At a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee this week, Senator John Hoeven pressed Jennifer Granholm, the former Governor of Michigan and the nominee to serve as U.S. Secretary of Energy, to support North Dakota’s energy industry and outlined how the state is leading the way in producing energy from all sources while also improving environmental stewardship. This includes:
- Developing carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies, like Project Tundra, which will enable the nation to continue utilizing its abundant energy resources.
- Supporting oil and gas development, and the importance of multiple use on federal land and streamlining the approval process for energy development and infrastructure, like transmission lines and pipelines.
Hoeven secured a commitment from Granholm to visit the state and learn more about these efforts firsthand if confirmed.
“We are working to crack the code in North Dakota on the next generation of energy technologies, which will empower us to improve environmental stewardship without undermining the American energy dominance that we’ve secured in recent years,” Hoeven said. “That means leveraging our baseload power sources, including coal, and developing domestic sources of oil and gas, rather than relying on foreign nations with weaker environmental standards. Advancing innovation to better utilize our abundant natural resources is the right way to reduce emissions, not through bans or costly and unworkable federal rules. Governor Granholm has indicated she is willing to work with us on these issues, and I will continue to review her record as we consider her nomination. Should she be confirmed, I look forward to her visit to North Dakota.”
During the hearing, Hoeven highlighted the following priorities that he has worked to advance:
- Getting the 45Q tax credit implemented in a way that makes CCUS projects more commercially-viable. To this end, Hoeven recently:
- Helped secure the final 45Q regulations. The senator worked closely with the Trump administration to move the final regulations forward.
- Passed legislation providing a two-year extension on the construction deadline for the 45Q tax credit.
- Bolstering the Department of Energy’spartnership with the University of North Dakota’s Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) in support of their efforts to develop and commercialize new energy technologies, like Project Tundra.
- Hoeven has helped secure $43 million in federal funding for Project Tundra to date.
- The senator also maintained funding in the Fiscal Year 2021 appropriations legislation for the Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership and CarbonSAFE programs, in which the EERC participates.
- Maintaining multiple use on federal land and streamlining the approval process for energy development and infrastructure, like transmission lines and pipelines.
- Hoeven joined his Senate colleagues today in introducing the Protecting our Wealth of Energy Resources (POWER) Act, which would prohibit the president from issuing moratoria on leasing and permitting for energy and mineral resources on federal lands.
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