inflation reduction act could cost four point six $7 trillion by 20 -- $4.67 trillion by 2050. >> without objection, so ordered. we are going to take a brief recess. the goal is to reconvene at approximately 12:10 p.m. the committee is in recess. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

and at the hearing will come to order. the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon for five minutes. >> thinking mr. chair and in thanking mr. secretary for being here. thanks >> thank you, mr. chairman. it is great to have someone of your ability and experience to serve in that capacity. i want to thank your agency for stepping up and taking care of the wolf endangering children waiting for a school bus in southern oregon, in my district. we deeply appreciate that. that's something that needs to be done we are happy that your agency took care of it. contrary to much of what we have her today from the other side of the aisle about reductions in force, i went to my district two weeks ago and i specifically

said, do you have enough people to do the job? if you don't, tell me now. their response was we have the staff, we are comfortable with where we are. i will continue those kinds of visits into next week as i go across my 70,000 square mile district because the bureau of land management and the fort service are important to us -- forest service are important to us. i would like to ask unanimous consent for the briefing memorandum on endangered species act obligations inclusion. this is the memo created for your use. it involves the klamath river and lake in my district has for many years been a huge challenge for just about everybody concerned in that space and a

huge challenge in the sense that there are irrigators, tribes, and folks concerned about the salmon and sucker fish and many other things in that space, all important. we recently passed legislation, bipartisan, that addressed the responsibility or not for the maintenance of the two remaining dams on the klamath. that bill was signed by president biden in early january of this year. this memo explains the circumstance now as a result of the language contained in the bill. i want to read one paragraph into the record. it supports the conclusion of the restored water analysis proved the united states has eternal trust obligation to the downstream tribes but a specific duty to operate the project to provide water to the irrigators in accordance with the water

rights and contracts. the united states meets these trust obligations while stored water is reserved for the use of project irrigators. stored water from the use of project irrigators. i am emphasizing the fact that this memo from your staff to use as this is how this is going to be managed. it is extraordinarily important to the klamath irrigators and i'm happy to have some legislation that supports this approach. i'm asking for your support in making sure this is what happens. >> you have our support. >> thank you so very much. turning our attention to something that also happens in my district, my district is 70 square -- 70,000 square miles. some of it is adjacent to nevada and across the border in oregon

is a proposed uranium mine and also a proposed lithium line. some have said the lithium deposit is the biggest in the united states. state agencies such as oregon's fish and wildlife service to see is using it as an opportunity to extort tens of millions of dollars in return for its agreement that these activities can get appropriately permitted. this is not right. this is not legal. it is wrong. i'm calling it out to you as secretary and asking for your help in heading off what i see as an abuse and delay tactic against activities we have to have happen. do i have your support trying to figure out how to head off this type of extortionary activity by state agencies? >> happy to work with you on that.

this is uranium for nuclear. we are importing enriched uranium from russia to run our existing 93 electrical plants in this country because we have cut off mining in this country. that is something this administration is determined to make sure we have secured supply chains to run our power grid and support our military and our industries. >> thank you so much. i look forward to working with you on that. thank you for your service. i yield back. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from california for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. secretary, thank you for appearing today. in addition to being secretary of the interior, you serve as the chair of the national energy dominance counsel created to create a strategy to produce more energy by enhancing private sector investments in energy and focusing on innovation. i assume you are aware as of 2020 china has 887 gigawatts of

solar capacity, more than six times what we have in the united states, and 521 gigawatts wind energy, more than five times what we have here. yes or no? >> yes, i am aware. >> are you aware wind and solar energy account for 37% of the energy consumed by china? yes or no? i reclaim my time. i am reclaiming my time! the trump administration is rightfully concerned about unfair trade policies by the ccp which is heavily subsidized areas they see of future growth in national security including semiconductors and steel. i will ask you some yes or no questions. would it surprise you to know that china has invested heavily in renewable energy sector including massive subsidies for large-scale batteries, electric vehicles, wind power, and solar panels? yes or no? >> yes, i am aware. >> what it surprise you to know that in 2024 china accounted for two thirds of the $2.1 trillion spent globally and subsidies for clean energy innovation?

-- in subsidies for clean energy invection? >> it would not surprise me. it also does not surprise me they are the world's largest polluter. >> is it fair to say china cc sees these for future growth and innovation? i am reclaiming my time. i think it is clear china and the rest of the wealthy energy innovation as growth industries for the future. >> china sees all energy -- >> reclaiming my time. we are currently in competition with china over who will lead the way in this area. experts have described the battle over clean energy is critical for whether china or the united states will dominate the 21st century. the united states and china are in a contest for the energy of the future. while china is investing in renewables, the united states is poised to set up the white flag of surrender.

