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As Temperatures Drop, Murphy, Blumenthal, Leahy, Sanders, King Urge Energy Secretary Granholm to Develop a Plan to Prevent Energy Disruptions in New England

Source: United States Senator for Connecticut – Chris Murphy

November 29, 2022

WASHINGTON–As the winter months approach, U.S. Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Angus King (I-Maine) on Tuesday urged the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to proactively develop a plan to prevent energy disruption and price hikes. In a letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, the senators ask the Secretary to work with stakeholders to mitigate the risk of price hikes and a shortage of natural gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG), and heating oil.

“ISO New England, the region’s grid operator, has warned that colder-than-usual conditions could put the reliability of the grid at risk – perhaps even leading to extreme measures like rolling blackouts. This could be devastating, particularly during the coldest days of winter. While the region’s overreliance on natural gas has long been an issue, the continued global disruption caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine means the risk is more urgent than ever,” the senators wrote.

The senators continued: “Even if the lights stay on throughout our winter months, the price instability caused by the region’s reliance on the spot market could have devastating impacts on New England residents who already face some of the highest energy costs in the continental U.S.”

“Given the gravity of these concerns, we urge you to convene key stakeholders, including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), ISO New England, New England governors, public utility officials, generators, suppliers, and utilities to mitigate these risks. Additionally, we ask that you leverage resources within the Department of Energy to identify barriers to bringing non-fossil fuel energy online as quickly as possible. Lastly, we ask that you work across the Executive Branch to review the emergency powers available to the Department of Energy and other agencies to ensure New England has the resources needed to get through the winter without major supply disruptions or price spikes,” the senators concluded.

Read the full letter below or here:

Dear Secretary Granholm,

With the upcoming winter season comes a real threat to energy reliability for residents and businesses in New England.  Global events caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are exacerbating the risk that the region will not have the fuel supplies needed to maintain heat and power during an extended cold snap. We write to ask that you work with federal, regional, state, and local stakeholders to identify actions available to prevent energy disruption during the coldest months of the year. 

Leaders in the region are working hard to reduce our reliance on natural gas by bringing clean energy resources like offshore wind and hydropower online, and the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act will be a huge boost to those efforts. Replacing fossil fuels with clean energy alternatives is the only way to ensure adequate supply and to achieve U.S. energy independence. Building out this new, carbon-free generation, however, will take time. As a result, the region remains reliant on natural gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and heating oil to bridge supply gaps during the coldest stretch of New England winters.

ISO New England, the region’s grid operator, has warned that colder-than-usual conditions could put the reliability of the grid at risk – perhaps even leading to extreme measures like rolling blackouts. This could be devastating, particularly during the coldest days of winter. While the region’s overreliance on natural gas has long been an issue, the continued global disruption caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine means the risk is more urgent than ever. In retaliation for Western sanctions following the invasion, Russia has weaponized energy supplies, reducing gas exports to Europe by 88% compared to 2021.  This had  led European nations to seek supplies elsewhere, further tightening the global supply.  As a result, New England states will face serious challenges as they seek to secure LNG supply.

Even if the lights stay on throughout our winter months, the price instability caused by the region’s reliance on the spot market could have devastating impacts on New England residents who already face some of the highest energy costs in the continental U.S.

Given the gravity of these concerns, we urge you to convene key stakeholders, including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), ISO New England, New England governors, public utility officials, generators, suppliers, and utilities to mitigate these risks. Additionally, we ask that you leverage resources within the Department of Energy to identify barriers to bringing non-fossil fuel energy online as quickly as possible. Lastly, we ask that you work across the Executive Branch to review the emergency powers available to the Department of Energy and other agencies to ensure New England has the resources needed to get through the winter without major supply disruptions or price spikes. We stand ready and willing to assist you in any way.

