POWER Act

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2360) to amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to extend the Constitution, laws, and jurisdiction of the United States to installations and devices attached to the seabed of the Outer Continental Shelf for the production and support of production of energy from sources other than oil and gas, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I appreciate the opportunity to bring to the floor the Providing for Our Workforce and Energy Resources or POWER Act, introduced by our colleague from Louisiana (Mr. Landry).

The House Natural Resources Committee is dedicated to creating domestic American jobs and protecting the safety of our workers. When we pass legislation that encourages safe and efficient energy development on Federal lands, not only are we decreasing domestic energy production, but we are also generating the millions of jobs that support those industries; and when I say that, I mean all energy jobs.

Republicans in Congress are committed to an all-of-the-above energy strategy. We are committed to promoting jobs in wind, solar, oil, gas, hydro, and geothermal energy. Developing all of these resources to ensure reliable and affordable energy for the American people will benefit families and businesses across our country in the form of lower energy costs and greater job growth.

To help foster this private sector job growth, eliminating regulatory uncertainty can really clear the way to spur investment, protect American workers, and spur job creation. The bill under consideration does just that.

The POWER Act clarifies the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to ensure the full and fair application of our Nation's laws to all offshore energy development, including renewable energy, rather than waiting for various rulings and interpretations by Federal agencies. This simple, commonsense bill will provide greater certainty to those looking to invest and develop renewable energy projects and the infrastructure to support those projects off our shores.

I want everyone to be clear that this is not a major change in law. It is merely a technical clarification to ensure that Federal agencies have the important guidance they need to ensure that our Nation's laws are applied in the manner in which they were intended.

Although not a major change, it is an important one, and Mr. Landry should get the credit for putting this bill forward.

American companies are on the verge of investing hundreds of millions of dollars in developing renewable energy on our Outer Continental Shelf, and they need the certainty that our laws will be applied fairly to their activities.

Developing our Nation's energy resources benefits our economy, our people, and our national security. I believe this bill helps provide the certainty needed to help move America down the path. I applaud Mr. Landry for his work, and I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the author of this legislation, the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Landry).

Mr. Speaker, I yield back my time and urge adoption of the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

(Mr. LUJAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

H.R. 2360 would clarify that U.S.-flagged vessels must be used for the transportation of merchandise, supplies, construction materials, and maintenance materials between the U.S. mainland and offshore wind farms.

The American Wind Energy Association has indicated that their member companies already operate in conformance with Jones Act requirements for offshore wind farms. The Offshore Wind Development Coalition testified on H.R. 2360 that wind developers already accept the applicability of the Jones Act for offshore wind farms.

The Department of the Interior has testified that the relevant statutes already apply to offshore renewable energy installations. In addition, the Interior Department has also testified that H.R. 2360 would not expand current law, but that it would simply clarify that section 4(a) of Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act applies to renewable energy production offshore to the extent that there is any uncertainty.

Comments on this bill from Customs and Border Protection echo the Interior Department's interpretation that H.R. 2360 would simply clarify that the Jones Act applies to offshore wind farms. The Customs and Border Protection comments also reaffirm the interpretation that H.R. 2360 would not expand current law to cover vessels responsible for laying transmission lines or other vessels assisting in the construction process beyond what the current law already provides.

We share these interpretations of H.R. 2360 and of the underlying statutes. However, to the extent that there may be any uncertainty that would be aided by clarification, we have no problem with the legislation.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. Speaker, when I talk to business owners around the country, there are two things that I hear prevent them from putting Americans back to work, and that is regulatory uncertainty and inequity in government regulations.

Both the industry and the administration have confirmed the existence of ambiguity in the current law governing energy development on the Outer Continental Shelf. This is creating uncertainty and inequity, affecting job creation.

This bill corrects the problem and strengthens our renewable energy industry by giving our stakeholders the information needed to make the right business decisions and investments. It levels the playing field for all industries operating on the Outer Continental Shelf.

We agree that to effectively rid ourselves of foreign oil we need an all-of-the-above approach to energy development, and our laws should follow suit as this industry develops.

Both sides of the aisle don't often agree on ways to strengthen our energy independence and on ways to create jobs; however, this bill affords us the opportunity to do just that.

I'm proud to have bipartisan support for this bill and want to thank both the distinguished chairman from the State of Washington (Mr. Hastings) and the distinguished gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt), who helped us on this bill.