Nominations of Pearce, Haustveit, LaCerte to BLM Dir, DOE Under Sec, FERC Member

Order of the Senator, uh, Lee will be here momentarily. Uh, good morning. Welcome to all of you. Today we will hear from three exceptional Americans nominated for senior positions in the administration, one for each of the three agencies under this committee's jurisdiction. The nominees are the Assistant Secretary of Energy, Kild Hosswit, the, to be the Under-Secretary of Energy for the Department of Energy, Commissioner David Lissert, nomina- re-nominated to another term as Commissioner for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and Congressman Steve Pierce to be the Director of the Bureau of Land Management of the Department of Interior. I want to thank President Trump for sending all of these qualified nominees. Uh, we do have Senator Lummis here, who's going to make an introductory statement for, uh, former Congressman Steve Pierce. And we're so delighted to have you. I know you're on a tight schedule, so we would, in the interest of time, turn directly to you, Senator Lummis.

Out of order.

Well, thank you kindly to my dear colleague from Wyoming, Senator John Barrasso, and uh thank you committee for uh allowing me to introduce to you uh my friend and former colleague Steve Pearce as nominee for director of the Bureau of Land Management. And I'll tell you absolutely without a doubt there is just no better person for this job than Steve Pearce. Uh, Steve and I served together in the United States House of Representatives. We worked side by side on natural resource issues that are vital to our Western states. And I got to see firsthand how he operates. He fights for his constituents. He listens to his constituents. He's one of those rare uh Republicans who served in a bright blue state. And the way he got elected was by constantly going and listening to his constituents, not just showing up during election years, but showing up every weekend for family events in the communities that he represented. And he, it was, it was such a unique way that he had secret sauce. uh in his district that it was even featured in the Wall Street Journal, how he got elected. He is very attuned to the people he represents. He fights for his constituents. When New Mexicans needed people in their corner, he showed up every time. So after decades of serving the people in New Mexico, Steve came away from this town with an understanding that a lot of people lack and that's how the decisions that are made here work on the ground, how they land in ranching communities, energy producing counties, tribal nations and rural economies. He doesn't see the Bureau of Land Management as a line item in the federal budget. He sees it as boots on the ground in communities that depend on how their land is managed, you know, over time. Uh, it's getting to be that fewer and fewer people even know what BLM stands for. One night I was watching TV and they said, " OK, our next guest is the head of the BLM." And I thought, " Oh my gosh, we're making news." Little did I know that the next person to be on the screen was the head of Back, Black Lives Matter. And I never thought about them as, uh, acronyms that represented such different things to such a different audience. And that's why it's so important to have someone at the helm at the BLM who really understands the boots on the ground, the difference between BLM land and National Park Service land, and uh US Fish and Wildlife Service lands. Very different purposes for our wilderness areas than our BLM land, very different applications. of things like Flitmore the past in the mid seventies. And right now you're facing a nominee who understands those differences and is truly capable of implementing the law, the way it was designed. And while Steve Pierce is a fighter, I can also tell you he's genuinely kind and thoughtful. We used to sit next to each other on the floor of the house. We both have a love of the Tao Society of Artists. And one day I looked over and he was flipping through the artists that he and I both love and share and collect. And it became one of those wonderful uh relationships you have with another member who has an interest outside of uh the immediacy of what we deal with. It was Sorry. Uh it was Such fun, because so many of the things depicted by those artists are the land, the scenery, the sky, the water, the air that is subsumed on our BLM lands. So we've shared many memories in our time in the house. I love his dry sense of humor. Um, it is, it gives a lighter air to the contention of our jobs. And when things got tough, he, he keeps showing up. He doesn't turn away from those uncomfortable dialogues. He keeps listening. And he found ways to work across the aisle to get things done. That's exactly the kind of leadership BLM needs. Steve holds a core belief I share. The people who live and work on our Western lands know better than the people here in Washington what they need and how they can, we c- how we can be good stewards of those lands. He believes strongly in respecting states and listening to local expertise. He knows that Washington should partner with, not dictate to Western communities. He knows responsible economic development can transform communities and live families while preserving these magnificent landscapes that we represent. You know, there's just no one better. to head the Bureau of Land Management. Steve Pearce has the experience, the vision, the tenacity, and the heart. This is a man with heart to do this job well. So I strongly support his nomination, and I urge my colleagues to confirm him. Mister Chairman, thank you so much.