We appreciate your attention to these concerns and look forward to working with you on this critical issue

Sincerely,

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As Holiday Travel Season Kicks Off, Cantwell & Colleagues Call on DOT to Strengthen Ticket Refunds Rule

Source: United States Senator for Washington Maria Cantwell

11.29.22

As Holiday Travel Season Kicks Off, Cantwell & Colleagues Call on DOT to Strengthen Ticket Refunds Rule

Senators urge DOT to require airlines to cover secondary costs incurred after delayed, cancelled flights – including hotel rooms and meals

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last week, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and Committee-members Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) filed a comment on the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) proposed rule on airline ticket refunds, urging the department to strengthen and expeditiously finalize the proposed rule to ensure that consumers are fairly compensated when an airline cancels or significantly delays their flight.

The senators recommended that the DOT require airlines to cover secondary costs incurred from hotels, meals and transportation in the event of a cancellation or significant delay due to a problem within the airline’s control. This long overdue rule is urgently needed following months of travel disruptions, with airlines cancelling nearly 3% of flights during the first eight months of this year — a 63% increase over pre-pandemic figures — and delaying an additional 21% of flights.

At Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, 5,149 flights — approximately 1% of the total number of flights in 2022 — have been canceled as of Nov. 27, and 17.3% of flights have been delayed.

“This rulemaking is a critical response to the increase in flight cancellations and delays during the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in a record number of consumer complaints about the refund process,” the senators wrote. “While we commend the agency for taking this step, DOT can strengthen the proposed rule by protecting consumers from other costs that are beyond their control — including ticket service fees on cancelled flights and secondary expenses resulting from a flight cancellation or delay.”

Specifically, the senators urged DOT to strengthen its proposed rule by:

  1. Requiring airlines to cover secondary costs — such as hotel rooms, food and drink, and transportation to-and-from the airport — when an airline, due to a problem within its control, cancels or significantly delays a flight;
  2. Ensuring that passengers are not forced to cover ticket agents’ service fees when an airline cancels a flight; and
  3. Requiring airlines to report to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics the value of the refunds and vouchers issued to consumers each month.

In May, Sens. Cantwell, Markey and Blumenthal wrote a letter to DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg urging the Department to use its regulatory power to “make the process for obtaining refunds more transparent and efficient.” In their letter, they urged the DOT to take specific actions to protect consumers, including clarifying and codifying policies requiring carriers and ticket agents to provide prompt refunds after a flight is cancelled or significantly delayed, as well as clarifying the rights for consumers who are unable to travel due to government restrictions or the declaration of a public health emergency.

The comment letter can be found HERE.

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WATCH: Bennet Honors Victims and Survivors of the Club Q Shooting on the Senate Floor

Source: United States Senator for Colorado Michael Bennet

Washington, D.C. — Today, Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet spoke on the Senate floor to honor the victims and survivors of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs and call for swift passage of the Respect for Marriage Act, a bipartisan compromise to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, recognize same-sex marriage federally, and take a step toward equality for LGBTQ people in Colorado and across the country.

“Colorado is hurting. We are tired of this… for more than two decades, we have had to grieve over one incident after another,”  said Bennet in his speech. “So while we stand here on the verge of taking a historic step toward equality, a vitally important step toward equality, we are reminded once again of just how much work is left to do to give our children the safe and accepting future that they deserve, that they want to have, that we are obligated to give them.” 

Bennet’s full speech is available HERE. Below are remarks as delivered:

Thank you Madam President and thank you for recognizing me.

Before the Thanksgiving break, I had planned to use my time today to talk about the Respect For Marriage Act, which the presiding officer has had such an important role playing in and I want to congratulate her on the incredible work that she’s done to get this over the finish line. Because we are on the verge of passing the Respect for Marriage Act in the United States Senate. 

And it’s a historic piece of legislation to ensure that if a same-sex or interracial couple marries in one state that every state has to honor that marriage. The federal government has to honor that marriage as well.

There may be no right closer to the heart than marrying the one that you love. 

Colorado understands that. 

And I was going to come down here, Madam President, to talk about how over decades, my state has led the way on equality. 

We recognized civil unions in 2013.

We banned conversion therapy in my state. 

We passed our own version of the Equality Act in Colorado. 

I was going to come down here and tell you about how Colorado understands what equality has come to mean in America in 2022. 

But in the last week, I’ve been reminded again just how far we have to go.

