Hello and good morning, I am Republican Senator and Majority Leader Mitch

McConnell. Today I will be addressing bill number 2-2015, the Hold It All In Act. The
Republican EPW committee will be revising this bill in order to reach a compromise.
Although this bill will reduce green house gas emissions, acting upon it will halt the
potential capital gain of offshore and domestic oil as well as lead America away from
energy security and independence. Each solution this bill suggests promotes reliance on
other nations for gas and oil along with substantial economic loss. This bill puts the
American dream at risk, compromising the chance for maximum economic prosperity
and freedom.
Our nation is only so large, which leaves us with limited domestic recourses to harness.
This derives the need to take advantage of the resources we can harness as well as taking
advantage of close offshore resources. The federal government owns 28% of the 2.27
billion acres that make up our country. Oil and gas reserves on these federal lands and
offshore represent 43% of our countrys oil reserves and 45% of our gas reserves. To
prohibit access to these resources curtails our economic and security opportunities and
forces us to consume resources that are more costly, and have potentially higher
environmental consequences to extract and are out of our control. Currently, the U.S,
leases only 2% of its offshore areas and less than 6% of its onshore lands for oil and gas
production. Doubling or even tripling this production has very limited impact on our
lands and shores but yields an exceedingly high return. The mineral estate owned by our
country has an estimated worth to the economy of over $150 trillion, over 9 times the
national debt. We need to think carefully before we forgo these opportunities.
While the intent of this bill is to improve the environment, both solutions proposed in
Sections 1 and 2 may instead further harm the environment globally. As proposed in
Section 1 (lines 17 & 18) stating, stopping new coal, tar sands, fracked gas, and oil shale
leases on federal land will compromise over 640 million acres of potential resources to
harness and capitalize off of. Section 2 (lines 31 & 32) proposes stopping new offshore
oil and gas leases as well as cancelling existing leases. This solution prohibits our
countrys ability to harness oil and gas in close proximity. The alternative is for the U.S.
to continue to rely on oil and gas shipments from foreign nations where we cannot
regulate either how this is extracted or how it is processed in an environmentally friendly
way. This solution may also force us to process at higher cost both economically and
environmentally fuels that are more difficult to access. There needs to substantial changes
made to this bill in order to affect a bi-partisan compromise. Revisions should address
compensating expiring leaseholders on federal lands and offshore with a sum of money
comparable to lost amounts. At the very least the bill should slowly cancel leases over a
50-year time span. To offset the economic impact of the bill and the risks to energy
independence, the bill should be amended to allow construction of the Keystone Pipeline
XL Extension, which would promote domestic crude oil production.
We recognize that testing and sealing natural gas wells for green house gas emission and
plugging abandoned wells can reduce green house gas emission, yet it is detrimental to
America economically to cover the expenses for this solution. Section 3 (lines 50 52)
proposes exactly that stating, Testing and sealing all current natural gas wells for green
house gas leaks and plugging all abandoned and unproductive wells. The costs

associated with these activities is horrendous, especially since it is not an investment that
can lead to potential capital gain nor pay for itself overtime. While I agree that owners
should be compensated for the costs of plugging their wells, I do not believe that they
should be taxed for wells that are out of commission.
As a senator representing the Republican Party the Hold It All In Act opposes Republican
values and compromises the American dream by diminishing our ability to achieve
maximum economic prosperity and ensure freedom for American citizens. In proposing
to decrease the extraction of domestic oil on federal lands and close offshore locations,
this bill leaves America to rely on foreign oil and gas suppliers hence preventing the U.S.
from reaching energy security and becoming energy independent. In order for this bill to
pass it must be amended thoroughly as it directly opposes the Republican Partys beliefs
and compromises the interests of our citizens.