Thank you, Senator Lemes. Uh, we're now gonna turn to Senator Hoven, and after that, Senator Heinrich and I will give our respective opening statements and we'll proceed from there. Senator Hoven.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, and thanks to both you and uh, Ranking Member Heinrich. Appreciate you holding the uh, hearing today and I appreciate this opportunity to welcome Kyle Hausweit uh, back in front of this committee and it wasn't that long ago you were here, and you're back for very good reasons with a uh, I think uh, just a great decision uh, by President Trump to nominate you for this new role at the Department of Energy. Uh, Kyle served at the DOE with distinction. He was the Assistant Secretary for Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy. And, uh, doing a great job in that role. And we've worked closely with him, so I know that firsthand. Uh, and his background in, in energy, uh, diverse, uh, whether it's fossil fuels, uh, but all types of energy, uh, really is, uh, impressive. And now he is nominated for the Under Secretary for Energy Slots, so the - the - the third ranking position, uh, in the Department of Energy, and is a great, uh, do a great job in that role, along with, uh, Chris Wright, who also I know personally and has done a fantastic job, and James Danley, who we all know from his time at the FERC. Uh, so just an outstanding team leading the Department of Energy. Also, congr- uh, welcome And congratulations to Bria, his wife, and four children. I think they're all, I see three. I'm missing one. But, uh, he's

Nevaeh.

Oh, they're, oh, she's, yes. My gosh, she is a young lady. I missed that. It, are, are you, Neva, am I saying that right?

Nevaeh.

Nevaeh. Well, welcome to you. I'll bet you're a good babysitter for the other three. I'm just guessing. Yeah. Uh, Harper, Noah, and Hudson. So welcome to all you guys. Hudson, what happened to your wrist? Huh? You playing some sports? Oh, OK. I know how that goes. Um, Brea's from Canberra, so that's not too far where I grew up, northwest of Minot there, so.

So.

Uh, you have a beautiful family. And, um, I guess you're, you're, uh, you better, Kyle, Kyle, you gotta be on your game, man, cuz it sounds like the parents are watching, uh, remotely, your parents, Tom and Donna. And, uh, grandparents, Dewey and Phyllis, so you're gonna really have to be on your game today, man. Um, but again, uh, congratulations to them as well. Born in Fargo, we love that, uh, and, uh, raised in Tioga. So, again, another person from Northwest North Dakota, like, like myself and your wife. And, uh, grew up living in the energy economy in the Williston Basin. So, I mean, i- it's in his blood. Uh, third generation energy worker. Petroleum engineer by training. Uh, but, uh, innovator and a problem solver. Uh, co- he, uh, invented a patented hydraulic fracturing technique, uh, that's now used across multiple shale basins, and, uh, and technology that, uh, as both the Chairman and Ranking Member know have been incredible in unlocking, um, energy from shale across the, the nation, both oil and, uh, natural gas. And what we've been working on, uh, what we call in North Dakota Crack the Code-two. So Crack to Code-one was when we figured out how to produce, um, oil and gas out of shale economically. Obviously we knew we could do it from a technological standpoint for years, but the key was making it commercially viable. And, uh, we worked on that actually back during my days as Governor in that two thousand time frame and of course with directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing now, uh, you know, we've unlocked the shale plays not only the in the Bakken but in Texas, permian basin and the eagle ford as and in new mexico in a big way and of course the marcellus up in this part of the country so it's it's absolutely been a revolution in terms of energy for the country now crack the code two point O is using enhanced oil recovery to double that production and we're gonna do it even cynthia in places like wyoming if you can imagine that it's a big deal

it's a big deal

and kyle understands this at the level that is gonna enable us to crack that code a second time and it has huge ramifications for our country and that's why it's so important he's been nominated for this position of leadership at the Department of Energy. So uh with that, again thank you um, Mister Chairman and ranking member for the opportunity to uh introduce, Kyle Hauswein.