Last Sunday, Coloradans woke up to the news that Club Q – a loving, accepting, twenty-year old LGBTQ club in Colorado Springs – had been the target of a mass shooting. 

Five Coloradans were killed and at least 22 were injured. 

In the days since, Coloradans have described Club Q as a center of community building — a place where everyone could be their true selves and live without fear.

Club Q’s owner Nic Grzecka said he founded the club to be “a safe place for people to come and feel and understand that they are normal — that the way they feel is normal and there are people just like them.”

As a father, that’s what I hope for my three daughters. 

And as a former school superintendent, that’s what I wish for the children that I worked for.

We want our kids to feel normal, and loved, and like they belong.

But on November 19th, these feelings of safety and acceptance that Club Q had built over two decades were shattered.

On the same day that we recognize the Trans Day of Remembrance, we added more names to that solemn toll in this country, when a violent young man — radicalized by hateful and divisive rhetoric — killed five people and forever changed a community, forever changed my state.

In minutes, he robbed from us brothers, sisters, daughters, sons, friends, and loved ones, who were there just being themselves — not bothering anybody.

He took from us:

Derrick Rump, 38-year-old bartender and co-owner of Club Q, who bought groceries for others during the hardest two months of the pandemic.

Daniel Davis Aston… 28 years old, a bar supervisor known as the “Master of Silliness” because of his contagious happiness and joy.

Kelly Loving…40 years old, who had just moved to Colorado and was trying to enjoy a weekend trip to Colorado Springs.

Ashley Paugh, 35 years old, a devoted mother and nonprofit worker, who loved hunting and fishing like so many other Coloradans and was there to support the community.

And Raymond Green Vance,  22 years old, who grew up in Colorado Springs, had just started a new job, and was saving up for his own apartment.

I am thinking of them, Madam President, and their families, and all those who survived this terrible tragedy in Colorado.

People who imagined that there was one space that you could go to feel safe, and then this happens.

It fills me with rage that it happened. It fills me with sadness. It should fill the entire Senate with rage and sadness. 

And if it weren’t for the courage of people like Richard Fierro and Thomas James, the list of names I read –  already too long – would have been longer. 

Thomas James, a petty officer second class in the Navy, used his military crisis training to help subdue the attacker. He said he jumped into action because he “simply wanted to save the family [he] found at Club Q.”

And Richard Fierro, an Iraq and Afghanistan combat veteran, was watching a friend’s performance inside Club Q with his wife, daughter, and friends inside the club when the gunfire started.

And his protective instincts, Richard’s protective instincts from four combat deployments kicked in. He said he “into combat mode.”

No one enjoying a night with their friends and their family should have to go “into combat mode” in the United States of America.

That is not the country that I grew up in. It is our country today. 

It’s the country that the pages in this institution are inheriting from us. 

My daughters’ generation, and the children that I used to work for in the Denver Public Schools, they bear a burden that I never bore growing up in the United States.

They have grown up living with a reasonable fear that they  could be shot in their classrooms, or in their churches, or in a grocery store, or in a bar that’s the one safe place in their community that they could go.

In 2020, the pages that are here may not know this, in 2020 the leading cause of death for kids in America was guns. 

Guns.

Not car accidents. Not drugs. But guns.

In one study of 29 industrialized countries, the United States accounted for 97 percent of firearm deaths among children four years old and younger.

That’s almost a hundred percent of the kids that are dying on planet Earth from gunfire who are four years old and younger.

What a disgrace. What a disgrace.

We shouldn’t need to count on a stranger’s bravery when we go to a birthday party. We shouldn’t need to count on a stranger’s bravery when we go to the grocery store. 

It was just last year when I spoke on this floor to remember the lives we lost in Colorado at the King Soopers in Boulder. 

And it’s with  unimaginable pain that I’m here once again on this floor with a list of names of people who lost their lives.

Senseless.

Colorado is hurting. We are tired of this, Madam President. For more than two decades, we have had to grieve over one incident after another. 

So while we stand here on the verge of taking a historic step toward equality, a vitally important step toward equality, we are reminded once again of just how much work is left to do to give our children the safe and accepting future that they deserve, that they want to have, that we are obligated to give them.

