Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy Holds Roundtable at Port Houston

Well, good morning, everybody. Sean Duffy here to the round table. Thank you all for coming and joining us today. I'm grateful for that. Also for Congressman Weber and Congressman Babin, both good friends of mine who I had a chance to serve with in the Congress. Great Texas members. I appreciate the friendship and all you do in Washington for Texas, but for the country as a whole. I'm also here with the Deputy Administrator of MARAD, Mark Johnson, who's with us, and also the great PHMSA Administrator, Paul Roberti. So thank you guys for coming from D.C. and joining as well. So listen, I think what's important for us in this conversation is we want to talk about American energy dominance, and we want to talk about American maritime dominance. And it's interesting when you have a president who has an idea that America should lead the world in energy and says it and then implements policies and hires people that believe in that mission, that actually comes to pass, that we produce more energy, we export more energy, and we become more energy-dominant as a country because the president says we've got great natural resources, let's use them, they create great jobs. um and it's a it's a power play for america now he's also talked about american maritime dominance uh bringing that back we're that we're the greatest shipbuilders in the world after world war ii uh sadly we've let that industry go um and i think all great nations are great shipbuilders and we have a set of principles and ideas that are going to be able to bring that American maritime dominance back. So I'm open to having a great conversation today with all of you and getting your feedback on what else we can do. If you think that we're thinking about things one way, but we should be thinking about it a different way, it's great to hear from you on how we should be thinking about issues. But this is about making sure America leads specifically in these two places. And maybe just as a level set, at DOT we have a lot of modes. So I have aviation, so the airspace, airplanes, airports. We have roads and bridges and cars and trucks. We have rail, passenger, and freight. We have commercial space launch, as Mr. Babin is well aware. Not NASA, but commercial space launch we do have. But we also have pipelines with PHMSA and we have MARAD. And a lot of times our attention can be drawn to other parts of the department. But I think you all would note that that hasn't been the case of this administration. We've focused on, it's great, someone has a great ringtone. But it's, the story of this administration is we've looked across our whole department and we've asked everybody to step up and lean in um and um and move fast and uh i'm going to talk about a couple things a couple several things that we've done in both of these spaces uh but the bedrock of what we do at the department is safety we keep people safe um that's what we do and if you don't have safety in in in the places that we operate um we don't have industries and And so that is always our key focus. But with safety, can we move faster? Does time always mean spending more time? Does that mean that we get more safe? I think the answer to that is no. It doesn't make us more safe. Oftentimes, it'll make us less safe if we don't move more quickly. And so I just want to talk about a couple of the things that we have done at DOT over the course of the last almost two years. So first, with regard to PHMSA and Paul Roberti's great leadership, we've overhauled our outdated regulations so operators can move energy safely, reliably, and affordably. This movement in regulation is going to save the industry $2 billion in regulatory costs, and it's going to enhance our safety standards. We can have great projects. we can have great investors but if it's going to take you forever to get permitted that projects not going to go and so that doesn't mean every project does go we do the appropriate background work and if it doesn't make sense it's not going to go but if we have good projects good investors and the projects make sense we want to move those projects forward more quickly and and overhauling those regulations were a key part of making that happen. Out in California, PHMSA was a key player in the restarting of the Sable pipeline. That's bringing 1.5 million barrels of domestic oil onto the market every single month. It was a Herculean effort by PHMSA, and Paul did a great job. Some people fought us on that. Again, at this time, why some people would want less American energy When energy is critical, prices are important. We work to make that happen. And so, again, bringing California's Sable pipeline online, bringing more energy supply to America, but to the world. We just opened the first LNG Center of Excellence in Lake Charles, Louisiana, which is awesome. That was led by the Congress. We appreciate their help in that. But it's critical for safety and growing LNG operations in America. If we're going to put a focus on LNG, let's have a center of excellence that helps us think through the policy, but also the workforce that's going to help us make that happen. In regard to MARAD, we've delivered $350 million in investments for the Merchant Marine Academy. Just as a side note, so it's a federal academy. It's up in Kings Point, New York. Some of these, well, the kids went kids the young adults went i