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In Case You Missed It

Bishop on C-SPAN’s Newsmakers

Long-term Energy Security, Dominance Contingent on Developing Federal Lands, Offshore

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 30, 2017 | Committee Press Office (202-225-2761)
Tags: Energy

Earlier today, House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) appeared on C-SPAN’s Newsmakers to discuss a range of issues including energy development on federal lands, forest management and wildfires and President Trump’s recent executive order on national monuments. Click below to view the interview.

Energy:

“If the United States is truly going to live up to our potential to become a leader in energy production to the point that we are not only independent but dominant and can actually help our allies in foreign policy, it has to be development that takes place on federal lands and offshore […] That’s the future we have for us, we should not limit ourselves in doing that. There’s an opportunity to do that […] We shouldn’t arbitrarily take any source of energy off the table. We should be encouraging all of them and allowing everything including so-called renewables as well as fossil fuels.”

Wildfires:

“ [Wildfires] are one of those ‘backburner’ issues that I want to bring to the forefront. We have to deal with our forest management system. Wildfires are one of those things that are affecting everybody. Republicans and Democrats all get hit up by the fact that there are wildfires. If we are going to handle it it’s not just a matter of suppression, but how we actually manage the forests […]

“We passed a bill on forest resiliency in the House last year. It didn’t make it through the Senate but we were very close in the energy conference negotiations. We were really close to having something finalized. We want to start that over again because this is essential that we actually do something to protect and improve the quality of our forests which will by its very nature diminish the amount of wildfires we have.”

Executive Order on Monuments:

“What [President Trump] did with the executive order gives us a wonderful opportunity to do it the right way for a change and actually allow people who live in that area – elected officials in those areas, governors from those areas – to have their voices heard. So that in and of itself is a very good first step.”

Antiquities Act:

“ [A] lot will change depending on the result of this review. But the bottom line is the Antiquities Act, which has never been changed or modernized in over 100 years, was passed in an era where there were only 46 states, there was no Park Service, there was no [Bureau of Land Management], there were almost no environmental laws. It was in a different era and what has to happen now more than anything is the ability of making sure that more people have the ability to have their voices heard in how these are developed.”