Critical minerals are minerals which are essential to American industries and may be at risk for supply disruption such as by a small global market or geopolitical complexities. As the committee learned in passing the Helium Stewardship Act, our country depends on materials that are not burned or consumed for energy, but are key to many energy technologies, from wind turbines, to batteries, to oil refineries, as well as a host of other technologies. Our country is increasingly dependent on these minerals, to increase efficiency, lower costs, and improve performance of manufactured products in...

Not quite a decade ago members of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources attended numerous meetings to consider the 2005 Energy Policy Act. At that time we discussed, at length, the need to import more liquefied natural gas to meet our growing energy demands. Thanks to extraordinary and swift advances in technology to locate, capture and produce natural gas, today this committee meets to discuss the expanded opportunities to export liquefied natural gas and the possibilities to create high paying jobs in America and support our allies in Europe and budding democracies across the world....

Affordability and reliability of the electric grid is so commonplace in America today that most people spend little time even thinking about it. Except, of course, when the power goes out and when the lights go off. In a small neighborhood just a few blocks from the New York Stock Exchange in 1882 Thomas Edison's Pearl Street Station in lower Manhattan illuminated 400 lamps in homes, offices and businesses for the first time for 85 customers. The U.S. electrification rate steadily increased from there from a few percentage points in the early 1900s to about 70 percent in the early 1930s. But...

For the first time in over half a century, the U.S. and Mexico are entering into a robust energy partnership between our 2 countries. Hopefully this momentum will extend to other areas of trade, investment, and mutual cooperation, renewing the North American Alliance and strengthening our economy. The Transboundary Hydrocarbon Agreement will provide a way for the United States and Mexico to pursue the joint development of shared energy resources. This agreement resolves claims to a dispute area in the Gulf of Mexico so that the energy resources can be developed and the benefits can be shared...

There are currently 26 planning areas in the Outer Continental Shelf, 15 in Alaska, 4 along the Pacific Coast, 3 in the Gulf of Mexico and 4 in the Atlantic. Currently, only 36 million acres, an area only slightly larger than the State of Louisiana itself, is actively leased. So a very small portion of the Outer Continental Shelf is actively leased, only 2 percent of the entire OCS. There's a tremendously vast area of the Outer Continental Shelf that should be explored and looked at for what resources it might hold, either traditional or non-traditional resources, whether energy or otherwise....

Puerto Rico has been an "unincorporated territory" of the United States since the conclusion of the Spanish American War, 115 years ago. After 115 years it is clearly time for Puerto Rico to determine what political path it will take. The question of whether Puerto Rico should become a State or a sovereign Nation and whether there are other options defines much of the political debate today on the islands. Puerto Rico faces huge economic and social challenges. Per capita income is stuck at about half that of the poorest U.S. State. The violent crime rate is well above the national average and...

The bounty and beauty of the American West has stirred the hopes and dreams of generations of Americans. The vast economic potential of the West was only a dream in 1804 when President Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark on their now famous and well documented journey. A little over 30 years later in 1837, Washington Irving published the epic following the adventures of the famous explorer, Captain Bonneville, in what would later become known as the Wyoming Territory. He searched for the fabled Tar Springs. After a great ordeal the men in his party discovered a slow stream of oil at the...

Since 1985 America's natural resources have generated $248 billion of revenue for our Treasury, an average of about $9 billion a year. We have a short list including oil, gas, coal, minerals, including gold, copper, lead, zinc, uranium. We have grazing and timber. Our revenues, recreational fees that range from entrance fees to our beautiful parks, cabin rentals, for example, boat launch rentals and others. So this is a very short list, but gives a sense of what our Committee is going to be exploring. How are these revenues generated? How are they shared? How can we be better stewards? We...

S. 33, the LNG Permitting Certainty and Transparency Act, would expedite the permitting process for LNG exports to countries which do not have free trade agreements with the United States. Study after study have shown that LNG exports will create good paying jobs all across America, good paying jobs in states like Oregon, West Virginia, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming. LNG exports will also reduce our nation's trade deficit which currently stands at $39 billion. S. 33 would require the Secretary of Energy to make a final decision on an export application within 45 days after FERC completes...

Keeping the lights on, as all segments of the industry have for the past 100 years, is not just about flicking the switch or changing a bulb. It is a highly complex and technical undertaking that requires scores of talented individuals. The grid was built incrementally, but the rate at which it changes, or is compelled to change, appears to be accelerating. A combination of market forces, technological innovation, and policy directives at both the federal and the state levels could well result in an unprecedented transformation of the electricity sector. With the rise of distributed...