i yield back. >> the chair recognizes mr. palmer. >> thank you mr. chairman. madam secretary in response to the question well ago about the sale of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve you said that was in response to the war in

ukraine. is that correct? >> yes. >> the first cell under the biden administration occurred in november 2021 so 50 million barrels in an attempt to lower gasoline prices three months before the war began so i think you need to reevaluate your answer. by the way the price of a gallon of gas in 2020 was $2.28. december 21 it was $3.41. december 2022 was $3.32 soviet administration sold 50 million barrels plus the additional barrels they sold later as you say because of the war in ukraine. to affect gasoline prices by 9 cents. and by the way according to cia the price of a gallon of regular gasoline right now is $3.73,

$1.45 a gallon higher than i it was in 2020. you made a comment while you are in paris that china's dominance in the world's critical supply is one of the pieces of the supply we are concerned about in the united states. do you stand by that? >> yes. >> i'm appreciative of that because i agree 100% for china is the existential threat to our economy and her national security but what's interesting is alabama just rejected a chinese communist party ev company project located in northwest alabama in muscle shoals that is now being located in michigan. did you have any role in the decision to locate that plan in michigan? >> no. >> thank you for the answer because i think it's interesting the citizens are made to bring

companies and that have direct ties to the chinese communist party. to build ev batteries when we are already overly dependent on china for our critical minerals. as a matter of fact it's responsible for 65% of worldwide production and 85% of the processing capacity. it's not just a matter of whether or not we mined minerals here. it's a matter of whether we are able to process or refine them and i don't think there's a major rare earth refinery in the western hemisphere. so i just am concerned about where we are on critical member -- minerals but i don't think think our futures electric vehicles, not the short-term. but i do think this mass transition to renewals is making us even more, creating an even

greater national security risk because of our dependence on china where critical minerals in the processing and refining. >> may i respond to that? >> yes,, maam could. the administration chairs are concerned and that's why the president signed into law in congress passed all of these incentives to bring critical mineral extractions refining processing of corporations into the united states. as i was saying at the very beginning because of this, these incentives are u.s. graphite production for examples expected to increase 20 five-fold by 2030. our lithium extraction and processing is expected to increase 80 five-fold. we will keep those processors here. >> i appreciate what you're trying to do but the problem with those is the permitting. when he too taken attitude in a position this is so critical to our national security that we

are subjecting ourselves to endless litigation on permitting. we will abide by all the departmental rules and your goals of achieving 100% renewables are not achievable with our dependence on china. our goal of our national security and the security of our economy are not achievable as long as we have dependence on china and we are going to get there in the processing and refining unless we reform our parading process but are you willing to participate in that effort? >> yes, absolutely but that's a whole pipe we want to become independent china and bring all that here and with allies is so important to full staff of the supply. >> i would encourage the administration to be more sensitive to our position on energy critical minerals rare earth and not inviting china to build facilities here that would compromise us and i do

appreciate response in their various times even i agree and i appreciate that. mr. chairman i yield back. >> the chair recognizes mr. lee from pennsylvania. >> thank you mr. chair. as we heard today my republican colleagues use this hearing to bolster this narrative of the biden administration is enacting a war on energy. do you read it nice that that's a promotion of this idea to combating the climate crisis is somehow mutually exclusive with promoting economic security? we know that this is a decades old meth that's been used to excuse the unmitigated polluting of front-line communities especially committees like mine in the valley of western pennsylvania. for generations largely or brown or working-class committees have been the sacrificial lamb to sacrifice of health and air

quality for the water quality in their communities. mostly for the sake of good jobs with it economic prosperity that the nation has enjoyed. passage of the inflation reduction act serves to prove that this argument is not just a false choice but that we can and we will and we have the tools to fight the climate crisis while creating high-quality and union jobs. in pennsylvania iras expected to create more than 200,000 jobs over the next decade and it will incentivize investments in low income and disinvest of communities that have been harmed the most in stand to lose the most. but to make these goals in the intent of the ira reality implementations matter of course through president biden aims to ensure that 40% of people who benefit by certain federal investments including investments in clean energy workforce development and legacy