Thanks so much, Senator Hoven, and uh uh thank you, Senator Lomas, for joining us. Uh we could go ahead and have the witnesses make their way to the table now and um but be- before we start with you, you Go ahead and have a seat now. Senator Heinrich and I will now give our respective opening statements. Today's nominees have, uh, been nominated to positions and have a lot of challenges before them. And well, they'll face monumental tasks and, um, stakes that go beyond the responsibilities and the duties of just in a one agency. They go to a basic question. Can the United States govern its resources in a way that's capable of meeting the moment? Electricity demand is rising at a pace that we haven't seen in decades. Data centers, advanced computing, and the return of domestic manufacturing are pushing our grid to its limits. Wide stretches of the American West are under federal management. and decisions made in Washington can make or break the communities that surround those lands. Our foreign adversaries recognize the implications that are at play. They're expanding their production and strengthening their control over mineral supply chains. In past years, we watched the Biden regime partner with the progressive environmental lobby to willfully ignore some of those realities and instead layer on rules holding American-made energy hostage for unrealistic, unachievable environmental objectives. Domestic energy production was blocked at every turn, and we became dangerously reliant on foreign supply chains from adversarial countries that aren't, to say the least, all that interested in seeing America succeed. Rather than treating American energy and mineral resources as strategic assets, they instead treated them as liabilities to be phased out. and to be kept in the ground in perpetuity. We saw a governing philosophy that ignored the people most directly affected by their decisions. Local officials, county commissioners, tribal leaders, and small businesses showed up, offered their expertise, and then watched painfully as the final outcome bore little resemblance to what they put on the record. That approach deepened distrust and deeply damaged the relationship between Washington and communities throughout America that were forced to live, with consequences made hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles away. Each of you, if confirmed, uh, uh, for the position for which you've been nominated, uh, e- each of you will have tasks before you that that involve reversing that course. At the Bureau of Land Management, that means, uh, administering some two hundred and forty-five million acres public land and seven hundred million acres of mineral estate under multiple use and sustained yield mandates that have been outlaw uh outlined over the years by law uh by congress. And at the Department of Energy, that means overseeing the office's responsibility for electricity, nuclear energy, hydrocarbons, geothermal, cyber security, the strategic petroleum reserve and the emergency grid authorities congress has provided under the Fe- Federal Power Act. And at FERC, it means exercising regulatory judgment over interstate transmission, wholesale markets, natural gas infrastructure, and the orders that shape investment across our entire economy. What matters now is how that authority will be exercised. Will America's resources be developed here at home? Or will we be forced to rely on foreign competitors? Will communities have a genuine seat at the table, or will they simply be notified after the fact uh that their concerns have been disregarded? I look forward to hearing from each of you on how you'll intend to carry out the duties and the responsibilities of uh the respective offices uh uh to which you've been nominated. Thank you. And uh, Chair now recognizes uh Senator Heinrich, the ranking member of this committee.

