'It's Foundational To Our Economic Growth': Bruce Westerman Advocates For Expanding Energy Sector

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At a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR) expressed concern over the United States' need for more energy sources.

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Transcript

00:00I recognize the full committee chair, Mr. Westerman, for an opening statement.

00:05Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to the witnesses for being here today.

00:09The importance of our natural resources and the role they play in America's energy supply

00:15is no surprise to my colleagues here who are in this room, and I would say to really anybody

00:21that's in this room, and we all know that the demand for power is only growing. We're seeing

00:26five-year growth load projections increasing by a staggering 550 percent since 2022,

00:34and I think if you looked at this data objectionably, you could see that we're

00:41facing an energy crisis if we don't do something different from what we've been doing. We need an

00:49all-hands-on approach to producing as much new energy as we can. This explosion is being driven

00:57by data processing, by AI, and by manufacturing here in the United States. We cannot risk falling

01:05behind other countries, such as China, as we compete in these growing sectors. It's amazing

01:13the amount of energy that some of this data processing takes, and quite frankly,

01:20I'm for renewable energy. I'm for any kind of energy we can put on the grid, but it has to be

01:25in sufficient amounts that we can meet our needs and not drive the cost so high that the American

01:31consumers can't afford energy anymore. It's foundational to our economic growth and to our

01:38national security. We do have a solution, and part of that solution is the fact that we have

01:45abundant natural resources here that we can use to grow the energy sector, and the benefits of

01:54releasing American energy exploration and production definitely extends to our economy.

02:01There are some current economic models that indicate that domestic energy production,

02:06using emerging technologies and sound federal policy decisions, could result in 25 trillion

02:12dollars in U.S. GDP growth by 2050, and the annual creation of more than 5 million jobs.

02:19And I will remind everybody that since the 1960s, the federal revenue coming from taxes is

02:29about 17.5 percent of the GDP, so if you see a 25 trillion dollar increase in economic activity,

02:37that means there's going to be more money flowing into the federal government to help

02:41balance the budget. There's a debate what's going to happen with prices as energy production

02:49increases. It all comes back to that simple supply and demand curve. How much energy can

02:56we produce for the demand that's out there, and if we don't keep up with the demand, obviously the

03:00price is going to go higher. So there's a lot of economic data that's been presented in the

03:10testimonies today. I look forward to hearing that and to debating it and using that to help drive

03:17the policies that we'll be looking at in the Natural Resources Committee as we look at

03:22different ways to bolster new energy production and ways to meet the demand that keeps America

03:29competitive, that keeps energy prices reasonable for consumers, and that really looks out for

03:36the best interest of our country and for the future of the global economy and our national

03:44security. So again, thank you to the witnesses for being here today. I look forward to the discussions

03:49and I yield back. Thank you.

'It's Foundational To Our Economic Growth': Bruce Westerman Advocates For Expanding Energy Sector

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