Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
- Sen. Mike Lee criticized President Joe Biden's energy policies, citing increased costs and reduced production.
- Lee supports reforms to expedite energy projects and reduce regulatory delays.
- He expressed optimism about Chris Wright's potential impact on the energy sector.
SALT LAKE CITY — As Sen. Mike Lee opened the confirmation hearing on Wednesday for President-elect Donald Trump's pick for Energy secretary, Chris Wright, he took a minute to express his gratitude to serve as the chairman of the Senate and Energy and Natural Resources Committee, a position awarded to him a few weeks earlier.
"It really is a privilege to serve in this capacity as chairman during such a pivotal moment in our nation's history, particularly as it relates to our nation's energy policies," he said.
After wishing Wright a happy birthday, Lee launched into his opening statement, addressing why he thinks national energy policy is in crisis after President Joe Biden's four years in office.
"Over the past four years, (this) administration has dismantled domestic energy production, canceled leases, and weaponized regulations to discourage investment in pipelines and critical energy infrastructure. Instead of unleashing American energy, this administration has instead decided to reduce our access to energy," Lee said. "These failures have caused devastating harm."
By curtailing energy production, the Biden administration has made life more expensive for Americans, he said. "Energy prices have soared, driving up the cost of not only energy itself but everything around it, everything from housing to health care, from gas to groceries. And as a result, families have struggled to make ends meet."
Lee's position as chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee closely coincides with the start on Tuesday of Utah's 45-day legislative session. Energy, with education, is at the top of the priority list for the Legislature, with Senate President Stuart Adams noting the need to meet the demands of artificial intelligence with data centers and other technological growth — growth that will require new energy sources to power.
The state must maintain sufficient baseload power with natural gas and coal while it explores renewable energy sources like wind, solar and geothermal, with the goal of making "Utah the nuclear capital of the world, as far as energy production," Adams said, as previously reported in the Deseret News.
The Trump administration is expected to support this kind of growth in the energy sector, including by easing regulations to streamline processes that currently take years.
Later Wednesday, in an interview with the Deseret News, Lee responded to reports that the Biden administration is trying to spend money as quickly as possible, including by awarding grants to environmental groups through the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies.
Lee said "of course" that money will be used to try to stop Trump's agenda on growing the nation's energy output.
"And I think that's the whole point," he said. "It's really tragic when you take money away from the American people and you give it to entities that will make their lives even more unaffordable."
The nation's massive debt — $36 trillion and counting — has grown because of this spending, he said, as has inflation.
"When you're doing that at a time when we're spending way too much money, and then you're giving it to entities that will use it to make energy less accessible and less affordable, it's going to boomerang right back on the very same people that we're supposed to be serving. And that's a really dismal state of affairs for the American people to have to confront."
The spending by the Biden administration could be used to lobby against changes Trump would like to make on permitting reform and other practices, or to launch lawsuits against regulatory changes.
"Look, President Trump's been elected, and instead of respecting the will of the American people, this administration and those aligned with President Biden in Congress and elsewhere seem to be racing to lock the American people into their same failed policies, the same policies that voters overwhelmingly rejected in November," he said.
But, Lee said, he thinks Wright, who he said did a "phenomenal job" at his hearing, will be able to start to get the nation's energy sector growing again. And, he said, Congress plans to help him by making changes to federal law.
Lee: Environmental law wasn't intended to delay projects for years
Lee pointed to the way the National Environmental Policy Act is used, saying it was "never intended to be something that would delay projects for years, often decades."
Lee has proposed reforms that would shorten the amount of time it takes to get a project off the ground, and said additional reforms to limit "the amount of time that can be consumed within the judicial process," might also make a difference. The excessive regulations do no one any good, he said, except maybe "lawyers and lobbyists and consultants who make a living off of those things."
The U.S. is consistently behind other countries in terms of the amount of time it takes to get projects approved and completed, he said, including in places like Europe.
Lee also had encouraging words for North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who also appeared before Lee for a nomination hearing on Thursday.
The two of them had an extended conversation at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Lee said, where Burgum asked Lee questions about public lands, a big issue in Utah.
"I don't think either he or I knew at the time that he would become Secretary of the Interior, but I was grateful for the chance to talk to him about some of the issues we face as a public lands state," he said.
Lee: Supreme Court was wrong not to take Utah's public lands case
Burgum, as secretary of the Interior, would oversee many of the public lands issues that are difficult for states like Utah, where 68% of the state's land is overseen by the federal government. Lee said he thinks Burgum will be "helpful" to the state on these issues.
But Lee said he isn't willing yet to concede that the state's legal pathways on the public lands lawsuit are closed.
The Supreme Court didn't dismiss the case on the merits, he said, but rather they want the state to take the case first to a lower court.