Thank you, Chairman. The committee has previously considered nominations for two of the nominees before us this morning. Uh, the Senate confirmed Mister Haustveit's nomination to be the Assistant Secretary of Energy for Fossil Energy last September, and Mister Lissert's nomination to serve the final year remaining on a vacant seat on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. But the committee still has an obligation to examine Mister Haustveit's qualifications for the broader responsibilities that he will, have if confirmed to be the Under Secretary of Energy, and we must consider whether Mister Lucert has earned an additional five-year term on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Uh, our third nomin- nominee poses a somewhat, uh, greater challenge for us. Uh, Congressman Pierce, uh, who I've long known and often worked with, has been nominated to be the Director of the Bureau of Land Management. If confirmed, he will become the Steward of more than two hundred and forty-four million surface acres of public land, and another seven mil- uh, seven hundred million acres of sub-surface minerals. The Federal Land Policy and Management Act, the law that established the Bureau of Land Management, prescribes how the director is to perform his important duties. It says that he is to manage the lands and resources under his jurisdiction as public lands. They belong to the public. not to any special interest, but to the American people as a whole, and not to our generation alone, but to future generations as well. The public lands charter calls for them to be managed for fish and wildlife, as well as for energy and mineral production, for recreation, as well as resource development. Their value is to be measured not in economic returns or unit output alone, but also in the intangibles of scenic, scientific, historic, and archaeological re- uh values. Uh, a friend of mine, uh, likes to describe pol- public lands as the anvil on which our collective Western identity was forged. I think that kind of sums it up. Uh, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act says that our public lands are to be retained in federal ownership, and managed to best meet the present and future needs of the American people, and where appropriate, preserved and protected in their natural condition without permanent impairment. The act tells us that the director must be someone who will carry out these functions, and perform these duties in accordance with these principles. Uh, Congressman Pierce has had a long career in public life, and he is well known to many of us. He served seven terms in the House of Representatives, and three terms as the head of the Republican Party in my home state of New Mexico. As a public official, he's cast many votes and made many public statements. Some of these positions that he has taken, um, he called for the selling off of public lands. And that makes it challenging for n- for me to, uh, view his tenure, his potential tenure at the BLM, as one of stewardship. And so my questions today will largely reflect not just those reservations, but the conversations that we had in my office yesterday, Congressman. And it is, of course, the President's prerogative to nominate who he wants, but it is also the responsibility of those of us on this committee to assess uh Mister Pierce's nomination and to recommend whether or not the Senate should confer him in. For much of our nation's history, our predecessor committee proudly bore the title " the Public Lands Committee". Oversight of the public lands was our original purpose, and it remains one of our foremost responsibilities. To discharge this trust, we depend heavily on the dedicated public servants at the Bureau of Land Management. who devote their careers and their lives to the care of our public lands. And we depend on the Director of the Bureau to carry out the functions of his office in accordance with our laws and with FLITMA. Our hearing today is Con- Congressman Pierce's opportunity to make his case for his nomination and to share his vision of how he would manage the public lands if confirmed and to allay our concerns. Uh, I look forward to hearing from him. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Senator Hunter. OK, um, our fir- first witness today, um, uh, will be the Honorable Kyle Hossfite of North Dakota, nominated to be the Undersecretary of Energy. That's the third highest ranking officer in the Department of Energy with broad jurisdiction over many offices and programs at the Department of Energy. He currently serves as the Assistant Secretary of Energy for Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy, a position to which the Senate confirmed him last year. And in that position he currently already plays a a leading role in investing in research development and implementation of fossil fuel derived projects in strengthening American energy dominance and critical mineral supply. Uh, he is um, uh, prior to his current service, Mister Haasveit worked on energy issues in the private sector. and he's a graduate of Montana Technical University at the, and uh, the University of Oklahoma. Our second witness today is the Honorable David Lussert of Louisiana, nominated, re-nominated uh, to his current position as Commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Burke of course is charged with developing electricity and natural gas at reasonable prices and has jurisdiction over interstate electricity transmission and wholesale electricity sales as well as interstate transportation and sales of natural in addition to regulating hydroelectric facilities. Mister Lissert is also no stranger to this committee, as he too was confirmed uh to his current post uh uh by this committee and by the senate uh just a few months ago. He's got a distinguished career at both uh uh federal and state levels in government. Um in addition to his deployment a as a United States Marine in Afghanistan. Mister LeCert is a lawyer. Uh, he's served as a lawyer at, uh, among other things at Baker Botts and graduated from Nichols State University and Louisiana State University. Our final witness today is, of course, the Honorable Steven Pierce of New Mexico, nominated to be the Director of the U. S. uh, Bureau of Land Management, or BLM, within the Department of the Interior. Congressman Pierce has a long record of public service representing New Mexico's second congressional districts, i- in the House of Representatives for fourteen years. Part of that, he served in the New Mexico State Legislature. He also served as a pilot in the Air Force during Vietnam, where he was decorated for his actions during combat missions. He's a graduate of New Mexico State University and Eastern New Mexico University. His service as an elected official from a Western state provides him with the necessary experience and expertise uh to run a BLM. Uh, before the witnesses begin their testimony, I'll square them in. So if each of you will, uh, please stand and raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you're about to give to the committee will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

I do. I do.

Let the record reflect that each uh witness responded in the affirmative. You may be seated. Also, it is the committee's practice to ask the following three questions of all three nominees who appear before us for confirmation. First, will you be available uh to appear before this committee and other congressional committees? to represent the positions of your agency and respond to issues of concern to Congress. Yes. All three witnesses responded in the affirmative. Second, are you aware of any personal holdings, investments, or interests that could constitute a conflict of interest or create the appearance of such a conflict of interest, should you be confirmed and assume the office

No.

to which you've been nominated? No. All three witnesses responded in the negative. And third, are you involved in or do you have any assets in a blind trust?

No.

All three witnesses responded in the negative. With that, I'll now uh uh invite each of the nominees to offer their opening statements, and to introduce uh their uh guests with them if they choose to do so. We'll begin uh with Secretary Haas-Fey.