We haven’t finished that work in the United States Senate. 

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court stripped away the first fundamental right since Reconstruction by overturning a 50-year precedent in Roe v. Wade.

And in that decision, the majority took aim at the fundamental right of privacy, and with it, the right of every single American to marry whom they love.

And it is a profound reminder, once again, a reminder to everybody in this body and to the country that our history has been from the very beginning a battle of between the highest ideals that humans have ever written down on the page – the words in the Constitution of the United States – and the worst impulses of human history. 

And when a Justice of the Supreme Court writes that if it wasn’t a freedom in 1868, it’s not a freedom today, we are in that struggle today.

When a 22-year-old can walk into a club and kill five people and wound more than 20 people, we’re in that struggle today. 

The reason we are here today doing important work that we’re doing [in the Respect for Marriage Act] that we’re passing today, is that Americans understand that no good comes from hoarding freedoms and equality. 

They know that, when we take the opposite view, we act against our best traditions, against our highest ideals.

As a nation, we will never flourish if we choose to depend on a permanent underclass, deprived of some or all of the rights and freedoms others enjoy. 

Free people do not remain free by denying freedom to others.   

And today, the Senate of the United States stands on the precipice of advancing freedom, of advancing equality, of moving us closer to our highest ideals.

But tomorrow, we have more work to do to live up to the words of our Constitution and realize the promise of equality for all our citizens.

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VIDEO: Rubio: I’m Not Voting For a Deal That the Rail Workers Have Rejected

Source: United States Senator for Florida Marco Rubio

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) is calling on the Biden Administration, freight rail industry, and labor unions to return to the negotiating table instead of asking Congress to impose a heavy-handed deal on the hardworking men and women of the rail industry.
 
See below for a video message. Broadcast quality video can be downloaded here.

Want more information? Read Rubio’s full statement here and see the reaction here.

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Cassidy Announces $15.2 Million in Hurricane Relief

Source: United States Senator for Louisiana Bill Cassidy

11.29.22

WASHINGTON –  U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) today announced Louisiana will receive $15,152,459.48 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in relief for Hurricanes Laura and Ida.

“It has been years since Hurricanes Ida and Laura, and our coastal communities are still recovering,” said Dr. Cassidy. “This funding will help South Louisiana families as they work towards a full recovery.”

Cameron Parish, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, Lafitte Area Independent Levee District, and Dixie Electric Membership Corporation will all benefit from this funding.

Grant Awarded

Recipient

Project Description

$2,708,865.90

Cameron Parish

This grant will provide federal funding for repairs as a result of Hurricane Laura.

$5,940,177.31

Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development

This grant will provide federal funding for debris removal as a result of Hurricane Laura.

$1,312,312.28

Lafitte Area Independent Levee District

This grant will provide federal funding for the  debris removal as a result of Hurricane Ida.

$5,191,103.99

Dixie Electric Membership Corporation

This grant will provide federal funding for emergency protective measures as a result of Hurricane Ida.

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ICYMI: Shaheen Addresses Need for U.S. Policy toward Black Sea Region with WSJ

Source: United States Senator for New Hampshire Jeanne Shaheen

November 29, 2022

**Shaheen leads bipartisan legislation with Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) that would establish a U.S. policy toward the Black Sea region, which is a critical geopolitical area amid Putin’s war in Ukraine** 

(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation, spoke with Daniel Michaels at the Wall Street Journal on the importance of Black Sea states amid Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. 

Specifically, Shaheen addressed concerns about the vulnerability of the region amid Russia’s most recent further invasion of Ukraine, which is a significant geopolitical inflection point. She underscored the need for a concrete U.S. policy toward the region, which legislation she leads with U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT), would establish. Shaheen introduced the Black Sea Security Act earlier this year. 