shouldn't say the young adults went four months without hot water they were taking cold showers at a u.s academy uh they were eating off of paper plates because their dishwasher was broken um they had mold in their dorms uh this is on this is this is the greatest country on earth that we would have a u.s academy that treats um their uh mid shipment the way that we are is unacceptable uh we have been uh leading an effort in congress which uh hopefully your two members are going to be very supportive of giving us more money to to build um the merchant marine academy again we need to have a great to have a great maritime industry we need great sailors and uh with us today is ann bird who has led that effort she's there in pink uh waving uh she is we we've we've tasked her with going up to um to king's point and leading this rebuild of this wonderful academy. Outstanding young men and women come from this academy and serve the industry. And so we are in the process of rebuilding that. We've pumped $1.5 billion into modernizing American ports. We've announced a half a billion dollars of investments to date. And two of those are right here in Texas. You don't get all the money. You just think you have all the money in Texas, but you've got two ports that got money here in Texas. This includes a 300% funding increase for our small shipyard program. This is an economic driver that has too often been overlooked. We launched a new initiative to support nuclear-powered vessels, small modular reactors, and we partnered with the Port of Long Beach but also the Port of Corpus Christi. I think this is the future in shipping. We want to lead the way in new technology, and if we sit back and let someone else do it, We'll be behind. We are going to lead the world with nuclear-powered vessels. It's going to also cut the cost in shipping as well, which we're bringing We've approved two deep-water ports, Delfin and Texas Gulf Link, more American energy, lowering the cost, thousands of new jobs. Those two were both proposed in Trump 1. We got them through in Trump 2. And we've also launched a new maritime action plan. So the world subsidizes shipbuilding, full stop. And I'm a free enterprise guy. I don't believe we should subsidize anything. But if you want to build ships and everyone else subsidizes, we have to figure out how do we build ships in America, make them affordable, and do it in a way that's competitive. And our government's going to have to be involved. Part of that plan is the Maritime Action Plan. And the president's put a lot of energy. He's asked multiple departments to engage in the MAP. and they have. And so it's not done yet. We need the help of Congress to make that happen. But there is a clear path forward on how we continue to build ships or, actually I continue, how we can build American shipbuilding back to what it was post-World War II. The Maritime Action Plan is part of that. A key part of this is going to be in the NDA. I'm going to spend my time lobbying these two guys the NDAA or part of the Maritime Action Plan is in there we want to make sure it stays in gentlemen um it's it's critical you don't have to lobby us too i feel like i keep going back and forth to you guys um but we have a couple announcements today that that we're really excited about and the first is uh that we're modernizing our LNG regulations for the first time since 2001 um so you think how much innovation how much technology has changed in almost 30 years. It's unthinkable how much has changed in an industry. I'm dealing with that same thing in aviation. We're using the genre of Windows 98 to run air traffic control. You're using old systems and old regulations. We have updated those regulations for the first time again in nearly 30 years. That's going to save over $100 million. It's going to fast-track new LNG infrastructure, it's going to expand domestic capacity and it's going to make operations safer and allow us to deploy more modern technology. It's I think a massive play for Texas because you have a substantial LNG footprint that is only going to continue to grow when it's easier to get through a regulatory process that is of today's standard, not of the 2001 standard, we're able to move more quickly with better projects, which means more investments and more jobs in the great state of Texas. So that's our first announcement. The second one is we've officially approved the deepwater port license for STLNG. Now you might think, well, why is that a big deal? It is a big deal because the timeline at which it took us to approve this deepwater port, it took us 410 days. 410 days to approve a deep water port um the the other two that i mentioned they were again proposed back in trump one they weren't approved until trump two um years in the making um we've done it in 410 days we used to partner with the coast guard love the coast guard except not when the merchant marine academy is going to play them on november 14th you're all invited and uh the merchant marine academy continually beats the coast guard but for the the practices of this meeting, I'm not going to go after the Coast Guard, but when you have two departments that have, they jointly regulate and they jointly permit, it gets chaotic and it's redundant. And so in January, MARAD took the deep water permitting process and the Coast Guard graciously stepped aside and they're letting us do it and we are moving faster, which means more projects can