Chairman Lee, Ranking Member Heinrich, and Distingu- Distinguished Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. I'm deeply honored to be considered for the role of Undersec- I want to express my sincere gratitude to President Trump for my nomination, and to Energy Secretary Wright for his support. Thank you to Senator Hoeven for the kind introduction. Thank you to my family and friends here with me today, and those watching online. Here with me is my high school sweetheart, best friend and wife, Bria, our four children, Nevaeh, Harper, Noah, and Hudson, along with several close friends. Thank you all for your love and support. I wanna give thanks to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for his grace and guidance in this journey. I was born and raised in North Dakota, just a few miles from the historic Williston Basin discovery well. My family's roots run deep in both energy and agriculture. One grandfather managed drilling operations while the other farmed her family homestead, where he and my grandma still live today. Growing up, I've found appreciation for both industries and the critical role energy plays in modern agriculture, from fueling tractors to providing the fertilizers that nourish our crops. I'm proud to say that I'm a third-generation energy worker. My family's connection to energy spans decades, and their hard work instilled in me a deep respect for the industry and its importance to our nation. With a small nudge from my late grandfather, I pursued a degree in petroleum engineering at Montana Tech. followed by an MBA in energy from the University of Oklahoma. This combination of engineering and economic study has been instrumental in shaping my career and preparing me to address the challenges and opportunities in the energy sector. Early in my career, I was fortunate to lead a team that invented and commercialized a diagnostic technique now used globally to optimize hydraulic fracturing and resource development. This experience sparked a growing passion for energy and technology. which led me to leading an energy ventures team. In this role, our team had the privilege of investing in early stage technologies rooted in fundamental science including a leading next generation geothermal company with operations in Nevada and a five hundred megawatt development underway in Utah. Our team also conducted technical evaluations for innovative projects such as direct lithium extraction from brine in Arkansas and California. carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration in Wyoming, and produced water treatment and beneficial reuse in New Mexico. These experiences have given me a front-row seat to the incredible innovation happening in our energy industry across our resource-rich nation. I've been blessed to build my career during one of the most transformative periods in energy history, the shale revolution. The shale revolution, brought about by industry, and enabled by part from fundamental research from our tremendous national laboratories. This technological breakthrough moved the US from the world's largest importer of LNG to the world's largest exporter, positioning us as the global leader in oil and natural gas production, transforming us from energy dependent to energy dominant. The energy industry has not only powered our nation, but it has also fueled economic growth, strength in national security, and improve the quality of life for millions of Americans and our allies around the world. US natural gas has delivered affordable, reliable and secure energy, and at the same time reduced the emissions from electricity generation by more than forty percent. It has been a privilege to contribute to this progress, and I am passionately aligned with President's, President Trump's common sense energy agenda. an agenda that will ensure that future generations have access to affordable, reliable, secure, and abundant energy made in America. If confirmed, I will honor the fundamentals of science and economics to serve our country. I'm committed to advancing policies that unleash US energy dominance, foster innovation, and ensure that America remains a global leader in energy production and technology. If confirmed, I will work to leverage the incredible talents within DOE in our national laboratories to drive forward cutting edge research and development. It's an honor of a lifetime to contribute to the mission of the President and the Secretary, to fuel peace and prosperity through energy. Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to your questions.