unless amended, the house budget bill would eviscerate the tax incentives for clean energy and ev's. if the house and senate accept this language, this would be akin to unilateral disarmament and china would be poised to dominate the world's 21st century economy without firing a shot. yes or no question. do you think it is consistent with national energy dominance for the united states to so render the global clean energy market to china? >> i disagree with the premise of all your arguments. >> do you support ending and eliminating the clean energy tax credits? yes or no? >> i support the ending of them. >> i would disagree with that. i will switch topics. when we talk about subsidizing sectors, do you think we should be subsidizing industries like horse farms? yes or no? wood-burning stoves? yes or no? >> i missed the second one. >> wood-burning stoves, horse

farms, should we be subsidizing them? would you agree as a general rule we should be looking to nurture and foster innovation and future technologies and not technologies of the past? yes or no? >> innovation has always been the source of american greatness. >> i agree. i represent a district that has a lot of innovation. i would submit that you and the trump administration are looking to heavily subsidize oil, gas, and coproduction while surrendering clean energy markets to china. we can invest in worse and buggies, we can invest in wood-burning, we can invest in cold and oil but these are technologies of the past. china sea's clean energy is being the markets of the future. europe sees that paired most energy experts agree with that. i will switch to a different topic addressed by some of my colleagues before. i also represent a district

vulnerable to wildfire. unlike the congress member who spoke before, when i talked to my federal employees, they have consistently told me they do not have enough personnel. i'm going to ask you again, are you aware of how many red card employees trained to fight wildfires have been let go during your time in interior? >> if anyone is gone, they took early retirement. there have been no firings. >> do you know what level of red card employees we had when you started and how we have today? >> we will get that information and happy to provide it to you. >> i yield back. i ask unanimous consent to submit three articles into the record. the first is titled rollback of the inflation reduction act, surrender economic primacy to china. the second is called job creation estimates through proposed inflation reduction act. the third is clean investment monitor, touting the two-year

impact of the reduction act. >> so ordered. >> mr. chairman, i ask unanimous consent to enter this recent reporting from the energy journal showing in 2024, last year, 92.5% of all new power capacity on grids worldwide came from renewable energy sources. >> without objection. the chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, secretary. i appreciate your service to our country. i want to take you on a journey of what i have been seeing and then i have a quick question. i grew up in rural georgia. i grew up under a log truck. my parents hold logs for a living. i have been in the woods a long time. i have seen what devastation has happened, especially to our

national forests, with the cutting off of the timber sales were not selling sizable enough timber lots that you can make money at it to go and cut it. i just got through cutting a trail my property from the beatles that have infested our national forests and our country. not to mention the fire hazard where we do not maintain and manage our forests. i have only been up here for two years. this is my second term. i sat on this committee during the 118th congress and i went to minnesota. i saw some of the people that know how to mine better than anybody. they set the standard for mining. but they have been fighting for 20 years to get a permit to mine. i have been offshore on the gulf of america. i have seen that we have oil companies, and they are going to move those rigs. we have witnesses sitting right there that said we have not issued any leases, offshore

leases, and we are not going to issue them this year. if biden gets reelected, we are not going to issue them anymore. i have visited with lng company trying to export more than we could ever use, could not get a permit. indian affairs, witnesses right there talking bout how bad the buildings were dilapidated, and we are trying to educate indian children in them, not even fit for occupancy. the navajo tribe sitting in your seat saying how they wanted to mind. they know how to mine. it is the land that we pushed them on. they could not get a permit to do that. the funny thing is i had a quick meeting and i swear this comes up more because i also serve as the chairman on the subcommittee for water resource and environment. u.s. fish and wildlife, this

town has been waiting the boat ramp permit for five years. one permit is all they need from the u.s. fish and wildlife. sir, you took on a job, and you have got a heck task in front of you. that is not what i wanted to focus on. about 20 minutes from my house is a coal-fired plant, electricity burning. unlike my colleague who spoke, i happen to think america is the best country in the world. we are the best, we ought to be first. if he likes china, there are airlines to get him over there. i want to talk to you about the big, beautiful clean coal industry especially because in my industry ai is huge and we need the electricity. it is coming. we want to make sure we are prepared for it. can you explain the importance of the coal industry mystically

-- domestically and discuss cutting the red tape? >> happy to, representative. beautiful american coal. there has been an effort by past administrations to shut down that industry. when you do that, we destabilize the grid because we do not have enough baseload to subsidize prey that creates instability in the grid and puts a whole country at risk. there are two times of coal, formal that we burn for electricity, but also metallurgical coal. there was an effort to shut down metallurgical coal. we know we need to have things for our military, shipbuilding steel, re-shoring, manufacturing. you cannot build steel without metallurgical coal.

the third thing is critical manuals. we are in -- the third thing is critical minerals. in the coal we have in this country, there is massive amounts of these critical minerals we can extract at the same time we are going through the process to create electricity. it is a triple win for the u.s. if people are concerned about emissions, if there is a coal plant running in this country, it is among the cleanest in the world. by the way, china built 94 gigawatts of cole last year, 30 nuclear plants, and a bunch of hydro. they are not just doing renewables. they are doing all of the above energy including coal. they built 94 denver's worth of coal electricity last year.

they did it because they want to win the ai arms race and know they need electricity to do that. >> amen. the plant i was talking about, they have four units. only three are running because the power company bent to the green new deal and shuttered the fourth one. >> gentlemen's time has expired -- the gentleman's time has expired. >> i want to give the gentleman from georgia the opportunity to apologize. he said the gentleman california believes china is the greatest country, not the united states. that is over the line. i do not want to take downwards but i want to give the gentleman the chance to withdraw what was clearly impugning of character and improper accusation about another member's state of mind. if he does not want to do that,

i would ask that his words be taken down. >> is that a request? >> i'm going to give the gentleman the opportunity, the courtesy, certainly. >> i was making a statement. i was not accusing him, when i said america was the best country. >> you said what he thinks. that is not opaque. -- that is not ok. >> ok. >> is that -- >> the chair recognizes the gentlelady from michigan for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. secretary burgum, it is good to see you here. thank you for testifying before this committee. i know it is your favorite and best experience so far in washington. i have many concerns regarding the administration's proposed budget, to be really honest. that is what i want to discuss

today. as the representative from the state of michigan, the great lakes are one of my top priorities. i also co-chair the great lakes task force. your agency plays an important role protecting their well-being. they are more than 20% of the freshwater in the world. the united states geological survey ecosystem mission area, which is an agency within doi, plays a major role in supporting the great lakes region's environmental research. it provides science and data that helps inform restoration efforts across the region. my district is home to the usgs great lakes science center. their work directly supports the fisheries that supports thousands of jobs and provides recreational, economic, and cultural benefits to millions of americans every year. as you may know, the great lakes remain vulnerable to invasive species.

