Click here to watch Ranking Member Capito’s comments at today’s press conference.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, participated in press conference with her colleagues to discuss the Biden administration’s disastrous decision to halt new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects in the United States.
Below is a transcript of Ranking Member’s comments as delivered:
“I'd like to thank Senator Barrasso for his leadership on Energy and Natural Resources and for really showing…highlighting today, the inadequacy and the apparent political decision to shut down the LNG progress that we’ve seen so much in this country.
“I talked earlier last week about why this decision was made. And I think it's absolutely a political strategy move to try to attract more young environmental voters after some of the decisions that he's made and to me, do we really want to stake our national security and our international reliability and security on such a flimsy and I think, unfounded decision.
“So today, I stand here clearly to talk about why our natural gas development is so absolutely important here with my friends who have natural gas, a lot of natural gas, in all of our states. But if you look in the United States, one-third of the natural gas production that occurs in this country occurs in the region of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Number two is Russia. And number three is Iran.
“So with West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio, what does this do? It shuts down workers, shuts down families being able to stay in their communities, feed their families, and provide for the national security by being the energy independent country that we know they are.
“So you know, what I say is Biden's decision is he is choosing Putin over Pennsylvania. He's choosing the Ayatollah over Appalachia. And he is also choosing the Kremlin over the Kanawha in West Virginia. And he's choosing Moscow over the Marcellus Shale. It's clear in his decision. It’s political decision that harms not just us, but greatly harms our allies.”
Click HERE to watch Ranking Member Capito’s comments from the press conference.
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