Shaheen shared her disappointment that all Western ships had been moved from the Black Sea prior to the invasion, and she also focused on the importance of other nations at risk for further Russian aggression, such as Georgia, which as Shaheen states, is facing a “political upheaval” that “plays right into the Russians’ hands.” Shaheen has been very engaged on U.S. policy toward Georgia. Last year, Shaheen and Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) held a hearing on bolstering democracy in Georgia in response to the country’s political crisis. During the hearing, Shaheen and Johnson both agreed on the importance of showing bipartisan support for Georgia’s path to strengthen its democracy and committed to spearheading a resolution in the Senate that expresses that sentiment, which was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Shaheen led a bipartisan congressional delegation to Eastern Europe last year, which included a stop in Georgia to reaffirm U.S. commitment to its regional partner and strengthen democratic reforms. Shaheen and Senator Jim Risch (R-ID) previously served as election monitors during Georgia’s 2012 elections.  

Read the Wall Street Journal’s story in full here. 

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NH Delegation Welcomes Over $13M to Bolster Public Health Infrastructure to Safeguard Against Future Outbreaks & Diseases

Source: United States Senator for New Hampshire Jeanne Shaheen

November 29, 2022

(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and U.S. Representatives Annie Kuster (NH-02) and Chris Pappas (NH-01) announced today that $13,191,844 is heading to New Hampshire to support public health infrastructure. Specifically, the funding will provide flexibility for the State to support recruiting and training a robust public health workforce, as well as helping protect people from preventable diseases, stopping outbreaks, and monitoring public health data. 

The award comes from the American Rescue Plan, which the delegation supported, and was funded through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Strengthening U.S. Public Health Infrastructure, Workforce, and Data Systems grant program. 

“The COVID crisis illustrated just how critical investments in our public health infrastructure are – both so we can continue to combat the evolving pandemic and so we can protect Granite Staters from other health emergencies. Investing in a strong public health workforce and ensuring we have the systems in place to keep our communities healthy are essential steps, which is why I’m glad to welcome over $13 million to New Hampshire from the CDC,” said Senator Shaheen. “This funding comes from the American Rescue Plan, which I supported, and I will continue to ensure our state has the tools needed to safeguard public health and protect communities from preventable diseases.”  

“Public health workers play a vital role in supporting Granite Staters’ well-being, from visiting new moms and their babies to addressing the opioid epidemic to helping people manage diabetes and other long-term health concerns. New Hampshire needs more public health workers, and this federal funding will be a big help in recruiting and training more public health workers for both the state and local communities,” said Senator Hassan. 

“These federal funds will play an essential role in improving New Hampshire’s critical public health infrastructure by supporting and expanding our health care workforce and systems,” said Rep. Kuster, a senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee. “I am proud to advocate for our Granite State hospitals, first responders, and health care providers and I look forward to seeing the positive impact of this funding on the health of our state and our communities.” 

“The health and well-being of Granite Staters depend on our state having the resources necessary to recruit and retain a well-trained health care and public health workforce as well as modern health care infrastructure,” said Rep. Pappas. “When I speak with health care providers across the First District, workforce issues are always among their most pressing challenges. These federal funds will assist New Hampshire’s public health systems in meeting those staffing and workforce needs and invest in critical infrastructure and data support to help ensure New Hampshire families and communities can get the care they need.” 

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ICYMI: Cotton Urges Biden Administration to Support Chinese Protestors

Source: United States Senator for Arkansas Tom Cotton

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Caroline Tabler or James Arnold (202) 224-2353
November 29, 2022

ICYMI: Cotton Urges Biden Administration to Support Chinese Protestors

Click here to view Senator Cotton’s remarks. 

In case you missed it – Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) said on Fox News that President Biden needs to express clear American support for the brave Chinese citizens protesting their country’s totalitarian regime instead of trying to appease the CCP. Senator Cotton urged President Biden to issue a clear warning to the CCP that the US would respond with massive consequences if the Chinese authorities use force against the protestors.

He should be voicing American support for these brave Chinese who are in the streets demonstrating against their communist government. Again, this is not some protest on a college campus in America or European capital. These Chinese are protesting the world’s most powerful, dangerous, techno-totalitarian government. And just like Ronald Reagan stood with the voices of freedom in the solidarity movement in Poland or told Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall, President Biden—in his own voice, on camera—should express our support for these brave Chinese who are protesting their communist government.