usgs scientists are at the forefront of protecting the great lakes ecosystem from invasive species like the sea lamprey and have technologies that are environmentally effective and environmentally -- economically effective and environmentally responsible. i am deeply concerned about the devastating budget cuts we have seen. i would like to ask you, have you and your staff reviewed how you have eliminated funds, devastated them honestly, for the usgs ecosystem's mission area which will impact $5.1 billion a great lakes -- of the great lakes fishing industry? >> in the short time we have had, we have tried to dig in. there are a lot of programs that have a lot of merit that still fell under the action of trying to get within the budget guidelines given.

it is something we will continue to review. obviously, the great lakes are of utmost importance. to clean water resource is a huge asset. >> this is really important. people do not understand it. i not saying you do not. i am begging you, please dig into it. stakeholders in my district say these cuts will close facilities extremely important to the great lakes sea lamprey control program. how do you expect the control program to move forward in the face of cuts? how do we make sure we do not see them coming back when we get rid of them? >> i'm going to ask our team to make sure that we do a double-click down on the lamprey control. that is something we do not want. >> i need you to do that. doge listed the lake ontario for cancellation.

the current location houses the specialized laboratory, provides access to the large research vessel and can store vessels without portaging them. have you or your staff looked into the lease cancellation? have you done anything to remove it from the doge listing? can you work with me? can we get a commitment? can we prevent the lease cancellation given the importance of the station? >> as we look for opportunities to save money on real estate, we are going to go through that list that was a suggested list. when we have some thing like a laboratory where people come to do work, it is more likely to survive than if we just have office space nobody is using because they are working remotely. >> it is critical to the work it is doing. we want to do it before they

canceled the lease. please work with us. thank you. i only have 38 seconds. i'm going to do more questions for the record. we all care, both sides, about the national wildlife refuge system. i welcome the fact in your written testimony you say you want to expand public access to more than 870,000 acres of refuge, and yet they have got serious cuts for both. for maintenance and staffing. i'm going to ask you some questions about that as well. the wildlife refuge system was very important to somebody you met and i know. we have to make sure we are protecting them. with that, i will yield back. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from michigan, the chair of the education and workforce committee. you are recognized for five minutes. >> thank you. i appreciate wildlife refuge as

well and use it. >> you have had your time. that is my last comments. [laughter] mr. secretary, good to see you. last time i saw you, your wife was in jackson, michigan, on other issues. i am delighted you are involved with key issues like the great lakes, big time. i have both the southern portion of lake michigan and most of lake erie also in my district, from sea to shining sea, lots of fresh water, so it is very important to me. we need to keep a healthy fishery, the tourism industry is worth about $5.1 billion in economic benefit, plus it is just good stewardship. the first issue i want to discuss with you is the importance of keeping invasive carp out of the great lakes.

the asian carp can be found just 47 miles away from lake michigan. if they were to spread into the lakes, it would be devastating to the fishery as well as the recreational experience because these can cause serious injuries to boaters, skiers, fishers in the lake. president trump recently signed the memorandum to prevent the great lakes. he ordered the fish and wildlife service to prioritize research and prevention for control of invasive carp and other aquatic species in the great lakes. the question i have, do i have your commitment u.s. fish and wildlife service will work to carry out the president's directive? >> absolutely, sir. >> music to my ears.

fully expected that, so thank you. i often hear in my district about the imbalance affecting the fishery. cormorants, and i hope that name will resonate strongly , protective migratory bird whose numbers are increasing, and populations are robust and healthy, so much so that they are negatively impacting the natural reproduction of many species our harbor economies depend on. i will be fishing for walleye this coming monday on lake erie. and it is robust. we want to keep it that way. perch also in lake erie. the fishery is great. what the cormorants, the tonnage literally of fish they are taking without the ability to control their population.

canada shoots them just across the line from the united states. but we are prohibited from dealing with the cormorants and really i think being good stewards of that population. not only affects the great lakes but also threatens the salmon in the columbia river basin. while some progress had been made in hatcheries, there is still no effective solution for protecting free swimming fish. because cormorants are protected under the mbta, any solution must involve the u.s. fish and wildlife service. can i get your commitment to director fish and wildlife service to work cooperatively with state fish and wildlife agencies, and if they find any problem with michigan's state entities, i would like to know about that to develop an effective solution for cormorants? >> yes, absolutely. >> thank you. >> finally, i would like to

extend the invitation for you to visit michigan's fifth district which touches the sixth now, to see firsthand the challenges and opportunities we are facing. our staff would be delighted to try to work that out with your staff. >> thank you for the invitation. >> thank you i yield back. >> the chair recognizes mr. hernandez for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. hi, mr. secretary. as puerto rico representative, i value the relationship puerto rico has with the united states. the u.s. must follow through on its commitments and obligations whether those are grounded in law and mutual consent as they are in puerto rico's kamala

relationship. notably, it does not -- as we review the department budget and freely associated states, i am interested in what this tells us about how the federal government sees its responsibility's across these jurisdictions. from the department standpoint, are the freely associated states sovereign and independent nations? >> yes, that is why they are culturally associated states pray we have a strong relationship and commitments to work with them. >> thank you. citizens born in the freely associated states are not u.s. citizens. what the department be open to exploring extending birthright u.s. citizenship to people in freely associated states?