pollution goes to disadvantaged ways that were priorities in grant funding through the authority is not enough on attempt to combat decades of underinvestment and disinvestment of front-line energy. i'm happy because i feel like in years past some of these questions about how our policies and patch marginalize and front-line communities would have gone unasked and we have several folks sitting here today asking these very questions. if there's anything specific or more specific in a community like-minded the committees for a long time if not had the opportunity to turn the corner because we haven't had the opportunity think about the future economies particularly as we think about steel but how can committees like mine who have invested in the shadows of the steel industry struggling to figure out how it does this impact our community's? >> for me to say the great thing about the president signing the

executive order everybody is thinking about how we make sure we do right by communities that have stood at the back of the line what congress did in providing for temple at 10% incentive additional stackable tax credits for locating disadvantage communities that has achieved the policy work. that has actually achieved and drawn investment to disadvantage communities. we are doing our part with their benefits agreement and we stood up and ready which working with communities to know how to negotiate community benefit agreement on their behalf giving them technical assistance in making sure they have got a level playing field and negotiating but all of the work that congress has done has given us the ability to help communities that have been at the back line. >> similarly again i represent a

marginalize committee where labor is incredibly important. part of building a new energy economy is the development of a workforce that is high-quality and unionize. a d.o.e. office jobs are profound workers in the energy sector were more than 1.5 times more likely to be representative by gideon are covered under a collective bargaining agreement. in western pennsylvania we know the value so would its crucial federal investments coming to our region benefit from a strengthened, benefits and strengthens our workforce and is we grow the workforce. to be clear we have the sole responsibility of ensuring we are creating pathways for those traditionally underrepresented in the union and particularly women and people of color. secretary granholm how is a d.o.e. working to ensure the growing energy workforce includes high-quality union jobs and even more specifically the

intent to focus on label agreement specifically. how is the department protecting project labor agreements to consider grant allocations for unionized workforce? .. i will point out we have themosn i've ever seen. one of the things that bothers me, i have union workers in my district predicate along with them well.

some of them support me. there is almost an a hatred for nonunion workers. i hope that rumors out there illegally on some contract and i don't allow the contracting, they're getting preferences unionized or otherwise discriminated against. should not be done but there are rumors out there. certainly statements like that in which we in essence rundown non- union workers and apply that we should not care about them, are not helpful and already divided country. >> well, in any event there is the mandate we have a lot more electric vehicles in the next seven years. i talked to a lot of my car dealers about it. they feel, there's no way we will be generating enough electricity in this country to deal with this many. how much additional electricity

this country can have to generate to prepare for this onslaught of carmakers? >> will suit the event increase not just because of vehicles but because of data centers and ai as well as the additional manufacturing facilities coming online. has projected in the next decade you will see about a 15% increase in electricity demand. the good news is we've got the tools to be able to respond to that demand increase. can i say one of the thing? just to be very clear we care about all workers union or not. to make it very clear we're care about all workers have the benefit of a good paying job. that is what we are working for pre- >> spin on this committee for a couple of months. some of the members on the other side of the aisle it's like all they care about is if you are unionized. i know so many good people, great people who are not unionized.

they should represent them as well. the next question i know a guy with a car and electric car had to hook up stuff in his garage wanted to be prepared and he fell for the hookup that cost him a thousand dollars, is that possible? >> i do not know i don't know the circumstances or how far away if he was in the line et cetera. normally that's way more expensive than it would cost to plug income in your garage. >> okay, kind of went to follow up here on what mr. donald said. right now we are cutting back a little bit on the amount of natural gas we are producing. which will result in raising the cost of natural gas. which will be bad for the american middle class. like a lot of policies. it will hurt the middle class not to mention drive up the price of natural gas for

countries that export like iran and russia. could you comment on that? the fact that obviously we are restricting for natural gas production will be driving up the cost of driving down the cost? >> we are not doing anything to restrict natural gas production. okay. you don't feel your policies or increase the price of natural gas on the world market? >> no, sir. >> with regard to the strategic oil reserve i'm not sure that's true but in regard to the strategic oil reserve do you you knowhow many billions of bae had when president biden took office and how many we have today? >> it turned 65 million barrels today for the maximum the reserve hold is over 700. i do not know the exact number of the date. >> i think it's about a 40% reduction.