get permitted at a way faster timeline which means I think you get more capital coming behind these great projects which is so important but this is going to be a an 8.2 billion dollar investment Matagorda Matagorda Matagorda Texas feel like I'm a Texan it's gonna have almost 2,000 I love 2,000 construction jobs in 855 permanent jobs coming from that investment it's also going to expand America's LNG capacity for export by seven to nine percent. So it's a big deal. And I guess for the roundtable, and I'll go to the congressman first, we're all about moving faster. Moving right, moving safe, but moving faster. There's no need to take years or decades on projects. We see how important American energy is in the world. We want to continue to lean in to exporting more American energy and i think the key player um in american energy dominance is texas uh which is why we're here for this announcement um and i'm grateful for the port for uh opening up and allowing us to be here uh but um looking forward to your feedback on on what else we can do what other way because just the little secret is you all um give us your great ideas we all make those ideas our own and we sound really smart because we stole your idea and it benefits you because then you got your great idea you know moving through a department or congress um but please please share that with us as we're here today um and with that i told the congressman uh i'm gonna go with uh with seniority um and then uh and then randy weber said seniority and beauty um he said of course and i'll be glad to go first so i'll kick it over to congressman randy weber who i also had the honor of serving with well thank you Mr. Secretary let's give him a hand can we say welcome to the gulf of texas okay now you might prefer the gulf of america but i didn't say mexico but as you already know texas plays a huge role in that so thank you for hosting us today port and also to my good friend Dr. Brian Babin you know having him for a friend gives me status i had a friend in the fifth grade once gave me the measles and this is a lot better deal okay it's great to be here i represent the district that powers America, and he's right behind me on the Gulf Coast here. We have seven ports and three LNG terminals. We make about 27% of the nation's gasoline, 60% of its jet fuel, and 80% of the fuel our military runs on. The Port of Beaumont, by the way, one of the seven ports that we have, moves more military personnel and equipment out of the country than any other port. You don't think that's a big deal for us? You betcha. Today's event is music to my ears, or should i say fuels my tank today's event fuels my tank we love being here as vice chairman of the energy subcommittee i talk a lot about what the gulf coast does i talk a lot about this country most people don't realize how it comes a lot of the energy comes from this one stretch of coastline my district texas 14th accounts for 35 percent of america's natural gas let that sink in 35 percent of America's natural gas and roughly 10 percent of all the 10 percent of all the energy that this country produces let that sink in two of the four national strategic petroleum reserve sites sit in our backyard two of the strategic petroleum sites sit in our backyard holding nearly 60 percent of the reserve and Golden Pass one of our ener gy customers or businesses started producing this you're moving about 2 billion cubic feet a day of natural gas. Natural gas for us is a big deal. That's a $10 billion investment, Mr. Secretary, with 7,000 jobs at peak construction. Can't wait to build the next one. So what's the downside? Getting that energy to market takes water deep enough to carry it. That's the price for the ports, right, y'all? we've got a 239 million dollar contract deepening the Sabine-Neches waterway to 48 feet, that's the divide between Texas and Louisiana, that other foreign country and it's the second largest water second largest waterway in the Gulf, the Gulf of America, second, second only to the Sabine to the Mississippi River, so it's a house and Energy and Water FY 27 bill puts another 100 million toward that construction. Freeport Harbor is now, as you alluded to, 56 feet. That's in my district now, South Brazoria County. And our ports just received nearly $5 million in security grants to keep all of it protected. Our shipyards are getting the same direction. Davie Defense is building, are you talking about shipbuilding? Davie Defense is building five Arctic security cutters under a 3.5 billion dollar contract for four years we've been told to apologize for our energy now we're shipping it to our allies we're going to keep fighting to unleash American energy and as you well know and y'all know America is going to lead that way the secretary thanks for being here how do you go back when did you win was it 10 were you in 10 2 2013 well 2012 yeah okay and were you 14 14 i think it's a it's an interesting note you you kept these members around for a good length of time. They look younger than they did when they first came. But you have two members here who sit in positions of power that have real influence in Congress, and that matters, that can, in that position of power, bring your voices to Washington and fight for what you value. As you all know, everyone doesn't value what you value. You have guys that engage in that fight. You're blessed. Dr. Bevin? Yes, sir. Thank you very, very much, Mr. Secretary. You