>> i think this would be on a case-by-case basis. i could not make a broad generalization. certainly, we have an interest in building a strong relationship as we can with the freely associated states. >> you would not reject the possibility in the future a freely associated state could have birthright u.s. citizenship? >> i would not reject that personally but i cannot speak on behalf of the entire administration on that. >> is this something you discuss in the context agreement? >> i have not had any discussions about that birthright citizenship related to greenland. >> have you had any discussions of acquiring greenland and putting it under the department of the interior? >> the discussions that have occurred in public about greenland have suggested one framework if greenland were to choose to be part of the united states, the obvious step for

them to become a territory at some point would be to start and the freely associated state. that is an existing framework mentioned but have not been part of any high level discussions about the implementation of that idea. >> switching over to the territories under your department's jurisdiction. the acts governing the relationship between the u.s. and these territories have not been revised in decades. would the department support updating these? >> if there is an opportunity to learn from experience, and i think the dialogue about how to improve those relationships would be beneficial, these territories and the freely associated states represent an opportunity to help increase national security, particularly those partners in the pacific where we had american soldiers

and sailors who fought and died as part of that, but now we are in a position in some cases it feels like we have encroachments from china around those territories and freely associated states. i think it is important under this administration they pay more attention to those relationships. >> could future revisions of those acts or covenants, would you value the mutual consent of the territories and congress in developing these new organic acts? >> absolutely. >> beyond national security concerns, would you be open to exploring the possibility of expanding their self-government to the largest extent possible within the u.s. framework? >> again, i think that would be part of the dialogue. as governor, i never agreed to a bill i have not actually read. hypothetically, i think it is great to have that conversation. >> i think it is good to have

this conversation because we have talked a lot about autonomy and sovereignty. let's focus on function, right? if we can make these territories as functionally sovereign as possible while still remaining under u.s. jurisdiction, if that is their will, which i think it is, we should be open to exploring back. since i am almost out of time, i would like to quickly state doi has previously supported climate change planning in puerto rico with funding provided by the ira. fort lee, that funding have been indefinitely paused -- i fortunately, that funding has been indefinitely paused. i hope we are prepared for the next climate change disasters. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from california for five minutes. >> i want to thank you for your responsiveness to my community's

concerns over the situation at yosemite, relaxing the reservation system with a good step. i think we need to restore full public access to the public lands. yosemite was originally set aside for public use, resort, and recreation. but over the past several decades, that attitude has changed to what can best be described as look but don't touch. the attitude of the last two superintendents with entirely -- was entirely dismissive and contemptuous of the public and gateway communities. now that we have a vacancy in the superintendent's office, the director's office, and a new administration, i think we have a priceless opportunity to restore the vision for the park and system. yosemite continues to have only half the rooms, half the campsites, and half the parking spaces as it had prior to the 1997 flood when it was

appropriated to restore the facilities but they never were picked about 10 years ago, the river plan was used as an excuse to remove additional amenities for visitors. overcrowding in the park can be solved by further restrictions on access, which is the bureaucracy's preference, or by expanding capacity and expediting guest processing at the gates, and encouraging visitation to other features in the park which is the preference of the gateway communities and visitors. my first visit with management 14 years ago, i noted a placket in the conference room that read, is it the right thing for the park? i said that is the wrong question. the right question is, is it the right thing for the park's visitors? that is the central problem as i see it in the attitude of the bureaucracy nationwide. i would like to see a new director and new yosemite

superintendent that are not wedded to the bureaucracy but would rather have hospitality experience in the national parks and would take the side of the visitors and not the bureaucrats. i wanted to get your thoughts on the record. and to put it bluntly, whose side are you on? >> i appreciated the opportunity we had to speak earlier. i appreciate your comments you just made right now. one take away from our earlier conversation, when i am visiting a national now, i request i have the opportunity to have a separate visit with gateway community leaders to understand their perspective of how the park service are operating as a neighbor, how we can work more collaboratively, how we can help the business opportunities, and how decisions we might make would have impacts on that. >> i can say my gateway communities say that is a breath of fresh air. thank you again. >> i look forward to visiting

yosemite with you and meeting with the gateway community leaders. looking forward to that. >> with respect to the attitude of the park service, orienting back to hospitality as the principal function, what can we do in that regard? >> this lots of things we can do to preserve these last, best places but we can still do the things we need to do to create more positive visitor experience. one of the things we are looking closely at, i think we are under-charging as a nation for international visitors. we have done a study of what gets charged if you were going to go see the gorillas in rwanda or the galapagos islands. it is $500 a day or higher in some locations. >> i am not entirely sure we want to discourage international visitors from visiting our parks either, but we need to make sure

the capacity daniel thomas -- can accommodate those who want to come and the park staff is oriented towards the visitor experience first and foremost. >> there could be a billion dollar revenue opportunity without discouraging visitors. if international visitors are coming here on a tour and yosemite is what they want to see, in some cases we are charging them less than we are charging an american family. that could be directed back to staffing, a number of things we could do, that would be fantastic. >> contracting out a lot of services, the discussion about doing it more efficiently, that is critically important. i look at the staff cuts at yosemite, it was 10 probationary positions out of more than 500 and you are increasing the summertime staff 530 part-time positions. they complained you are getting rid of a locksmith.

