'I'm Very Concerned About What's Going On': Garret Graves Laces Into Deb Haaland In Tense Exchange

4 months ago

At a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA) questioned Sec. Deb Haaland about energy production in the US.

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Transcript

00:00Mr. Graves for five minutes. Madam Secretary, welcome back to the committee. I appreciate you. I appreciate you being here today.

00:06One of the the biggest things that I hear all last week, I had the opportunity to be home during recess week and

00:12and hearing a lot about just the unaffordability of living in America today and

00:19specifically watching as we're seeing higher energy prices related to gasoline, related to utilities.

00:25I'm just curious, what message do you have to the American family that can't afford to make ends meet and

00:31many of the policies that are coming out of the Department of the Interior are actually contributing to that as a result of higher

00:37gasoline and and utility prices.

00:40Thank you, Congressman, and I'll just say I missed your king cake this year, but that's all right.

00:46I had to travel all the way to your state to get one.

00:50But I will say, of course, we recognize that and I know President Biden is working every day to lower costs for Americans.

00:57We believe that all the work we're doing on this clean energy transition will lower energy costs across the board

01:04for Americans across the country and we feel confident about that. I know that we don't set gas prices.

01:11Madam Secretary, I guess just this this table here

01:15really concerns me and that you would have to go back to the Jimmy Carter administration to even find any

01:22time in our nation's modern history where you would have such few acres that are offered for

01:29energy production. And just to put things in perspective, during Jimmy Carter's administration,

01:34they leased a hundred times more acres than during the Biden administration during the same period of time.

01:39So I feel like that this is a direct result of this

01:44administration's actions that are causing these higher unaffordable prices for American families.

01:50Congressman, I do, first of all, want to say that it's undeniable that

01:54production of oil on public lands is at an all-time high. It truly is. There are also a lot of leases and permits that are laying fallow.

02:01Very quickly, just because I don't want to mislead the public,

02:04how long does it take to go from a lease sale to production onshore?

02:08And how long does it take to go from a lease sale to production offshore? Of course, that depends greatly on the industry.

02:15Big ballpark. I would love to pass it to Laura.

02:18I tell you what, just so we don't delay too long, it takes on average maybe four to five years for onshore.

02:24The only lease sale you've had for onshore was in 2022,

02:27which means none of the production occurring right now has anything to do with this administration. For offshore,

02:32it's actually closer to about ten years. Once again, none of the production today has anything to do with this administration.

02:38What you're doing is you're creating an energy crisis for the future, not just for right now as a result of future supply,

02:45but you're creating an energy crisis for the next administration and the one after as well by not producing. Now,

02:52we've had senior administration officials that have come and testified before this committee that have said when you stop producing,

02:59it doesn't prevent or it doesn't cause a reduction in demand.

03:03All it does is it causes other countries to fill the void. And so let's take a look here.

03:10This is Iranian crude.

03:13And this shows the increase in Iranian crude because again, voids are going to be filled.

03:19Voids will be filled. And so even those sanctions and everything else, we're actually seeing their exports increase.

03:27And so things like the LNG pause, the LNG ban effectively,

03:32it just creates market opportunity for other countries. And so here's Iran.

03:38I'm gonna guess that you don't support the Israel-Iran war that's going on right now with the terrorists and others that are occurring.

03:46And so, I guess some estimates have indicated that Iran has profited to the tune of 60 to 65 billion dollars,

03:54that money's going to Hezbollah, Hamas and others, and American service members have been killed.

03:59Does it concern you that U.S. energy policy is funding the Iranian war?

04:04We just came in and provided 14 billion dollars in funds to Israel.

04:09So effectively, U.S. energy policy is funding Iran. U.S. taxpayers are funding Israel's defense.

04:15Does that concern you at all? And the death of American troops associated with this, does that, is that concerning?

04:21With respect to your original question on production, as I said, it's at an all-time high.

04:27I'm sorry, I've moved on from that one. But on the Iran issue, does that concern you at all?

04:33Congressman, I'm concerned about everything about our country. I love this country. I'm concerned.

04:38What message would you say to the troops' families that were killed as a result of Iranian proxies

04:43funded effectively with U.S. energy policy dollars that have been killed? What would you say to them as a result?

04:49I would like to say to you, Congressman, that there are millions of acres of leased, non-producing federal land

04:55currently in this country, and there are thousands of approved permits to drill.

04:59And Madam Secretary, you sat before this committee and told us that there were 9,000,

05:04only to have come back and realized that the number was grossly overestimated,

05:08and also not really understanding the process, and that that doesn't necessarily mean the ability to actually produce.

05:14Once again, there was just 60 billion dollars provided in U.S. taxpayer funds to Russia.

05:19Russia is also profiting from U.S. energy policy. We're funding both sides of the war.

05:25Bad U.S. energy policy impacts American families and funds the Russians,

05:30and then American taxpayers fund the other side of the war. I'm very concerned about what's going on.

05:36I'd strongly urge you to think about the problem you're causing for the next administration and the one after.

05:42Think about the fact that this administration's energy policies are funding both sides of the war,

05:47and American service members have died as a result.

05:51Gentlemen, the time has expired. The chair now recognizes a gentleman from Colorado, Mr. Neguse.

05:56I hope the chairman is as indulgent with Democratic members as he was with our colleague from Louisiana.

06:02I think Ms. Stansberry went over about him.

06:05All right, I appreciate that.

'I'm Very Concerned About What's Going On': Garret Graves Laces Into Deb Haaland In Tense Exchange

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