and I have been friends for a while, and you're here for transportation and energy, but you and I worked very closely together when you were the interim NASA administrator. And I am the chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. But we welcome you here to Texas. He roughed me up a little bit at that time. So it's fine for me to rough someone else up. We got you squared. I wish you were still there. No, actually, we've got a good NASA administrator. We really do. But anyway, we're here to talk about energy and shipping. And as a former merchant mariner myself, truck driver, transportation is nothing strange to me. But there's no doubt that Houston is at the very center of American energy and maritime dominance. It's one of the nation's most important maritime gateways. Port Houston plays an absolutely critical role in keeping American goods moving and our supply chain strong. President Trump's historic investments in energy and in maritime have paid very good dividends for both Texans and the American people. Our ports and waterways and maritime workforce are essential to supporting our domestic manufacturing and keeping our nation competitive on the world stage without question. Over the last two years, we've seen what can happen when burdensome Green New Deal regulations are repealed when fossil fuels are embraced instead of attacked america's natural resources are developed instead of being placed off limits and essential infrastructure projects like the recent Project 11 which i was very very proud to have brought to here to in my district in the Project 11 for the Port of Houston are allowed to move forward. And I would add also they move forward in absolutely record time. As a senior Texan on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I have seen firsthand the work that President Trump, Secretary Duffy, you sir, and the Department of Transportation have put into modernizing our regulatory framework, streamlining application processes to bolster our energy security and restore American maritime leadership. Today's announcements are just the latest examples. I want to just say thank you. We need to make sure that our regulatory bureaucracy does not prevent us from keeping up with the rapid innovation that our industry is showing. Plus, our economic and national security depend on the modern, reliable maritime transportation system. The nearly $1 billion to modernize our ports, $35 million to invest across our small shipyards, and more than $350 million for the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. The gentleman right here sent three of his four kids to that academy, and I'm very proud of that. Those are key steps towards strengthening America's maritime workforce and modernizing America's critical infrastructure so mr secretary thank you again for the opportunity to join you here today here in texas and houston is uniquely positioned to lead the charge and unleashing american energy and strengthening our maritime dominance it's a sad tale to say that the chinese can outbuild us 100 200 to 1 when it comes to ships and president trump and that administration and you and your folks here are going to remedy that problem i'm very confident that my district and the greater houston region are going to continue to drive this progress that you have shown uh for years to come so god bless you god bless texas folks thank you all right god bless texas love it um i i want to turn it over uh now to our administrator of PHMSA uh Paul Roberti has just if you if you're looking everything we're doing with regard to pipelines. He is a ferocious leader, and he's done a great job with his team. And the speed at which they've moved, I actually said, anything else we could do at PHMSA? And kind of the answer comes back of like, no, Paul's already moved so fast. Some things that we had stacked up for a decade, we've moved through. And again, we always do it safely, but streamlining the process. So Paul, thanks for being here, and I look forward to your comments. Thank you. Thank you, Secretary. You know, under President Trump and Secretary Duffy's leadership, we are continuing down that pathway of energy dominance. And as I like to say, this is what unleashing American energy looks like. Our rulemaking efforts across, we've done 80 rulemaking. You talk about the sense of urgency. Every day we try to bring a sense of urgency. These rulemakings have produced between $2 and $3 billion of savings to the industry. And that all translates to lower prices for consumers, increased reliability, and we're still just getting going. Let me talk about this LNG rulemaking that we're announcing today. When these regulations were written, as you said, the United States was an importer of energy. And today, we were dependent on foreign energy. And today, we are now the world's largest LNG exporter and our export capacity continues to grow. And it's time that the regulations were updated. Regulations going back decades that have not been updated. Congressional mandates that have been sitting pending for more than 10 years. So we're really excited about this announcement because it's long in the coming. And it's great to share the stage here or the table with Jack Fusco, at Cheniere. Cheniere is a pioneer in this industry and the largest U.S. LNG producer and the second largest globally, maybe the number one producer exporter today. And we look forward to collaborating with Jack