>> could beat. >> be. >> is that concern you? >> always figure you can get a short-term benefit in getting rid of our strategic oil reserve. if it ever comes down to when we really need them this country was at war or what ever and we would have a big problem. do you have any goals? do you have any goals between now and the end of president biden's term as where is where how you want to wound up. what you think? we are in the process of solicitation for refilling bread we have been refilling. >> very mild. >> very mildly. you back to 6:30 or how close? >> part of the reduction was because of congressionally mandated sales as a well proved about 100 million congressionally mandated sales that are still on tap.

we can talk about that pretty work with congress to cancel 130 million. we are basically back to where we would have been had we not been doing the releases in the response to war in ukraine. i'm we have the largest in the world. i am not concerned your initial question. >> started what will be next generate? or back to what would have been because of congressional sales or with the release of one or 80 million barrels. strengthen modern creating better jobs and energy burden and cost for disadvantaged communities. this money was made possible to

include bipartisan infrastructure law. obviously the doe and solar companies in puerto rico. a model i've turned a lot about took to puerto rico ensuring the award wasn't bottlenecked with administering agency. my constituents would see the model used more broadly across the federal government especially for folks in puerto rico. fort hood a worse department of justice awards et cetera. how exactly does this bottle work specifically as it relates to puerto rico mr. mark can you talk about anything to overcome any administrative hurdles you had to overcome question. >> think is such a question puerto rico as you know is very unique and the fact there are layers of bureaucracy to get anything done but congress gives a billion dollars to be able to do rooftop solar pre-thanks so much for supporting that. what we have done to hear how we

should be distributing desperate how should be prioritizing putting solar panels on homes? asked mount communities on health issue. way better than tapping the best position to identify who those people are pretty verified of course are they qualify for snap et cetera they have to do verification. they are our eyes and ears and arms on the ground to identify who should be able to get rooftop solar. we are excited to begin that process we hope the summer we call the summer of the solar for puerto rico. to be able to makeable energy independence is how fragile the grid is there for like thank you so much for sharing that. what they want is more community

engagement, empowerment by directly granting words to local governments, community groups and nonprofit organizations and small businesses. a lot of my colleagues on this committee have been talk about concern for american-made energy pretty want to talk about that. fossil fuel coal, natural gas, petroleum products or drive the climate crisis as we know. clean energy comes from renewable grid zero emissions from biomass sources. the clean energy transmission is urgent for humanity but also the state of florida we are a front-line committee and the climate crisis. facilitated by the bipartisan infrastructure law shore up reliability of energy. how can we combat the climate crisis without transition to clean energy? >> you can't. >> if he fell behind other countries and follow these advancements in solar, wind, ohio she electric, how might that ability to sustain and we

are growing energy needs? >> let me say our allies, our economic competitors out there are vying for a piece of this from an economic point of view. they see the fact 23 trillion-dollar global market this clean energy. all the countries are going to need the products to get them to their goals. we have a friendly competition with our allies and adversaries about who is going to get the job spirit and the jobs front is very important for the inflation reduction at the bipartisan for structure law have been so impactful with 600 factories so far that have announced their expanding as a result of those incentives in the united states but making us competitive globally so from global competition economically it is vital. obviously we've got to do our part from a climate change perspective as well all the countries do. we are working on both front and one complements the other it is

a win, win. >> example it's really exciting time in this work too. we had the opportunity to build a new green economy. fights the climate crisis and were everyone can do well. we cannot shackle our country. we will not only suffer as humanity but on the economic benefit. last question, madam secretary we invest in clean energy will also looking out for the workers are currently working fossil fuel? >> absolutely. it is eight primary focus. mr. chairman erase this as well be the primary focus of this administration, leave no worker behind forgive them an opportunity to have a future facing job for their child. cap future facing job that pays well. that is the mo of this administration. >> for a quick thank you so much i yield back. >> missouri. >> thank you secretary. we have talked in this hearing

about the regulation of gas stoves, washers, drivers, who want to dive into the subject of light bulbs. in july of last year the department of energy made manufacturing most incandescent light bulbs illegal. u.s. violators to manufacture and elicit lightbulb are charged a penalty of $542 per bold. to add insult too. >> could you say that over time? >> the fine for alyssa bold is a $542 per bulb. you are shaking your head. >> that is news to me. but she might want to look into that. to add insult in april 12 of this year i'm sorry april 12 release the new rule for led light bulbs.