the concession has their own management department and there is a locksmith within 20 minutes of every one of the gateways to yosemite national park. why are you hiring a park ranger and putting park rangers in the position where they have to beat cleaning restrooms? one had to a local service to do a better job at lower cost -- why not get a local service to do a better job at a lower cost? >> the from new york is recognized -- the gentle lady new york is recognized. >> i want to focus on renewable energy. the fastest growing sector in our energy economy and a key solution for cleaner, more reliable power that does not poison our air or overheat the planet. that is why it is the fiscal year budget 2026

completely zeros out funding for renewable energy programs at the bureau of land management and ocean energy management. b.l.m. energy management program is the very office responsible for permitting solar and wind projects on public lands. no funding means no investment in a cleaner environment. the budget embraces a green new scam and claims these technologies are too unreliable for americans despite the fact that wind and solar are affordable and the fastest of electricity in the u.s. my question to you is, his offshore wind considered a legitimate part of the american energy dominance agenda? >> it is not.

>> is it being left behind in favor of fossil fuels? >> it is not about any particular source. it is about the fact that, you talked about affordable, the fact is offshore wind is the most extensive of all the sources we have. >> thank you for confirming that is not, that there is no legitimate plan to support offshore wind projects, but rather undermine ongoing projects, which i can talk about further in a few minutes. moving on to my second question. as energy czar, you should be able to talk about all forms of energy. can you talk about offshore wind project and tell us about the impact?

jobs created and homes powered? >> the issue with offshore wind or onshore wind is that when the wind is not blowing, we need all of the baseload before. any estimates that says that wind is cheaper would only be true if -- >> reclaiming my time. i asked you about any specific project going on that you are aware. you are not mentioning any, so let me tell you why offshore wind works not in theory but in practice. south fort wayne, new york's first offshore wind farm, generates 132 megawatts of clean energy powering 70,000 homes on long island, created nearly 1000 jobs, creating new businesses and supporting training programs. my constituents are willing to pay $1's for clean electricity,

job benefits, and protecting our climate because climate change is an existential threat to my constituents and our country and the world. while families in new york and across the country are dealing with extreme weather, flooding, rising seas, deadly hurricanes, your department issued a stop work order on a fully permitted offshore wind project just off the coast of my home state. just this week, i heard from a local small business that lost a contract due to offshore wind delays. real jobs and real livelihoods are on the line. that me be clear. my constituents do not more -- let me be clear. my constituents do not want more deep horizon style disasters. they want offshore wind and the

good paying union jobs that come with it. it was part of my district for three decades until recently and is home to the marine terminal which will serve as staging and assembly for offshore wind. report -- the port will support 1000 union jobs and 200 assembly jobs. i do not understand why we cannot have it all. >> the highest electric rates in the country outside of hawaii are in new england. it has to do with the policies. i think energy freedom, we are heading towards energy poverty if we keep choosing. you mentioned 70,000 homes getting electricity. the 70,000 homes only have that when the wind is blowing. they also need all of the fossil fuels, baseload, everything else to power those homes when the wind is not blowing, so we need

two systems, not one. that is why it is expensive. >> we have an administration that does not care about the health -- >> the gentlelady's time has expired. >> we do care about health. sorry. is over 2 million people that die a year in the world because they do not have access to electricity. any place there is electricity, humanity forces and help increases -- health increases. the biggest increase was in alaska after we had the developer in that area. it is incorrect to say we do not care about health. >> i ask unanimous consent to submit for the record a study showing in 2024, china began construction on 94 .5 gigawatts on new coal powered power plants, the highest level since 2015. without objection. >> so ordered. >> i also ask unanimous consent

to enter in the record an article from april 20, 2024, reporting once again china missed its air quality goals. and to follow up with that, ask unanimous consent to enter in the record an article titled air quality worsens despite china's clean energy boom. the article reveals air pollution metrics indicate a troubling trend that 11 of 31 capitals exceeded the annual standard. i believe our standard in the united states is only 12 milligrams per cubic meter. ozone concentrations in 11 capitals exceeded national thresholds of 160 micrograms per cubic meter with some cities topping 190.

i ask unanimous consent to enter into the record an article from the guardian showing greenhouse gases rising. it reveals china is the dominant driver of release into the atmosphere globally. i also ask unanimous consent to enter into the record and article from mit news that states china-based emissions of greenhouse gases spiked in the last decade. two studies pinpoint the likely industrial sources and mitigation opportunities. i ask unanimous submit to -- consent to submit articles showing emissions by country, showing china is by far the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases. i also ask unanimous consent to submit into the record an article by bbc news highlighting china emits more greenhouse gases than the entire developed

world combined. i do not care to emulate anything china is doing. >> without objection, so ordered. >> mr. chairman, i will see your unanimous request. i will ask unanimous consent to enter into the record this article from cnn highlighting the trump administration is forcing a coal plant to stay open even though doing so will cost american zoomers between -- consumers $20 million. also a request to into the study showing coal-fired power plants are responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths over the last 20-plus years. and finally, the article from the washington post showing coal

cuts put miners in danger. the public health study, yeah. >> was that looking at the coal plants being closed in the u.s.? >> it is a backwards look over the last 24 years. >> without objection. >> thank you. >> so ordered. the chair recognizes the gentleman from mississippi for five minutes. >> thank you. mr. secretary, i want to applaud you for the work you have been doing to protect our national security, promote access to vast natural resources and put america first. i appreciate the crucial role you play at this time. the main source of income of our federal government comes from fees, interest, and sales of the united states natural resources and the land they sit on.