and other LNG operators and all stakeholders to make sure this rule advances safety and supports the continued innovation that's necessary. The U.S. LNG industry remains the gold standard in safety, and our rulemaking that we've announced today is a significant step towards a safer energy future. And I'm so grateful to be here today. And thank you, Senator. Excellent work. Thank you, Paul. I'm going to kick it over to Mark Johnson. Mark is the Deputy Administrator of MARAD, and if I'm really honest with you, MARAD was sleepy. MARAD was dysfunctional, to say the least. And, you know, Mark has come in, our administrator, Steve Carmel. We have turned MARAD around, and it is operating, functioning the way a MARAD should and with the kind of focus that Maritime should have in the American government. And Mark has been a great partner in that. So, Mark, I'll turn it over to you. Mr. Secretary, especially for that accolade, make no mistake, the United States is a maritime nation. MARAD is an important part of that. Now that maritime dominance is on our plate and we finally got permission to go do it, we're doing a lot of great things. So MARAD is now certifying deepwater ports, and we're doing that in a streamlined way. Those reviews, like you mentioned, are now 70% shorter. So, I mean, we've got another one due in just a few weeks, and we've got others right behind that. So we're not slowing down, not whatsoever. We've got other projects coming up in December. I think you mentioned Delfin. That project alone is going to be introducing thousands of jobs. It's going to be bringing lots of opportunity. Maritime dominance is a result of all of us working together. We're focused on industry to increase cargo, and LNG is one of those things that produces a lot of cargo and cargo preference. And without that, you can't drive the rest of the maritime ecosystem. That's where shipbuilding comes from. That's where the rest of the ports come from and everything else that's tied to that. We're not going to try to outdo China. It's just not what we're going to try to do. We're going to focus on what the United States does well. We're going to focus on innovation. We're going to focus on technology. And we're going to make those be the drivers of the industry. We have pending legislation and policy that's going to support things like advanced workforce training and development, small modular reactors, that's going to be a transformative function of the maritime industry. You're going to see big changes in just a few short years. That's how we're going to seize maritime dominance. That's how we're going to move forward with MARAD. So thank you very much. Excellent work, Mark. Thank you. Before I turn it over to the table, it's great to be in Texas because we're amongst friends and you all understand how important these issues are. and you've supported the work that our department has done and the president has done on these issues. But let's not be mistaken, there's a lot of people around the country, and even some in Texas, who don't agree with what we're doing. They would prefer that we would have decades-old regulation, that we would take a decade to approve a deepwater port if you approve it at all. We have really old regulations in regard to pipelines, so you can never build a new pipeline in America. And we understand how important energy is for our way of life. And we wanted to be American energy because it's our jobs. It is a projection of power when we can take American energy and export it around the world. And so many more countries now look to America than other regions of the world for their energy. And I think that's critical. But make no mistake not everyone agrees with us um and i've felt blessed over the last couple years that we've had a a lot of support from texas um and from the president and from a lot of places in the country that have allowed us to to move with great common sense um to do things smarter uh which allows us uh again more jobs more opportunity uh but a greater projection of of power from this great country and coming from this great state um so that i'll open up the table for comments or questions great ideas that you want to share with us that we can start um rick do you want thank you so much for uh for being here secretary duffy and all of our esteemed uh guests here at our new port headquarters building you want to talk about energy and beautiful it is it's really really cool and and right out here is the beginning of the houston ship channel you got in a canoe and went down there you would uh you would be at the turning basin my only complaint is the weather you I thought you're supposed to be nice this time of year, sunny and hazy, but well you know uh sometimes you got to have rain right but uh you know we just appreciate you being here and we appreciate our leadership and state leadership and many others that are here today, but when you when you want to when you think about energy and maritime dominance you came to the right place, okay because we are we are the epitome of dominance and when you start thinking about dominance that means you have to be number one, right? You have to be pushing that number one, well we're number one in foreign tonnage total foreign tonnage containerized exports petroleum and petroleum product exports and we have more deep water vessel traffic here than New York, New Jersey, LA and Long Beach combined yeah that that also adds on