Volume 162, No. 50 covering the 2nd Session of the 114th Congress (2015 - 2016) was published by the Congressional Record.
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“MADE-IN-MONTANA ENERGY” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the Senate section on pages S1624 on April 4, 2016.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
MADE-IN-MONTANA ENERGY
Mr. DAINES. Mr. President, made-in-Montana energy means good Montana jobs that on average pay two to three times more than the State average. In fact, Montana's ability to create more good-paying energy jobs is immense. Our State leads the Nation in recoverable coal deposits. We are the Nation's fifth largest producer of hydropower, with 23 hydroelectric dams across the State, and we are fifth in wind energy potential.
In fact, Montana was center stage in the national energy debate and provides our Nation a template of a true ``all of the above'' energy portfolio. We have coal, natural gas, oil, as well as renewables such as hydro, wind, biomass, and solar opportunities.
What makes our State most valuable are the people who make our energy systems work--towns such as Colstrip, MT, that build communities around livelihoods that are reliant on good-paying energy jobs. That is the good news.
Here is the bad news: Montana energy jobs are under assault. Over the past 2 weeks, I heard from Montanans about the future and importance of made-in-Montana energy and made-in-Montana good-paying jobs. During my week-long tour across our State, I once again saw our vast natural resources and our true energy potential, whether it was touring a wind farm near Baker, MT, on the far eastern side of our State, or seeing the hydropower facility at Helena's Hauser Dam, or hosting a townhall at Colstrip. I was hearing directly from the community about the devastating impacts that President Obama's anti-coal regulations will have on hard-working Montanans.
My statewide energy tour culminated this past week at Montana Energy 2016, where over 600 people gathered in Billings, MT, for a Montana family conversation about our State's energy future. During that 2\1/
2\-day summit, we heard a consistent and powerful message about the need to maximize our opportunity for growth and expand made-in-Montana energy and the good-paying jobs it supports.
Montanans are leading American energy innovation; for example, Montanans such as Chrystal Cuniff, a Montana tech engineer from Choteau, who helped drill the deepest well in the Gulf of Mexico, or Ryan Lance, a Montana native, a graduate of Montana Tech, who is leading one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world, or Ashley Dennehey from Colstrip, who highlighted how the boilermakers, operators, and other hard-working labor groups in her community are working hard to keep the lights on in the face of adversity.
We must continue investing in our 2-year colleges that provide training in trades such as welding and heavy machine operations so we can keep our kids in Montana with good, high-paying energy jobs. In fact, Business Insider released a map that shows how hard these times are for millenials, highlighting their median income across the United States. Montana ranked 50th, dead last, at a median income of $18,000 a year for millenials.
We cannot forget that Montana coal provides tax revenues of $145 million a year which supports our teachers and our schools. Montana should lead the world in developing clean coal technology. We must continue to develop renewable technologies that will store the power created by wind.
The bottom line is, we should not allow Washington, DC, and the Obama administration to dictate and regulate coal and gas out of existence. We need more made-in-Montana energy, not more made-in-the-Middle-East energy. Make no mistake, President Obama's Environmental Protection Agency and their regulations are killing Montana energy.
Our country's future is very bright if we could unleash the power of innovation and rein in the overregulation of Washington, DC. I couldn't agree more with what Darrin Old Coyote, chairman of the Crow Nation tribes, said in his keynote address at Montana Energy 2016 in Billings just last Thursday. He said this: ``All of Montana citizens need to work together for a better tomorrow: renewable energy, fossil energy, conventional energy, Indian or non-Indian, regardless of political affiliation, whether we are Democrats, Republicans or Independents.''
Montanans can find better solutions than Washington, DC, bureaucrats.
Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for 15 minutes in morning business.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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