hoeven: mr. president, i rise to speak about the energy policy modernization act of 2016, legislation that's been advanced by our energy committee chairman, senator murkowski, along with the ranking member, senator cantwell. as a member of the committee, i appreciate their leadership on this important issue with this legislation we're now considering here on the floor. i think chairwoman murkowski is right when she speaks to the need to update our nation's energy policy. in that spirit, i filed several amendments designed to advance our nation's energy policy in key areas. today i'd like to talk briefly about those three amendments. these three amendments would help provide regulatory certainty for cross-border infrastructure projects, the regulation and recycling of coal ash and reaffirm state primacy for energy development, particularly when it comes to hydraulic fracturing or fracking. first let me talk about the north american energy infrastructure amendment. one of the necessary components t

. >> thank you, senator hoeven. very important questions in terms of where these forecasts kind of place the united states and our domestic production, what it means for our economy, what it means for our jobs and what it means for prices for the american consumer. it's been a tough, tough 18 months or so in alaska. we have seen shell obviously lay off almost all of their folks up north. conoco had major layoffs. bp just announced last week major layoffs in the state. repsol canceled winter contract which meant contractors not moving forward in projects. statoil returned their leases in the offshore. it has been a very, very discouraging time. low prices in alaska don't necessarily translate to good news. our treasury is certainly hurting as a state that is very reliant on oil but as i mentioned, low prices for consumers don't necessarily line up with what you're seeing in the lower 48. i mentioned prices in nome. i tried to get a better read what they were actually. in october they were at, hanging at $6.22. when i

north dakota senator john hoeven included language in a recent bill that would prevent osha from implementing that rule until farmers adn retailers have a say. the house approved a measure to kill epa's waters of it's on to the president, where it's expected he'll veto the bill. house speaker paul ryan said the veto would force teh president to be up front witht he american people about the adminstration's power grabs and sets the stage for correcting these abuses in 2017. after 16 years as president of the american farm bureau federation, bob stallman gave his final address this week at the organization's annual meeting in orlando. now, zippy duvall of georgia will lead the group. he was elected this week. duvall is president of the georgia farm bureau and a broiler, cattle and hay producer. he said he's humbled and will work hard for farm bureau. the campbell soup company is submerging itself into the g-m-o labeling debate. the food maker is now pushing for national mandatory labeling of food products when they contain gentically modified ingredients. campbell says it continues to recognize

hoeven: thank you. madam president, western north dakota is getting a lot of ateption these days because of its vibrant energy comism the people also need to know about the spec spectacular landscape d natural beauty that thrives sued by side with energy development in my home state. so i want to speak today for a few minutes about a remarkable asset in my home state of north dakota that was highlighted this past week in the "new york times." the "times" ranked theodore roosevelt national park in north dakota as fifth in destinations to visit in 2015. only mexico city, bor dough, france; the mediterranean island of malta and the city of corral bay, saint john in the u.s. virgin islands ranked ahead of u.s. roosevelt national park. kim neff vil of the "new york times" wrote few presidents did as much for conservation as teddy roosevelt. rolling grasslands dotted with visen collapse into the spectacular red, white and gold badlands. the more than 70,000 square acre park consists of three parts. the south

thank you. >> thank you, senator hoeven. very important questions in terms of where these forecasts kind of place the united states and our domestic production, what it means for our economy, what it means for our jobs, and what it means for prices for the american consumer. it's been a tough tough 18 months or so in alaska. we have seen shell, obviously, lay off almost all of their folks up north. conco has had major layoffs. bp announced last week major layoffs in the state. repsall canceled a winter project. stat oil returned their leases in the offshore. it has been a very discouraging time. low prices in alaska don't necessarily translate to good news. our treasury is certainly hurting as a state that is very reliant on oil. but, as i mentioned, low prices for the consumers don't necessarily line up with what you're seeing in lower 48. i mentioned the prices in nome. i tried to get a better read on what they were actually. in october they were hanging at $6.22. when i was there in january they've dropped to about $5.50.