now even your agency estimates this new rule will cause the price of led bulbs to nearly double, are you aware of that? i think that's an incorrect statement. >> elaborate? your agency says they estimate the current lightbulb average price is $2 and 98 cents a bulb. after this new role right now is a 99% of the life of led bulbs do not comply with the new rule. the price would go to $5.68 per bulb which is a $2.70 increase per bulb. nearly doubling. >> ewert cherry picking a bulb. not the overall bulbs. the bottom line is led light bulbs have been an enormous success for their hugely impactful for everyday citizens. they save average households two $125 a year. the last 25 times longer.

there are 89% more efficient. it gave people money. >> where are you issuing new rules on them? >> we are required to issue rules pursuant to e pca. >> i would think you want to encourage people who now cannot buy at incandescent bulb because it's illegal to manufacture,. >> ill be saving money on led bulb but they will be saving money significant amounts of money. >> the question is do you think the american consumer is dumb? >> absolute not. >> of someone is buying incandescent bulb and choosing to do that over and led bulb are they incompetent? >> of course not, of course that we all know industry can have very persuasive advertising they may not fully reveal. >> is another way of saying they're not educative quick so that's not a way of saying that at all sir please do not put

words in my mouth. why am saying is led bulbs are incredibly efficient and conservation standards that we roll out we are very proud of because they have saved consumers for they will have saved consumers to trillion dollars by 2030. making more efficient appliances. >> but the upfront cost is going to be more. anyway, you're taking which choice ultimate from consumers are taken away that choice. i want to talk about electric vehicles. last year you had an ev trip in 2023 how did that go? >> is a great trip. one glitch but is a great trip or. >> okay what was a glitch? >> we cannot get a charging port. that is part of what the trip was identifying barriers as well as how things are going. including a visiting of all these electric vehicle manufacturing, better battery manufacturing. much of the privilege of having

staff painstakingly map this out, correct? >> yes. >> did you have a situation where they locked it down a charging station made unavailable for consumers? >> yes. >> are you aware there was a family it impacted? >> no, we learned about this after words it was a mistake. >> thank you for admitting that fairview reached out to that family and apologize to them? >> i will apologize to them now i do not know where they are but i heard about in the story it is not appropriate for staff to do that. >> i appreciate those remarks, thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. the chair recognizes. >> thank you mr. chair. we talked about choice in this committee. there is a really big choice a lot of mite residents to make the choice to breathe clean air. secretary granholm, you know

throughout my public career i have represented numerous committees frontline communities that have had some the highest burden of hosting fossil fuel infrastructure. it has never been clear we rapidly phase out in transition to clean renewable energy. under the current administration of president biden is fully aware of that position. i grew up in southwest detroit i thought smelling like rotten eggs was normal. all of my friends that had asthma was normal. to see and what of my commute is represented in the state house and four years in congress to see white crosses in front of people's homes i thought what is this about question of the white cross campaigns if anyone had cancer or survived cancer or settlement and your family died of cancer the put a white cross on the front lawn. trying to humanize and understand the toll of hosting

corporate polluters. even now in my community i have two very, very dense and populate school spirit in their background is literally one of the largest polluters in the state of michigan. i always look at wayne county clean air stacked and are and we don't follow a number of issues. it comes up over and over again with my residence. so, it is important to me in the decision what you all are doing with liquefied natural gas. it is documented, well documented public health harm caused by exports how they are associated larger harms to black, brown, indigenous committees low wealth communities. exports perpetuate systematic environmental racism really embedded in our fossil fuel economy for it so secretary so y