Thank you, Assistant Secretary Haasbeit, Commission, assert. Chairman Lee, Ranking Member Heinrich, and distinguished members of the committee, good morning. I'm grateful for the opportunity to appear before you again today. Thank you to President Trump for renominating me to serve a full term on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and thank you to this committee for your time. Thank you to my family who are at home today in Louisiana. Public service can be a tremendous burden, and this burden disproportionately falls not on the appointee but on their loved ones. Thank you for the grace you continue to give me while I serve the American people. I'd like to briefly speak to our accomplishments since I've been seated at FERC, my commitments made to you in the fall, and address what you can expect to see from me if I am given the honor of serving a full term as Commissioner. At my first open meeting we proposed rulemakings to expand the successful pipeline certification program to both hydroelectric and liquified natural gas facilities. We prioritized cutting red tape, advancing stalled projects, and ensuring that permits are issued in a timely and legally defensible manner. I want to pause on LNG for a moment. Utilizing our vast natural resources is not just an economic advantage, it's a geopolitical necessity. that ensures our allies are fueled by reliable American energy, rather than the coercion of our adversaries. Critical to this goal was maintaining and developing a robust export infrastructure here in the US, a mission-critical task that I am focused on achieving. I have also been very vocal about the need to declutter the Commission's dockets. Proceedings that linger for years serve no one. They create uncertainty for investors, delay critical infrastructure, and erode confidence in the regulatory process. Since my first month, I have supported action to remove outdated regulations and issue timely orders. And I will continue striving for more efficient and disciplined processes at FERC. In our second month, we demonstrated our commitment to powering America's leadership in artificial intelligence and advanced technologies, while protecting rate payers. This may be the defining competitive challenge of our generation. If we are not the world's leader in AI, our adversaries surely will be. We need to meet this moment and we will do so without sacrificing affordability. In December, we issued an order addressing service to large load, including data centers, co-located with generating facilities, through revisions to PJM's tariff. I recognize this represents a first step in a very long road, but I'm proud of the decisive action the commission took. At a time when energy demand is rising and reliability challenges are mounting, the commission has acted with focus and disciplined urgency. Year to date, we have already issued eighteen percent more orders over the same time period in twenty twenty five. Since I've joined the commission, we have voted in nearly three hundred proceedings and authorized the addition of four point one four million decaherbs of natural gas transportation capacity, enough to support the electricity needs of thirteen to eighteen million American households. That pace will accelerate as we move distract- remove distractions and focus on what matters within our statutory jurisdiction. By narrowly focusing on that jurisdiction, we are building, We are advancing, and we are strengthening energy security for our nation. I made commitments to these senators across the aisle about how I would approach this work and I welcome accountability for those commitments. For my first open meeting, I stated plainly, " My duty is to the ratepayer." There are always people looking to curry favor for one project or one industry, and I meant what I said. None of those people represent the ratepayer. I do. My commitment to the ratepayer is not wavered, and this commitment will not relent for as long as I have the privilege to serve. On affordability and reliability, I'm fully all in. Growth must not come at the expense of ordinary Americans already concerned about their energy bills. It is our duty as commissioners to fully protect ratepayers from undue costs and to power American industry through low growth and re-industrialization. We can do both, and we must do both. In the fall, this body asked me to commit to resource neutrality as required by the law. I have demonstrated that commitment, and I'll continue to do so. This body also asked me to commit to upholding FERC's independence. I'll always uphold that commitment. The value of this commission to markets, to investors, and to the American public depends on its credibility as an independent decision-making and rate-setting body. FERC's decisions are subject to judicial review by the courts, and I will ensure those decisions are respected and carried out in the interest of the people in accordance with the law. Will I continue to seek input from all stakeholders? Absolutely. Sound decisions require broad engagement. But consultation does not compromise independence. My duty is to the law and to the statutory responsibilities entrusted to the Commission. We have several monumental challenges facing our grid, any which would be generational in nature. I'm confident that we can empower American innovation to see us through these challenges to the more efficient, more powerful, and more affordable grid of tomorrow. Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to your questions.

Thanks, Commissioner. We'll hear now from Congressman Pierce.

Uh, good morning and thank you, Chairman Lee and Ranking Member Heinrich for your leadership.

It's it's your uh, it's your microphone, Bud McKay. Yes, thanks.