as we saw under the biden administration, not allowing access to these resources costs the federal government millions of dollars. under president trump's first administration, the bureau of land management conducted 104 leases bringing in billions of revenue. under the biden administration, only 32 leases were conducted. today, president trump's budget request $14.4 billion for r.o.i. it is not hard to see what the administration did correctly. my district is in a national -- natural heritage area and have not received any funding for 2025 with no clear timeline for disbursement to the national park service. these funds can bolster six coastal counties and 45 coastal communities.

can you please provide us with an update on when these funds will be released? >> i will ask my team to look into that specifically. this is part of an effort to make sure the funds were in line with the administrative priorities. we also are reviewing 36,000 contracts and grants. a record amount of grant dollars went out between november 5 and january 20. we are reviewing each of those as well. thanks for flagging this. we will take a look at it and get back to you. >> thank you very much. >> you recently launched the first step towards creating the five-year program for offshore leasing signaling a long-term vision for american energy. how does the robust leasing schedule support predictability for investment, high-paying jobs, and our nation's goal of energy dominance? >> the companies that bid on the leases have to be willing to

make a long-term commitment. they have capital planning sessions. we have to have a predictable, dependable cycle of when we are going to do these sales so they can make a decision on how they want to deploy their capital. we want companies to deploy their capital developing energy resources here versus other places in the world. the unpredictability or illegally not holding lease sales like montana and north dakota where the biden administration was the first since harry truman to not hold the required lease sales, we need to get back to doing this because the way we get capital flowing towards affordable, reliable energy is to make sure people can count on us as a partner to hold lease sales on a regular basis. >> thank you. i'm currentlyorking on a bill codified by president trump's executive order to expedite

prospecting and leasing for ocean minerals. mr. secretary, why is the e.o. important for congress to pass into law? how does expediting deep-sea mineral production help counter growing chinese and russian seabed activity? >> we mentioned earlier we are in a precarious position with china having a stranglehold on critical minerals. with the new innovation and technology rich in minerals, not just in the lower 48, but the american samoa where we control the territorial waters, china's operating on three sides of american samoa. we have recently begun the process of allowing critical minerals work to occur around american samoa. these are part of american territories. we have to make sure we are

controlling these minerals and not china. >> you directed them to move forward with the lease sale in the gulf of america, a reversal from the previous administration's delays. walk us through how this lease sale enhances american security but generates critical revenue for coastal communities, specifically public infrastructure and coastal protection across the gulf states. >> the largest funder of coastal restoration is the u.s. oil and gas industry that operates in the golf. -- gulf. we are planning on having the first lease sale in december of 2025 and get back on track for development in the gulf of america. >> i yield back. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from rhode island for five minutes. >> thank you. i was not planning on this but i just heard your exchange about offshore wind. i believe she and i may be the only people that come from

states that have it and have real experience with it could when done properly, offshore wind can yield low cost for consumers, good american jobs, and american-made energy we do not import. you brought up the intermittency issue when you were having your exchange with her. do you know what the capacity factor is of the south fork windfarm she responded to? it is 56%, the same as the average capacity factor for natural gas plants nationally. in my state, rhode island, we have a development underway, the national retail rate for electricity is about $.17 per kilowatt hour. we have a development right now contracted to deliver at $.96

per hour. rhode island is the saudi arabia of wind. what is right anywhere else may not be what is right for new york or rhode island. this is a big country geologically diverse. i want to make that point. when i hear you say things like we do not need any more intermittent sources of energy, that may be true in north dakota where you're at 40% but in a state like rhode island where we've been less than 10%, that is clearly not the case. so, look, i just want to make sure that we're operating off of a level set of facts here. and that when the administration is making decisions with regard to energy policy, the administration is taking into account that different factors may be different in different states. let me get back to my prepared questions. it has been said correctly, i think, that national parks were the best idea that we ever had. i agree. hundreds of millions of people visit national parks every year. so far on your watch, 2400

national park employees have been culled from the workforce. i heard you say -- sec. burgum: not culled. if there's 2400 people, they've taken a free choice to take an early retirement package. mr. magaziner: this was the accelerated retirement plan that elon musk, an allegedly drug addicted billionaire, came up with for the entire federal government. he clearly has no expertise in national park management. but i'll just take a step back here. what i heard you say that i agree with is that we shouldn't be focus just on input, how much money we spend, how many people are employed, but on outputs. i'm a former state treasurer. i agree with that. so i want to ask about the outputs. how many parks have had to reduce their hours this year as a result of the decreased staffing? do you have a figure on that? sec. burgum: there's an order out right now that none of them can -- mr. magaziner: i'm asking about what's happened. do you have data?