. >> chairman murkowski, ranking member cantwell, senator cassidy, senator hoeven, thank you for the opportunity to testify before this committee. i'm honored she would request my views in a state of the electric power industry and the power markets. in these remarks i represent high level of his own electric utilities, merchant our producers and the critical issues of price or mission and market structure in the wholesale power markets. my name is a james lucier and i have been the managing director and head of the energy practice at capital alpha partners, and independent research advisory firm that serves mostly institutional asset managers and financial participants in the power markets. i personally have been devoting the bulk of my time to the electric power industry and to the power markets since i first started following them as an analyst at prudential equity group in the california power crisis of 2001. it's been an interesting 16 years. if i were to characterize the state of the power markets in five points i would offer the following. first, inflation adjusted retail powe

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hoeven: thank you, mr. president. this morning i discussed two amendments that i've introduced in regard to the current energy legislation, the energy policy modernization act of 2016. and i'd like to talk about a third amendment that i've introduced as well. the amendment actually follows legislation that i introduced earlier entitled the power states amendment. essentially what the power states legislation does is it ensures that states retain the right to manage oil and gas production in their respective state. it gives them the ability to develop hydraulic fracturing rules and respond first to any violation that might occur rather than having a federal one-size-fits-all approach. and this is very important because how we produce oil and gas in states like north dakota is very different than how we might produce oil and gas in a state like, for example, louisiana or some other state. so states have to have the flexibility to respond to their industry, to provide regulatory certainty, and to empower that investment

of course, i've seen myself visiting senator hoeven and senator heitkamp's state in north dakota, the investment that we see in oil and in drilling in north dakota from the scandinavian countries because of their history in that industry. norway is the 12th largest source of foreign direct investment in the united states overall. think about that. the 12th biggest source in the country of norway. there are over 300 american companies with a presence in norway thriewg 3-m of minnesota, eli lilly, general electric, i.b.m., mcdonald's and so many others. by not having an ambassador to norway, we are sending a message to some of the top investors in our own country. the ambassadors in these countries as we know and our trading partners help businesses in america do business in that country. while there is national security issues, there is also an economic purpose of having an ambassador. in october, norway reiterated its commitment, as i mentioned, from the article to invest in american businesses by purchasing an additional 22 -- that brings the total up to 52 -- 22 f-35's from lockheed

the provision sponsored by my good friend, the senior senator from north dakota, senator hoeven, is of particular importance to montana given the patchwork of land and mineral ownership in the balkan. it also improves the federal permitting of critical and strategic mineral production which supports thousands of good-paying montana jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues for our state to support our infrastructure, our schools, our teachers. metal and nonmetal mining also has directly created more than 8,500 good-paying montana jobs. in fact, mining helps support more than 19,000 jobs in total across montana. metal mining in montana has contributed $403 million in taxes and nonmetal mining contributes $128 million every year. and this includes $288 million of state and local taxes. finally, the energy policy modernization act of 2016 modernizes and strengthens the reliability and security of bulk power in america's electrical grid. because in montana, we know the important balance of responsibly developing a natural resources and serving as good stewards of our environ

this was just one of many good ideas that senator hoeven of north dakota advanced.tor collins of maine to boost the efficiency within our schools. i think we all recognize that this is an area where we can and should try to do a little bit more. it saves us in the long run. and then senator klobuchar from minnesota had a measure to increase the efficiency of buildings that are owned by nonprofits. we agreed to improve our nation's cybersecurity, an issue that we are all very keyed in on. this was from legislation that was originally presented by senator risch of idaho, senator heinrich of new mexico. we also saw an amendment from senator flake on this. we made innovation a key priority in our bill, with a recognition that there is a limited -- but a very, very useful -- role for the federal government to play early on in the development of new technologies. i just came from a meeting this morning, a summit on advanced nuclear technologies and recognizing there -- you know, when you talk about nuclear and the future, unknow reagan un-- s so key to what we're building

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hoeven: well, that's absolutely right. i'm pleased to join my distinguished colleague from the state of missouri as well as my colleague from the state of wyoming and our colleague from the state of iowa. this is an incredibly important issue. it's probably the number-one regulatory relief that all business sectors need. i mean, starting with our farmers and ranchers, this is a huge issue. the energy industry. but across all sectors. because this is a big-time overreach by the e.p.a. and it really affects all property rights. so you're talking about private property rights that are at stake here. and there's a fundamental principle at stake in terms of how our government works as we well. the e.p.a. has taken, through its own regulatory fiat, additional authority that it does not legally possess and it's done so under a legal theory that it's advanced called significant nexus and essentially has gone above the regulation it has, which has gone to navigable waters that it already has, say the missouri river, to essentially