Good morning and uh thank you, Chairman Lee and Ranking Member Heinrich for your leadership on this committee. I'm deeply grateful for the support of my family, friends who are with us today or watching on C-SPAN. I especially want to recognize my strong and amazing wife, Cynthia, our daughter, Lori, our grandson, Preston, his wife, Erin, our granddaughter, Olivia, and my brother, Greg. I'm honored to be nominated by President Trump to serve as the Director of the Bureau of Land Management. Growing up in a large family on a small five-acre farm, the New Mexico farm, the concept of preserving and conserving the land and water was instilled in me through necessity and it was refined by the training I received in four H. During my years at New Mexico State University, I worked every holiday and summer in the oil fields to pay for college. In my junior year, I won the draft lottery and got free flying lessons in an After graduation I went straight to USAF pilot training. Then my first assignment was flying combat missions in Vietnam in nineteen seventy-one, seventy-two and seventy-three, where I earned a distinguished flying cross and multiple air medals, and developed a love for veterans in aviation that exists today still. In twenty sixteen, while still a member of Congress, I flew my single-engine four-seat Mooney's aircraft solo, circumnavigating the globe in fifteen days. dedicating the effort to the warriors who never made it home. I continued to fly and work for veterans today. When I got back from Vietnam, I experienced the healing serenity of backpacking in wilderness areas across the country in nineteen eighty-one I married my wife Cynthia and together we bought a small struggling oil field service business and for fourteen years I learned the art of repairing problem oil wells. We were basically plumbers working five thousand feet deep. fit well with the values with which I was raised, work hard, treat others fairly, provide good customer service. We sold the business in two thousand three. I served seven terms representing the second district of New Mexico, a majority minority district which was thirty-four percent registered Republicans. The district was seventy thousand square miles, larger than the state of Florida with about one third of the state being federal land. The second district provided many examples of what multiple use means. hunting and access, and outdoor sports are drivers of one local economy. In another area, oil and gas provide the jobs, yet another has national parks and monuments. The district had mining, grazing, forest, wildfires, wilderness areas, and was home to Native American Pueblos, tribes, and chapter houses. Much of my life is a life of service, and I'm proud of that. During my fourteen years as a congressman, I traveled the district extensively, seeing firsthand the problems faced by my constituents who, like my parents, work hard every day trying to provide their for their families. I also saw what the founding fathers feared, a federal government acting as an absentee landlord, which instead of partnering with with states and local communities, rules over them. After a devastating wildfire, the Forest Service assigned local ranchers in my district to grazing lands as far away as Wyoming. The cost of trucking cattle at distance would have led to the extinction of small ranchers and collapse of the local economy. My staff identified nearby allotments that had not been grazed for years, and lobbied the Forest Service to open those. The agency initially stood its ground, but ultimately could not dispute the facts. The ranchers and the local economy survived. I was great- gratified to include funding in an early appropriation process to clean out the sediment threatening the health of Blue Hole of Santa Rosa, a popular recreational spring in the M- New Mexico desert. We got word shortly after that the agency had repurposed those funds. I'm proud of my efforts to claw the funds back, to clean out the spring for future future generations. These examples show uh my distinct dedication to working with local stakeholders and the federal government to ensure our land managers making decisions based on local input in accordance with the law. If confirmed, I fully intend to uphold these same principles as BOM Director, and ensure local input is a key factor in my decision making. I've also seen firsthand the importance of our public lands. and support those missions completely. I met many of the dedicated public servants who make the uh federal agencies work, and together we accomplished amazing things. When the lesser prairie chicken was at risk of being listed as endangered, my office worked with all the stakeholders to aco- to establish a voluntary process to increase habitat and prevent a listing. I believe that we can duplicate those efforts to solve not only endangered species, but orphaned wells, abandoned mines, and many issues, including providing clean and plentiful water. President Trump has proven we can achieve his vision of energy dominance by providing clean air, water and soil. We must preserve the natural spaces so that all people have access to the spiritual beauty of the outdoors where hunting and fishing can be passed down from one generation to the next where critical minerals can be developed freeing us from dependence on China and uh Native American lands and resources can be protected the security and economic health of the country, especially the Western states, rests squarely on the shoulders of the BLM, we can and must balance the different uses of public land. Local economies and future generations depend on us doing our job right. Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.

Thank you very much. We'll now begin our five-minute rounds of questions, uh, alternating between Republicans and Democrats in order of seniority, subject to the early bird rule. And, uh, we'll begin that now. Uh, uh, Assistant Secretary Haasveit, let's start with you. My state, uh, state of Utah has a enormous geothermal potential. And the office that you currently lead at the Department of Energy, um, funds geothermal research and development. Can you talk about some of the exciting work, uh, that has been going on in that office, the one that you currently lead, um, uh, when it comes to developing, commercializing geothermal power at scale?

Yes, Senator, thank you for the question. Uh, to start with, we share oftentimes that the problem statement for geothermal today is identical to that of the shale revolution twenty-five years ago.

Mm-hmm.

We have a vast resource in place that lacks the natural permeability to produce at commercial rates. That was the same problem statement for oil and gas twenty-five years ago. We solved that with horizontal wells and multi-stage stimulation. It's the same problem statement for geothermal today. and one of the methods to extract that resource is with horizontal wells and multi-stage hydraulic fracturing. A project in your home state, Forge, funded by the Department of Ener- Energy, was groundbreaking. It provided critical drilling information, which led to commercial leasing and now active development of a five hundred megawatt resource in southwest Utah. Along with that, just this morning we announced the department's largest ever funding opportunity for geothermal, a hundred and seventy-one and a half million dollars, focused on reservoir characterization and pilot scale demonstrations. On the resource characterization, what's important about that is the western part of the country is not as well explored as many of the shale basins. The shale basins had a benefit because most conventional basins exist on top of an unconventional shale. So we've drilled through these resources for over a hundred years, and with that we've logged it and we could map it. We lacked that information in the subsurface in the west. And that's part of the reason that one of our topic areas is to do exactly that, help support the industry in de-risking the resource and finding more hot rock that we can develop commercially. Our goal is to take geothermal out of the other bucket. When you look at the energy stack, you see this sliver of energy that sits on top of all the other primary energy sources. Our goal is to provide cost-competitive gigawatt scale power generation from the vast amounts of geothermal resource in the United States.