because we've heard a number of examples. a national park had to cut visitor center hours. canceled tours. fossil beds posted that they were going to close mondays and tuesdays. i understand that you don't want reduced hours, but you have been tracking the outcomes? can we get those -- that data? sec. burgum: we can and i think right now all of them are operating at their -- mr. magaziner: i'd ask to see the actual data and figures so we can judge. and same on, you know, number of hours to get into the parks. we've heard about big delays at yosemite and others. i understand what you're saying about outcomes. but show us the outcomes, please, i would ask. finally, the number one thing i hear from people is that the cost of living, including the cost of energy, is too high. in rhode island currently we get 15% of our energy from canada, more in the summer months. does a 10% tax on canadian energy make energy more affordable for consumers or less? the answer is more.

clearly. sec. burgum: my understanding, i am quizzical because my understanding is there's no tariffs on canadian energy coming in. mr. magaziner: so the full 25% may not have been applied, but the baseline 10% is still in effect. does cutting liheap as the president proposes in his budget, the low-income heat assistance program, that helps millions of people keep their heat, their homes heated in the winter, does cutting liheap make energy more affordable for consumers or less? sec. burgum: the biggest consumer of liheap is the northeastern part of our country. mr. magaziner: i'm aware. those are my constituents and they'll freeze to death without liheap. sec. burgum: the reason it's the biggest consumer is because of the blocking of natural gas pipelines. 81% of the people in maine heat their homes on heating oil. mr. magaziner: the taxing the energy we import will not help with that. if our common goal is to lower the cost of energy for consumers, we should not be blocking renewable energy development, we should not be cutting liheap and we should not be taxing canadian energy

imports. with that, i yield back. mr. westerman: the gentleman yields back. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from north carolina, mr. mcdowell, for five minutes. mr. mcdowell: thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you, mr. secretary, for being here. i'm not going to sit here and say that i'm not going to ask you gotcha questions and then insist that i'm not asking you them when i am. and i'm not going to put a monopoly man behind me for theatrics. what i will do is talk to you about hunting and fishing. because that's what the people that i represent back home care about. but one of the things that concerns me the most is that the people that have been in your department for the last four years, they've been making rules and creating regulations with no care for the opinion of hunters and fishermen. are you committed to -- and the department of the interior, to making sure that the voices of

sports men and women are included when these decisions are being made? sec. burgum: absolutely. mr. mcdowell: thank you, sir. many of the folks that i represent are concerned with future federal rules that may effect land use, that could limit hunting. how was the department making sure that hunting stays a central part of public land use now and for the next generations? sec. burgum: our hunters are sportsmen, our anglers are among the most fervent -- both -- not just users but also financially supporting conservation groups. their voice matters. access matters. and our policies should expand access on public lands for hunting and fishing. mr. mcdowell: you spoke about the essential role that the national turkey federation and the rocky mountain elk federation, ducks unlimited and many other groups play in

preserving the outdoors. can you describe specifically the work that the department is doing to partner with these groups that are so great for conservation? sec. burgum: a number of those organizations and many more, delta water fowl, you mentioned ducks unlimited, fessents -- pheasants forever, all of these organizations are concerned about habitat and conservation and it's one way to make a federal dollar go further is to partnership with these private organizations who both know and care about that habitat. mr. mcdowell: speaking of delta waterfowl, i was on the board in north carolina. one of the things that they worked on was different things that -- different monitoring programs for waterfowl. as they travel up and down the flyways. what -- outside of just banding, which is common, what are other innovative ways that the

department supports to track and monitor the number of different species of waterfowl that making their way north and south? sec. burgum: there's a -- this is an important thing and partnerships going on with partners like delta, a lot of work goes on every year on the spring breeding surveys in the flyway to make sure we have healthy populations. i think there's new advances in technology that are coming. but this is an important part of making sure that we've got the data to back up decisions. mr. mcdowell: gotcha. switching gears a little bit. there's one of the premier fishing tournaments in the world happening right now in north carolina. and it's a blue marlin tournament called the big rock. and i've heard a lot from boat captains, guides, folks that are sport fishers that they're having a massive problem off the coast of north carolina with sharks. there's been historic success in fishing for tuna off the coast

of north carolina and they now have a significant issue with not being able to sit and fish for tuna because theyle can't reel them in due to the sharks. would you be committed to working with the boat captains in north carolina to make sure that they're able to continue to fish for tuna? sec. burgum: yes. mr. mcdowell: great. i've got one last question for you. and it's on energy. we've heard a lot and i just want to ask about how the price of energy goes up and down, would overburdensome regulation that appeases a specific group of people that may or may not be based in reality, would that make the price of energy go up or down? sec. burgum: burdensome regulations prices go up. but broken markets where highly subsidized industries can price lower than their actual system costs, you know, artificially lowers the price.

but it doesn't lower the cost on consumers. because taxpayers are still paying for that -- for the high cost of those, quote, renewable forms of electricity. because if they're intermittent, meaning they don't run when the wind blows, they don't run when the sunshines, then we need the entire other system which we've been trying to shut down to actually power the country. so we end up with a duplicative system. mr. mcdowell: imagine that. mr. chairman, i yield back. mr. westerman: the gentleman yields back. mr. huffman: mr. chairman, request unanimous consent to enter a few pages from the interior department's budget in brief. this is from president trump's skinny budget. proposed great to hear the stated commitment to hunters and anglers but this budget document tells a very different story. proposes $276 million slash from lwcf, repurposed to deferred maintenance. and then taking the north american wetlands conservation act budget down from $49 million