granholm as a member of the white house into your agency do you believe should approving additional l exports and extending the life terminals? >> one of the factors we are evaluating in our review is what the impacts are communities. >> is this one additional study by dot prior with licensing? >> that is why we are going through this. we have two national labs looking at a variety of factors this is one of them. >> we all know and i don't secretary you know doe has a duty to conduct public interest determinations before authorizing exports to certain countries. as a it has a mandate to deny projects not in the public interest. it should not be controversial. it should not be controversy the public interest determination should consider the most up-to-date science and best

practices. this is so critical in understanding and mitigating short and long-term health problems lng export size including organ damage. secretary granholm, how is doe working to protect the health and public health and economies of the marginalized communities that most often are forced to live near the export facilities? >> in general we have a whole effort particular focus on the gulf coast which is where so many of these facilities are not just lng terminals but chemical industry. it's one of the reasons why we are enthused there is a whole component for example of hydrogen hub focus on electrification of diesel trucks. making sure there are less if ad fewer particulates in the air that people are breathing. it's clearly environmental

justice insurance weight clean investments into communities is embedded throughout that through the administration. it's important my colleagues who know both trump and the obama administration have done this before. this is not the first time. this is just a friendly request please is doe updates it studies at that inform the public interest determination it would include meaningful public engagement with host communities as part of that process. that is incredibly important for the american people to be part of this process that it is not a closed-door process they understand they have a say in what they have to live with, thank you. >> a chair recognizes committees energy expert representative fallon from texas. >> thank you, mr. chairman. secretary granholm, when you confirm question regretfully month and year.

>> every 20 went rafting menstruation started. i was a bit concerned i saw the news report in november 21 you are asked how many barrels of oil the u.s. consumes a daily and you do not know the time page remember that? >> i remember. >> chance of redemption how many barrels of oil do we consume every day? >> we consume the world is 100 we do about 20 again these are ballpark works i just thought on your website the strategic reserve we are talking about before count i believe in 1975 do you know at the height i think one of my colleagues just ask at the height of the prior administration but the number was? >> i can to the maximum is about 720 piglets are the trump administration 95 billion barrels when he took office door it's at? >> i believe it was 6:30 eight today you just said 365 i think? >> 365. you testified before i came into

committee ukrainian or had has something to do with the sale that is not accurate 50 million barrels were sold in november of 21 before the invasion for you just said when i did get here it was congressionally mandated. according to the congressional research service the congressionally mandated a fraction of the turn 70,000,008 aware of that? >> there's 140 million and congressionally mandated sales. that we have canceled to give back and then there is another 99 million teed up to go by. >> mandated some cancel was for fy 24 -- 27 was it not? >> yes. what physically happens? 270 million barrels. >> my point nestled around in circles. from sales that occurred in the future. not with already happened in the past.

>> it is not ukraine. >> it was ukraine. >> 168,000,480,000,000 barrels from ukraine war. >> you did after they happen to have invaded. the reason was your trying to depress the price of gasoline at the pump. >> is a restriction of the global market progress in reclaiming my time. i'm not going to be interrupting you. it was before the midterm elections in november. in 1975 was designed of death national time of war none have that is occurred in this country. 200 million barrels were sold explicitly. was it your testimony we have the largest reserve the strategic petroleum reserve of the world? >> not china question. >> that's publicly made available by the chinese don't have a billion barrels? >> is not publicly report they have a quick test with the experts believe it is. with a fraction of what they have. >> i do not know if they have.

>> okay. over the past 20 years the united states increased or decreased our carbon footprint? looks over the past? >> 20 years piglets we have havedecreased by about 20%. as a china increase or decrease? >> increased. >> increased by? you have any idea? i am talking energy 101 i'm not going to complicated. >> i do not have the percentage in front of me piglets tripled for about three and a percent. we have done exceptionally well. would you agree united states has a greater commitment to protecting the environment did not say china? >> a greater commitment than china, yes. >> at the manifestly obvious consider what they've done last 25 years or so. and for the record our economy is a larger than theirs. and yet they are far more apt to unfortunately ignore their the responsibilities for the environment. you think of a greater

commitment to protect the environment and let's say venezuela? >> think we have a greater commitment to protecting the environment, yes. >> and well? or guests. >> we have a strong environmental. none of our countries have this kind of things that complexes may we have essentially banned people called a pause, we provide natural gas export. we're just giving a gift to one of the most evil dictators in the world. vladimir putin. >> we are not giving a gift to vladimir putin. we are pausing for a month but we do an updated study. it will reserve after the update. >> i've talked to prime ministers and foreign ministers in europe or they're not happy with this at all but hope you talk to the same people. >> i have talked to them. the chair i recognize from south carolina.

