During a Senate Energy Committee hearing last week, Sen. Jim Justice (R-WV) spoke about a potential energy crisis.
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00:00Thank you Mr. Chairman, ranking member, everyone here especially these great
00:07nominees and all their families. I think about all the people that are out here
00:14in our audience and everything. I think about a young man that is intrigued and
00:20fascinated and motivated by the process of everything that's going on here. His
00:24name is Mikey Wolford and I absolutely want everybody here to just take
00:31just a moment and try to listen to what I would have to say because I'm from a real
00:38energy state and I've been in the energy business forevermore and absolutely I
00:45know a lot an awful lot about energy and I can tell everyone here whether they're
00:53on our side of the aisle the other side of the aisle it doesn't matter to me.
00:57Really what really should matter to all of us is we have a crisis right now and
01:03it's looming like Godzilla standing in the background right now for all of us, for
01:11every single last one of us and we got it we've got to react for Godzilla will
01:18surely have a good day and we'll have a bad day and to react is just this simple
01:23and I've said it over and over and over and over. You're going to have to decide
01:29America we're going to have to decide either for homes or jobs and energy and
01:37industry. We're going to have to decide and so with all that being said you know
01:43these nominees I would say to you just this you have a responsibility here that
01:50is second to none it's unbelievable the pressure the responsibility how we are
01:58relying on you right now as you go forward and I surely hope and pray you'll
02:04be confirmed without any problems but with all that being said today like it or not
02:11like it in this country energy is everything everything no matter what
02:17anybody says it is the answer and it is the key to Emerald City period now that's
02:24all there is to it so with all that being said I'm sure that you have areas of
02:30expertise like crazy I'm sure you have a passion and a love for our lands you know
02:37Dr. Travnik you know you spoke of you know how you grew up and love to hunt and
02:44fish and everything well that's me all over that's absolutely me in every way and
02:50I'm sure all of you feel exactly the same with no one wants to harm our
02:56environment no one wants to do anything to our waters absolutely but we have got to
03:04react because there are bad days looming right in front of us if we don't react
03:11that's what our president is trying to do that's what he does with an emergency in
03:17regard to energy so I would say to you just this and I've got just a couple of
03:21real quick questions and everything I would say in regard to water you know many of
03:29our communities are very rural and we rely on private wells what resources and
03:35this question is for Dr. Travnik what what resources will your department
03:40provide to assist these communities in assuring the safety and reliability of
03:45their water supplies thank you senator for for the question we know as we're
03:51looking in rural areas and within communities that water infrastructure is
03:56going to continue to be more important so as relates to if confirmed with the
04:01Bureau of Reclamation I'll be looking at the different authorities that we do have
04:04looking for opportunities where there might be availability for for cost share at
04:10the same time just trying to see to what partnerships might be as we look at
04:13those local communities thank you I've got to say one other thing I don't have a
04:19a lot of time but Senator Hoeven is a really sharp guy and he's a friend and he
04:30made a statement just a second ago he's dead on the money splitting the bullseye
04:33like you can't imagine he said delay can be defeat well I've never heard it put
04:40that way but it is absolutely splitting the bullseye you got to move you've got to
04:47have a real passion you've got to move and you've got to know the world the
04:54world depends on you every single country in this world the more energy they
05:01have the longer their people live the healthier their people are we quit we
05:06need to quit being afraid of energy you got a lot of good people out there that
05:12know how to extract and make energy for all of us we need to let them go we need
05:19to turn them loose and we need to quit being afraid absolutely the shadow can
05:23scare us to death we don't need to worry about Godzilla in the closet unless we
05:28don't act and if we don't act Godzilla will act I promise you that's all I've got
05:35thank you so much thank you senator justice thanks for your comments and in
05:40your strong message appreciate it very much senator King