So your hope is that on those Western lands that are not as well known that haven't been as thoroughly explored to help replicate some of that so as to create the information necessary that would lead to more lease sales and more utilization for geothermal.

Yes, Senator, that's correct.

Thank you. Uh, commercial assert uh, natural gas is is the backbone of the modern electrical grid in America without access to natural gas, without access to, you know, very plentiful supplies, of natural gas at reasonable prices. There would have been widespread outages across the East Coast, uh, just during the most recent winter storm. We don't even have to go back more than a few days, uh, to cover that. Looking back at your first few months as a member of FERC, a- how has, uh, has FERC moved the needle on clearing the backlog for natural gas pipelines and LNG facilities? Nothing.

That's a great question, Senator. Thank you very much, and thank you for acknowledging the work that natural gas has done to keep the lights on, keep homes warm, and quite frankly save people's lives over the past several weeks, uh, as the most of the country have gone into a deep freeze, a really unprecedented deep freeze, um, where gas has really done all the heavy lifting. Um, and at FERC, I think you could see, I, I'd mentioned in my, in my opening, um, we've, we've approved more gas, uh, than the first four months during my tenure here than we have in quite a while. We're gonna continue to keep that work. We're gonna continue to right size NEPA under seven county. Uh, we're gonna continue to, um, to - to hold our states, um, to the fire and - and make sure they're making smart right decisions, um, for a lot of generation siting. And - and quite frankly, we need to focus more on natural gas as the reliable clean energy source that it is. And you're right, you could see moving up, up, up and down the east coast, the areas where they have an abundant supply of natural gas through our pipelines, fared much better than the areas that did not. So, we think that we're very blessed geologically in our country, um, to employ these molecules, to put them to work, and we need to do a better job of that across the board.

With those pipelines, I I completely agree, the uh pipeline infrastructure is essential to that. What do you see as the biggest obstacles slowing that and threatening the progress on that front?

Well, I think you see that here. I think we've struggled with the Clean Water Act certifications for quite a while. Um, I personally do not believe that one state should be able to hold the

Great. Thank you, Senator Heinrich. Thank you, Chairman. Uh, welcome to all of you. Uh, Congressman, I'm gonna start with you. And, um, when I looked at the - the, um, the constituent, uh, communication w- with respect to your nomination, there were sort of like two issues that dominate probably ninety plus percent of it. And we discussed these, uh, yesterday. Um, the first is just the, the, the issue of the potential broad scale divestment of public lands. And this is something that came up with, uh, Secretary Bergman, his nomination, uh, as well. And I think he did a good job of talking about how, um, the while it may be completely appropriate to divest of certain isolated parcels of public land for affordable housing and other public purposes, that there wouldn't be a broad scale, uh, selling off of the public lands. And because of some of your previous writings and statements, uh, there, there is a concern in the publicans, um, among New Mexicans that that a sale of public lands on a broader scale might be part of the the new BLM agenda. Can you speak to that and maybe allay some of those concerns?

Thank you, Senator. Thank you, Senator, and I appreciate uh the chance to talk about this. Uh, the the secretary has been uh very straightforward that he does not visualize any large scale uh sales of land. Flipman does not allow BLM to go in and the director of BLM to have these large scale sales. Um, that's something that, that frankly the isolated parcels, I would look to the members of this committee to identify those. I think that from my time in office, um, I know that, that I would have understood better than any director of BOM, the sensitivity of this piece of land or that piece of land. And so that's the reason when I say, um, I'll look to you all on that. Um, there is a, there is a, a monumental amount of work to be done. And and and again I would say gladly I would use the help that you all could provide in I identifying those parcels. But just to put it into context, when I first got to the state legislature, uh, Los Alamos, the home of the Los Alamos labs, was trying to get five acres and they'd been trying, they said, for years. I don't know if that's even occurred today, but when it didn't occur then, the the community was forced to move twenty miles down a mountain and form a community there people could afford to live. And then in the wintertime we'd lose two or three people who work at the labs every year, off those snow-covered passes. And that's, it's that kind of restrictive holding that, that I think that we're meant to address. But again,