>> thank you, mr. chairman. i'm actually going to pick up right where mr. fallon kind of left off a little bit. i want to focus madam secretary on the companies themselves. in april of this year crabtree testified and ran the growth in economic policy companies were concerned about the pause. will this a pause in your mind impact the planning horizon of lng producers and exporters? >> and know? you would disagree with the characterization by mr. crabtree question. >> i understand there are concerns once people explain it is a pause none of the existing operations are going to be effective but none of the authorized amounts which should not even begun constructing yet will be affected not of the construction projects they are undertaking has been affected and just not affect any of that. none of that. i can proceed a pace. >> on the ask you this, how did

the doe factor in the pause on the companies? how did you all way that for the companies? >> the companies are able to produce right now. any of that companies having authorization from proceeding. we export, we have capacity to export 14 billion cubic feet. that exists, it is not being stopped to have authorized of te 12 billion cubic feet which are under construction that is going forward. we've authors at the 48 cuban feet which is not begun construction. that is not impacted by the pause but this does not impact anybody who is doing a business or is in construction or even contemplating doing business. it will only last until the first quarter of next year will be complete the analysis of what is in the public interest rate. >> recent reporting would be noted sarah brennan and the theassociate director of the

rockefeller family fund has a history of funding anti- fossil fuel groups stated in an e-mail to environmental groups that quote the pause is the result of a sustained for ear push. it builds upon years of opposition to experts by community groups and lawyers. i would ask you, can you tell how much advance notice wasn't provided on the pause before us publicly announced? >> this was doe's decision. we announced it when we announced it. we did not provide advance notice to groups or anything. we announced it will be announced it. >> madam secretary the intent of the missed ration a biden administration to enact this pause from the beginning? >> i am not aware of what the intent was inside the white house. as i said this is the department of energy evaluation and decision. >> own to switch gears here.

despite decarbonization policies being a key contributor to the premature retirement of fossil fuels, demand for electricity's going to continue to rise throughout the united states. my home state of cal south on it will need new generation have potentially close the coming years appear without proper and realistic guidance from doe and the epa, there is little hope the grid will actually be as resilient as the administration claims. >> do you the process can still function properly and follow the entities are obligated to ensure reliability that it actually isn't achievable. >> dba discussing is not achievable. >> nothing entities are. >> i'm sorry of interest of the entities were partnered for parties to the mou. i think the entities are

concerned about whether it is but our of the department of energy, we consulted with vpn, that is knowledge of capturing the technology that that technology is ready. and can be installed and it is doable. >> said to me, these seamen away, for the epa to shift potential blame to the department of energy, even before you testified before the energy and commerce committee about three weeks ago and at least three regional transmission of organizations of cited premature retirement of fossil fuel resources is a growing concern. the future of america's grid stability. couple these concerns with folks forecast us oversupply shortfalls is clear i think that we will have issues with reliability many experts have said that the administration's ambitious powerplant and carbon capture those are not achievable in a desired timeframe with her current technology so who is wrong here. >> the goals are achievable with

current technology. >> you thank you so the experts of the epa for whom we've already provided similar you to implement something that is illegal or harmful to the american consumer. >> were not in plummeting anything is harmful to the american consumer infected sample to america to breathe cleaner and clean powerplant. the experts in the department of vendor g70 national labs working on this women in the u.s. alleviate we know what technology is available believe that it is doable. >> thank you and i yelled back. >> turnout recognizes from care to. >> thank you for coming on in preparation for the hearing, i really watch dry wash your appearance of you. and i don't one of the hosts was kind and condescending and