to that 210,000 annual barge movements so this is a big deal here and the great part of it is that it's it's about free enterprise and dominance of free enterprise The channel itself is dominated by 200 private companies, many of which are in this room today, and eight public terminals that the Port of Houston runs. And we, of course, are the non-federal sponsor for the channel And thank you, Congressman Babin, for the shout-out on Project 11 which was the fastest federal project ever done in America. Just to make sure that we, to your point earlier Secretary Duffy, it made the channel safer first and then it made it more efficient, which we know the time is money, and efficiency is all about getting products to market at the cheapest possible price so that consumers can benefit from that. And we appreciate your administration. We appreciate President Trump's focus on this and it's just great to have you here today. Thank you. you, Secretary Duffy and your colleagues and congressmen thank you very much for the honor of you being in our building and sharing this day with us on such a important topic. And as the chairman said, the importance of our port to the U.S. economy and the international economy cannot be overstated. The cargo that moves through the Houston Ship Channel in our region reaches our entire nation. There are economic benefits seen in every state. As an example of some of the can-do attitude of this group and some of the strong industry leaders you're going to hear from today I want to very briefly highlight Project 11 that we talked about but also Project 5 Project 5 was in 1914 it was the first federal infrastructure cost share in the nation's history caused by our community when we paid for half to build the Houston Ship Channel to be able to compete in the global marketplace following that we got into Project 10 performed by the normal federal process it took 37 years 1968 to 2005 37 years and when we were looking at the economic opportunity of our region before the commercialization of fracking and the explosion in the energy market we knew we couldn't wait uh so working with our industry partners we decided to do Project 11 and with partnership with the federal government in Trump 1.0, we received the fastest authorization in history for a major deep water port from the authorization from when the feasibility report was done. We then, in Trump 1.0, had the fastest appropriation in history, one month, energy and water, the following month, to begin our project. The government contribution was very minimal. The Port Authority and our partners designed before feasibility and immediately began construction we spent about 50 million on design we immediately went into construction once we had that first federal dollar which was for environmental features to build the channel finished on budget on schedule and is now according to latest economic reports having 130 billion dollars of economic value for improving the channel 130 billion what it did it enabled two-way safe traffic 24/7 where before the large ships were limited to only daylight traffic. So our terminals, our petrochemical facilities can now work around the clock versus having a ship tying up that dock at nighttime when they're not allowed to sail. Massive change. And we did it by paying for it and doing it and giving it to the government as a project. I'm not saying we can do all projects that way because it certainly tapped out my organization financially, but it is an example of a can-do attitude from this community and the ability and the willingness to be collaborative, to work as partners and just figure out how to get it done. So that's the major part. Roadways are important. By the way, our tonnage this year port wide for foreign tonnage is up 15.5% through August, the latest statistic. By the way, that's about a five year growth in a one year period. Our growth this year is about 40 million tons predicted which is bigger than U.S. port I believe 11 or 12 our growth this year that growth's putting amazing stress into the transportation system the transportation system is very multi-modal we have the channel in fairly good shape but we're already beginning the next project 12 with the federal government that's already started railroads are making big investments pipeline companies are making massive investments and we have a huge challenge here in roadways and how long it takes the freight process to develop a new roadway or build up roadway capacity. So that's an area we intend to work with your administration on more and with TxDOT and our many leaders in the state to promote the road capacity to keep the velocity and the value of Texas to the state and nation moving forward. Just on that point, I think it's a good one. But we're cognizant of the country's changing. People are moving, and they seem to be moving to Texas or to Florida, places that have low taxes and an environment that's friendly to business and job creation. And so the need has expanded because the demand has grown. And I deal with everybody. Texas is, I can't say that you're the best, but you're one of the best. I don't want to get in trouble from any other state. We've delegated authority. You have led the way in the federal government being able to delegate NEPA authority to the state. You move much faster. Very innovative. And the can-do spirit that you talk about, Texas does a lot of this on their own, and they ask for our support