Federal Lands Jobs and Energy Security Act

Floor Speech

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Study after study proves that pipelines are the safest, most environmentally friendly, and most efficient method for transporting oil and natural gas. A company in my district tried to expand a current pipeline or build a new pipeline through a recreation area, but was unable to do so because of bureaucratic red tape and mess.

Instead of expanding a pipeline that was in the ground before the recreation area was created, the company had to loop the pipeline around the recreation area in order to provide natural gas to residents in New Jersey. This forced the company to add seven additional miles of pipeline, even though it would be more environmentally friendly to build a pipeline through the park. Yet the level of bureaucratic red tape in trying to construct oil and gas pipelines through Federal lands is nothing short of ludicrous.

My amendment wouldn't solve the problem we experienced in my district; however, this amendment takes a small step in addressing the difficulties in constructing pipelines by requiring the Secretary of the Interior to include a plan for addressing new demands for transmission lines and pipelines for distribution of oil and gas across Federal lands to ensure that energy produced can be distributed to areas of need.

Common sense tells us that without the necessary pipeline infrastructure to transport the energy, it will be much more difficult to meet America's future oil and gas demands.

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