insulting the intelligence of the 74 million people voted for president trump, you talked about because they were talking about other devices of everything are so why. you talked about in response from the american people need to do is take advantage of the tax credits and weatherize their homes and take advantage of credits, to buy ev and i found that kind of astounding because i didn't hear anything in response to give you a chance today to think about how the american people need to do with this. energy federal government spending of the two greatest drivers of inflation. and it is even americans alive and they cannot afford rent, cannot afford groceries i can afford electricity. right there in your we lastly can afford gas. so how are we with the energy prices so high, with the prices so i with the spending so high on lot of these credits, by the

way ev some of the makeup 1 percent of the carson the road. how are we driving down prices to help the american people. >> we are really obsessed with a crisis for people and totally get it. >> well is not working. >> the inflation rate is up almost 20 percent. >> inflation gasoline is up 55 percent. >> inflation is coming down. from a .55 percent and i don't know what your measurement is from the start of the administration. >> gas prices are higher look where they were. >> now to the victories. >> the mid to work in the middle of the pandemic all those prices that you are talking within the middle of the pandemic it prices through the floor is not in a normal however let me think that we are obsessed with making sure that we bring to price for people. >> i appreciate elliott five minutes sing about i'm on behalf of the people of representing about appreciate your obsessed with it. when you doing is not working.

these prices are still unacceptably high. >> with this is why the president has focused on every way possible to help reduce prices for the people in this means whether it is on prescription drugs but whether it is weatherize in your home to reduce your electricity bill or whether it is helping people to be able to it get an electric cars that do not have to be gasoline prices or whether it is to reduce student loans at every pocket way the president is trying to reduce costs to have a 70s doing math preventing money throwing federal draw dollars of the problem. anyone who have americans paying student loans printed delivery of one group of americans paying the taxes ev's for another group which by the way are not environmentally sound in terms of materials they go with them. i would encourage you to read the book read cobalt that talks about that 40000 children the working cobalt mines of congo from his young as six, minister

stick with the prices from a clearly is not worked here. but let's talk about abroad. the intelligence community is confirmed for me, that number of analysts have confirmed, we obviously, russia is this economy on oil and gas. in iraq fuels this economy on oil and gas. i do $55 a barrel, russia can deliver fuel work machine. and actually goes into an economic in survival mode. so wouldn't it make sense to flooded the global market with cleaner and you admitted prior to cementing american gas, that is cleaner than but more extreme to proximate correct. >> so why would we flood the world with cleaner cheaper american oil and gas and drive down the prices, now you not only solved what is going on with the iranian supported

terrorists in the middle east, you've put putin on his back foot as well in terms of the war in ukraine and you know salt to global problems in the inflation problem here at home. but instead, the climate agenda is counter to all of that and were restricting our supply and then we are allowing iran to pump to china were allowing venezuela to pump to russia's moving more and it never has to india china for that matter and into europe. it is this excess this is such a curious to me because we have number one producer of oil and gas and we are the number one exporter but we could be pumping so much more if you tapping the brakes. >> and oil dominance, we are doing more than previous administration, significant how much more can we be doing madam secretary how much more can we be doing and is the price of oil still hovering around 90 of the man is still out there that's why the price of oil gas is

still alive in this way everybody is still buying russian oil iranian oil. >> but it is not the is administration that is hampering the production of oil and gas. you can make that we are number one in the world we are at record levels. okay, we are 13 and should we be 15 million a day could we be a 16 or 17. >> nobody to a final question enemy well i just had well i just had lunch with the speaker of the parliament of lithuania and she was in a panic mode and lithuanian frontline, probably next up after ukraine russia. she said congressman, levi 85 percent of our gas for the terminals in louisiana, and texas is about a very long-term contracts and were having to think to yourself. she said i don't know what to do with the bed. >> she said i'm going have to look at elsewhere. >> is not a bit suing our allies believe is a the delta we have