in other ways as well. But it's a great partnership where you just don't come with your handout and ask us to do all your projects Texas leads and and we partner and so you just you have what you have a great state and we understand the the demands that are put on your infrastructure not just because you have a growing port but because you have a growing population so that is that's duly noted Thank You Secretary Duffy I really appreciate it I appreciate everything that you President Trump Secretary Wright, Secretary Burgum have done for the US LNG industry and I want to congratulate Administrator Roberti. This has been years in the making and I really appreciate your leadership in getting this across the finish line as well as your General Counsel Keith Cole so thank you so much. Today represents a very important milestone in US LNG modernizing our safety regulations as we know has taken a long time. Cheniere launched our first cargo in February of 2016. We celebrated this year our 5,000th cargo. We now have about 5,200 tankers that we have exported mostly to Europe. I'd say almost 60% of our LNG has landed in Europe to help them since February of 22 when the Russian Ukraine war started but we've learned a lot the industry has grown it's matured our technology operating experience understanding of how to manage the risk have advanced along the way and it's about time our regulations keep pace with the progress that we've made so i have spent 40 years in the energy industry myself and there's one common principle always safety always comes first. When you're operating a very large energy complex, we have two of them, Corpus Christi and Sabine Pass in Louisiana. You know that good safety practices are the foundation of good operating practices. You can't have one or the other. They go hand in hand together and safety is always first. And it's why I believe in modern risk-based regulations, we need to focus our efforts, our attention, our expertise, our resources on creating the greatest safety benefit while continuing to incorporate what we have learned from our operating experiences and advances in the technology. The other thing I've learned is safety is not static. It requires continuous learning, improvement, and applying our resources if we can make the greatest difference. So we really look forward to working hand-in-hand with all of you one on the center of LNG excellence in addition to the new regulations we look forward to seeing them and and thank you again for having us here today thank you can you hold your mic a little closer thanks yeah now you can yeah okay I wanted to express my gratitude on behalf of all my staff and all that Secretary Duffy and President Trump for streamlining all the procedures and and permitting processes for LNG export, you know. Just to give you an example, very short, I, between, you know, before Trump won, after Trump won and Trump too, we had put an application to FERC for permit for another LNG plant we had in Louisiana. It languished for two and a half, three years, and it died of its own weight, you know. Then we put another application in Trump 2 about 18 months ago to FERC, and today it has been approved. It's a great progress, and I have been in this country for about 60 years, and I always hear that things are going to move better and smooth, and we are reducing the regulations. But you people have done what we have always heard. So thank you very much. And I wanted to let you know that STLNG is putting a $8.4 billion in an MTPA plant in Matagorda Bay, as you explained. The total cost is $8.4 billion. Our total export potential over the next 20 years is about $100 billion. It will provide a couple of thousand construction jobs, hundreds of full-time jobs for the next 30 years, and it will be great for the communities of Texas Gulf Coast. So I just wanted to reiterate that you people have done what everyone has been saying, and FERC has done an excellent job. By the way, during government shutdown twice this time, these people have been working without pay and got our project done. So thank you so much, and God bless this great country. Secretary Duffy, from the American Petroleum Institute and our more than 600 members, thank you for holding this session today. thank you for having me here. It's quite an honor to be at the table with all of these folks. Congressman Babin and Weber, I've testified before you. I prefer to be on the table than testifying, but it's great to see you both again. Let me thank you, Secretary Duffy and the President Trump and his administration for really moving forward with this energy dominance the theme since he's been in office, we've seen incredible progress. And now adding on the maritime dominance is also the focus and the leadership is very welcome to our industry. So thank you. I also want to thank you for the vision that you all have in recognizing that those two issues, maritime dominance and energy dominance, are completely intertwined in this country as an industry we don't invest in two and four year election cycles we invest for decades and you all have the vision to see that these two things are intertwined so that we can do those investments and we look forward to working with all of you as we move forward to make sure that these as we move these forward that they complement each other they don't conflict with one another uh administrator Robert, I thank you for your leadership uh as I want