to zero. request unanimous consent. mr. westerman: without objection. i ask unanimous consent to submit into the record an article from "forbes." there seems to be some debate about the cost of renewable energy and the subsidies that go along with that. i think this article helps explain that. the consumer sees their electric bill and it's not broken down by the source of fuel to put those electrons into their home or their business. but this study, which includes data from the energy information administration, shows that -- and this is pre-i.r.a. between 2010 and 2016, subsidies for solar was between 10 cents and 88 cents for kilowatt hour and wind, 1.3 and 5.7 cents per kilowatt hour. subsidies for coal, natural gas

and nuclear are all between 0.05 cents and 0.2 cents per kilowatt hour. and this was just subsidies from the american recovery and reinvestment act. the author goes on to say here that solar gets most -- the most state-funded subsidies. some which greatly exceed the federal subsidies. in my own state of washington, where electricity prices are eight cents per kilowatt hour, the state pays me 54 cents for every kilowatt hour generated by my rooftop solar array. whether i use it or not. this has made my total electricity costs -7 cents per kilowatt hour over the past two years. and will be for the foreseeable future. i think that gives some insight on what these renewable subsidies do for the real cost of electricity, that gets blended in with all the electricity that gets put on the grid. without objection. so ordered.

now i recognize the gentleman from florida, mr. soto, for five minutes. mr. soto: thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you, mr. secretary, for being here. i want to start out with talking about the everglades. it's been a bipartisan project for many years. we saw both in president biden's budget, $444 million. you in trump's budget, $446 million. so we're grateful for that request. i wanted to also point out the northern everglades, which flows through my area, as well as representative franklin, bipartisan areas of florida where the kissimmee chain of lakes kissimmee river form , everglades. there are new u.s. army corps of engineers projects that have been approved and are starting to move through that help water supply, ag, recreation and so i'm hoping we can continue to get your support to both help the northern and southern everglades in florida which is

such an important part of our state. sec. burgum: you have my commitment. i had an opportunity to keynote at the everglades trust dinner the other night and of course they were celebrating the 446 million dollars in president trump's budget to help complete important water projects for the everglades and of course with four national parks in southern florida, this is a key part -- key partners in helping restore that ecosystem. mr. soto: another bipartisan tradition is a ban on oil drilling in florida's gulf coast. we've seen major bipartisan support in bills. we've also seen both biden and trump historically protect the florida gulf coast. military training, tourism, recreation, wildlife. should that continue to be the policy, can we count on your support to implement it, to protect the gulf coast? sec. burgum: yes. and we can protect the gulf coast but i also want to be transparent that i think on

earlier decisions by the biden administration, that line was set. 110 miles away from the gulf coast of florida. and so i think that there's a way to protect the gulf coast completely, but i think that there's some review of where the line was drawn because it's excluding, you know, potential opportunity for multiple use beyond that. as you noted, that takes discussion with the military and others. but i just wanted to be clear that i wasn't making promises that were not in line with where the administration may be considering opportunities. mr. soto: i understand. i'm glad you mentioned the military. that's one of the big parts of it. along with protecting our wildlife and then tourism. i hear folks on this committee constantly talk about after hours that they're going to florida, that they're enjoying the beaches there. we want to protect them for all americans. i also want to talk about rare earth minerals. you've started your career in technology. we see both in artificial intelligence and chips and electric vehicles that rare

earth metals are very important. this last year, 20% of new cars were either hybrids or electric vehicles and florida surprisingly for a lot of people has the second most e.v.'s, but but also for a.i., data storage, batteries and there's only one large scale rare earth mining project, mountain pass mine in california. mr. secretary, what are you able to do to help domestically source more rare earth minerals and secure these supply chains for the future? sec. burgum: what you brought up is a critical -- is critical to our country. i think we're going to see in the days, weeks and months ahead that this is going to take a national priority because with china sort of flexing its muscle around the strangle hold it had on the rest of the world around rare earth mineral, it's a wakeup call to the rest of the allied nations that we have to develop secure supply chains and mountain pass is the only one that's operating right now and

it's not just mining, but it's also the refining that we need to do in this country. so this is going to become an important effort of this administration to make sure that we protect our military, protect our industry and protect our peace and security with our allies, by making sure that we're not all dependent on an adversary. mr. soto: what areas are you looking at? any particular projects you're excited about that might be able to expand our rare earth mineral capacity? sec. burgum: we have lots. rare earth minerals aren't rare in the sense that they're not available in the u.s. what became rare was mining and even more rare was the refining of those materials. even when we've got recycled things that are going on like an m.r.i. or other things, we're sending our recycled batteries to china doing the recycling. we're giving up what could be a source of supply for us. mr. soto: we'll talk with the e.p.a. about that. i'm also on that committee. is there any places you think have a lot of potential or areas that you're looking at?

sec. burgum: anyplace that we find other minerals, gold, uranium, graphite, many of these other base minerals that are not rare in conjunction with many of those, those represent great potential. but we have a lot of -- as i mentioned earlier, there's a lot of rare earth minerals that exist in coal. gallium, germanium exist in high quantities. we just have to have the will and policy to get the mining and the processing done here versus having other countries do that. mr. soto: thanks. i yield back. mr. westerman: the gentleman's time has expired. the chair recognizes the gentleman from alaska, mr. begich, for five minutes. sec. burgum: i'm looking forward to this last conversation. can i request a three-minute recess right now? and then i'll come back ready to go and dive in? mr. westerman: i understand. we're in recess for approximately five minutes.