spoken with a they do not believe is an it is not a bad. >> i encourage her to come and talk to you. >> the analysis of what's in the public interest, not nothing something from what is currently being exported. >> abject. >> the time is expired i recognize myself for five minutes pretty enemy go back and correct something you said earlier. we were discussing coley said his together try covid-19 since you because it economics created by the biden administration that even for the back and that the obama invited administration but cemetery my congressional district on the former infusion plan in kentucky which is undergoing cleaner by the department of energy and as you are aware of the fiscal year 2024 appropriation package require the department to connect the cost benefit analysis to determine when you administer this benefit for the taxpayers versus waiting the

current 70 -year-old facility. what is the status of the cost benefit analysis when can we expect it will be available for review. >> let me get back to him that. okay enemy just say i urge you to move quickly of this analysis so that we can ensure the upcoming appropriations bill allows the department to move forward with the best option to support cleanup efforts we just go there in paducah and i was glad to see the department of energy award to grant funding to the paducah chamber of commerce review of live ever so they can be committed by future industrial witches able there. can you provide an update about the department intends to ensure the cleanup compliments for industrialization. >> well, the site to a ready site. >> will mean well for some of the things that i think that was so important by the passage of the inflation reduction act in the bipartisan interest is that

it gave us the incident to be able to offer for example 20 see tax credit to former energy communities are energy community sever challenge challenge. so to be able to lower manufacturing to those communities is embedded in the tax laws that were passed by congress that is true for the way the loan programs office is operating as well pretty talk about are there to be able to hope that those for communities that have power donation for the best 100 years. >> will struggling and working closely with the community to ensure that industrialization continues in parallel with the cleanup efforts. and you know crucial part of this industrialization will be talking industries the recognize specialist skills and knowledge of the existing regional nuclear energy reports that in a understand the and to issue a funding opportunity announcement novel and innovative nuclear

enrichment technologies give the doe funding for newly two years can you provide a time a funding opportunity might be released to went to make those award. >> willoughby left check with her office into energy on the expect coming out of it i can get back to you can't let be tailored to encourage the commercialization of new technologies like laser enrichment. >> i will have to check with them to see what exactly they are contemplating. >> well look forward to that getting a response. in response congress taken significant action to most of the fun and offended nuclear including passing amanda russia uranium imports passing the nuclear fuel security act and appropriating $2.7 billion to incentivize the new elio in the capacity and can you provide a service they will establish. that would discourage or prevent new market interest from dissipating in any competitive funding opportunity associated with this funding to actual work

of opening up an rfp would make sure that is competitive and we encourage all suppliers. >> to wind of the doa to make a work. >> will that be wealth we are going to obviously this is a whole strategy uranium's strategy to voice of billy so really being thoughtful about it and i had a hearing doctor have about the way that it is being implemented both as well as low enriched uranium was so we expected in the next few months on that we will have level to say that the sequence and the timing putting up funding opportunity. >> we would like to work with you on that in every community in paducah that is really head of the curve and working to gather and i strongly encourage you had a multiyear a light relationship the doe over the previous three for administration so we think there's a lot of opportunity there. so the community can work with the doe.

lots of new opportunities for good paying jobs pretty my remaining few seconds, at the site that i want to make a plug, were very blessed in america to have the greatest energy economy anywhere. let's anchored by the oil companies know something that we use everyday. strongly encourage this administration to settle the industry with excessive's burdensome rules and regulations that are only increasing the cost of consumers which is fueling inflation. in america we believe that our colleagues has stated it our energy opportunity, his much greater work utilizing know what we believe thing that is holding us back our bad policies and burdensome rules and regulations

by the biden administration so we strongly encourage you talk closely with the energy companies and only do they provide tremendous energy for american consumers, provide good paying jobs to the workers they a lot of taxes that keep her communities afloat so wanted to mention that because this was energy hearing. i don't see any further question or so we will close. i want to thank you secretary being here today for answering questions and host our community estate on tv. this was hopefully what you will tell your colleagues in the cabinet, this was a good experience and hopefully will see more of your cabinet colleagues and for this committee and we like we are supposed to do it so without

them and without objection to our members will have five legislative days within which to submit materials as an additional questions for the witnesses which will be forwarded to the witnesses with a response over the business without objection the committee stance adjourned. background sounds . background sounds . background sounds

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