to echo what Mr. Fusco indicated, that moving forward with these regulations, I have a 22-year-old son and a 20-year-old daughter. It's hard to believe that there are regulations that are older than my daughter. As much as my kids have grown up and changed, so too has technology and so too so has the industry. The advancements that the administrator has moved forward, not just on LNG, but also on repair criteria, risk-based inspection for tanks, these are very technical issues. But the theme is, as you pointed out, Mr. Secretary, taking advantage of the technologies, the best practices, the standards that exist so that we're not decreasing safety, we're increasing safety while we're increasing efficiency and we're able to deliver more energy to consumers in the country as well as globally is something that we all need in this country. So thank you for that. And then lastly, you mentioned NEPA, Mr. Secretary. I would be remiss if I didn't identify the permitting priority and this opportunity, this generational opportunity that we have before us today. Congressman Babin and Weber, thank you for your leadership and your support in the House to get your bill passed. The Senate trailed a little bit behind you, but they got theirs done. And we're looking forward, sir, to the continued leadership from the administration to get permitting reform done. At its core, whether we're talking pipelines, port or waterway infrastructure, LNG facilities, permitting is at its core. And unleashing those opportunities will only serve our country's interests even better. So thank you very much, sir. To me, to highlight that point, when we want to do permitting reform, it's not that we're eradicating permitting. We're not going to eradicate the analysis. We're going to fully go through the analysis. and again if there's bad projects projects that don't meet standards they won't happen but it shouldn't take a decade or two decades or 36 or 37 years it should take a year, year and a half let's move faster and still be just as safe and just as sound in our analysis so I don't know if you guys want to comment Democrats seem to be Republicans usually push permitting reform but it seems like Democrats are also seeing that there are some issues there, and they're willing to get involved, at least on the transportation side. Am I wrong on that? Well, we've seen some of that, but I can't say that it's a major sea change. I don't know if they've ever seen a rig or a tax they didn't like. But I'm not here to get that partisan, but you asked the question. I was hopeful in the Senate. I was hearing rumblings that it was going to happen. I will tell you that in the Energy and Commerce Committee, which 60% of the legislation goes through, they're starting to come around on permitting that's why this guy here is one of my favorites uh because of the things y'all have done and continue to do i think they're starting to get the picture there's there's a few of them that are starting to get the picture so keep your fingers crossed i know just maybe not on on um our issues but on roads and bridges everyone and airports they want their they want their projects everyone but roads and bridges are bipartisan, they're American, it's American infrastructure when it takes forever and then the cost skyrockets because of inflation, they don't like that um they want the projects now for their constituents so there is at least in that space some thought process around how can we do this differently so but i'm in suits anybody else oh yes are we okay um we are we have time okay um listen i do want to listen thank you thank you all for the participation i I appreciate the congressman and Mark and Paul and all of you for partaking in this. I would just maybe in closing say I do think we in government can move at the speed of industry. We have different roles, right? We are, at DOT, we're regulators, right? We're safety-driven for the 10th time. That's what we do. But that doesn't mean we have to be adversaries. We can all work together for the benefit of our country and all do our jobs. and that doesn't mean we're pounding heads oftentimes we're working together and sometimes we're opposed to each other because we all have different interests but that's a rarity and so our commitment is we're going to continue to work i know the congress is going to continue to work with us our team is going to continue to work with you and i look forward to all the great investments and jobs that you're going to create energy and shipping so thank you for having me and again my only complaint is your weather it's the only thing I'm complaining about beyond that everything is beautiful my final last point is our door is always open you have great ideas, please share them you should have a government that works better you should have a government that listens and at least at this point in time we care what you think we want to hear back from you good, bad and ugly we don't get offended, we have pretty thick skin especially Paul, Paul has a really thick skin I do too, but let us know give us feedback that's the only way your government can can perform uh better and more efficiently is when we hear from all of you and a lot of you at this table have been good but to the audience as well uh we welcome uh great ideas and great feedback whether it's good or bad um so our door is always open uh with that thank you all for coming i appreciate it audience please stay