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Sen. Cramer: USDA Awards Ashley $1.45 Million for Water and Waste Disposal Loans and Grants

Source: United States Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND)

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Office of Rural Development has awarded a total of $1,450,000 in Water and Waste Loans and Grants to the City of Ashley, North Dakota.

  • $823,000 in a Water and Waste Disposal Loan
  • $627,000 in a Water and Waste Disposal Grant

This investment will be used for sewer main replacement for the City of Ashley along Highway 11 prior to the North Dakota Department of Transportation road project. The infrastructure is aging and needs replacement and updating, this project will address the sanitary sewer infrastructure needs for this section of town and will provide the residents of Ashley with a sustainable sanitary sewer system for years to come.

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Sen. Cramer Issues Statement on Biden Administration’s Methane Venting and Flaring Rule

Source: United States Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND)

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, issued the following statement in response to the Biden Administration’s proposed methane venting and flaring rule:

“The Department of the Interior’s proposed rule is nothing more than another layer of unnecessary, duplicative bureaucracy designed to impair oil and gas production on Federal and tribal land. Democrats have tried this before and courts found it illegal. Rather than trotting out another punitive measure which will inevitably get caught up in litigation, the Biden Administration should use the authority they already possess from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to streamline permitting for gas gathering lines to reduce emissions. North Dakota producers already capture 95 percent of gas emissions, but operators on Federal land are impeded by the same cumbersome bureaucracy that’s now threatening to penalize them. I encourage North Dakotans to make their voices heard as the Department collects comments from the public.”

More than 30% of North Dakota’s minerals are split estate lands and Bakken oil is produced with along with rich gas streams. Because of burdensome red tape involved with permitting takeaway infrastructure on Federal and tribal lands, North Dakota faces significant takeaway capacity constraints and producers are often forced to flare the associated natural gas from oil production. Over one year ago, the Senate passed legislation to ease permitting requirements for gas capture infrastructure on Federal and applicable tribal lands. This authority remains unimplemented by the Department of the Interior (DOI).

The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) rule covers emissions from oil and gas operations on Federal and Indian land. The proposed rule would establish new royalty on flared gas, monthly limits on allowable flaring, and new application requirements for operators to provide BLM information regarding their ability to capture produced natural gas before they can obtain a permit to drill.

Click here to read the rule.  

Background:

In 2017, the House of Representatives introduced and passed H.J.Res.36 with bipartisan support. Then-Representative Cramer cosponsored the resolution, which would have overturned the Obama Administration’s venting and flaring rule, but it failed by one vote in the Senate. In July 2020, Senator Cramer denounced U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’ ruling which reinstated the Obama Administration’s methane venting and flaring rule. Later that fall, a federal judge in Wyoming vacated the Obama Administration’s rule that overstepped air regulation legal boundaries, which are the state’s and Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority under the Clean Air Act. The methane rule also wrongly gave the federal government oversight over split estate lands, private or state surface lands with minerals beneath that the federal government claims.

Recently, Senator Cramer led 16 colleagues DOI Secretary Deb Haaland to implement provisions of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) which streamlined permitting for oil and natural gas infrastructure. The IIJA gave DOI authority to categorically exclude certain energy-related infrastructure projects from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) on public and applicable Indian lands to prevent wasteful venting or flaring of natural gas. To date, the Department has not responded to the senators’ concerns. Learn more here.

Senator Cramer also discussed the need for implementation of these provisions before EPA Administrator Michael Regan at a Senate Environment and Public Works hearing last April. The senator highlighted the poor methane capture rates on Federal and tribal lands in North Dakota compared to state and private lands. Learn more here.

“In the Bakken where we produce a lot of oil, natural gas is a byproduct so we do have some venting and flaring. The range of capture of natural gas from the Bakken oil production range from 56% to 94%. The good news is the state average is 93%. The 94% is all state and private land. The 56% to 83% is largely either tribal land or other Federal lands. We need to do better on Federal lands and Indian lands,” said Senator Cramer. 

Since the hearing, North Dakota produced and marketed a record amount of natural gas in September while improving its statewide capture rate to 95% with highs of 96% across state and private lands while Federal and tribal lands had capture rates as low as 52%.