'Is That What You Just Said?': Angus King Presses Nom On Conveyance Of Public Lands To States

5/6/2025

During a Senate Energy Committee hearing last week, Sen. Angus King (I-ME) spoke about the conveyance of public lands to states or private entities.

Transcript

00:00Ms. Beyer, a couple of things. I just want to follow up on Senator Hovind's question.

00:04The problem with the effective revocation of a permit that had already been granted

00:10is the chilling effect that has on developers generally,

00:14whether it's wind power or oil and gas or anything else.

00:17That was an extraordinary action, and having been an energy developer myself,

00:23you spend millions of dollars and months and years to get your permits.

00:28And to have a permit effectively canceled after you had gone through that entire process,

00:35the concern has to be not necessarily about this particular project,

00:39but what this says to developers generally about the reliability and certainty of the permitting process.

00:46And I joined with Senator Brasso and others, Senator Manchin, on permitting reform.

00:51I'm very strongly in favor of permitting reform,

00:53but a step which withdraws an already issued permit, I hope that you will agree,

01:00is a dangerous message to the development community generally.

01:04Senator, I agree with that completely.

01:07The community that is developing, that is producing, that is building transmission,

01:13the midstream companies, that will move our energy across the country.

01:18They absolutely need certainty in our permitting systems,

01:22so that they can make financial investment decisions.

01:26I appreciate that. Let me go on to a different question.

01:29Thank you for that answer.

01:31You answered, Senator Heinrich, about conveyance of public lands.

01:35You said only Congress can do that.

01:37Can I press you a little bit further and say that you will not support the conveyance

01:42or transfer of public lands without congressional approval?

01:45Sir, if I am nominated, I will, or if I am confirmed, I will follow the law as directed by Congress.

01:56I know that...

01:57But let me talk just in general policy.

01:59Do you think there's any justification for the conveyance of public lands in a more general sense?

02:07And I don't mean little in holdings and that kind of thing where we do those things all the time that make total sense,

02:13but I'm talking about a more broad program of conveyance of public lands to states or private interests.

02:20As a matter of policy, do you support that or do you oppose it?

02:25I believe that not every acre of public land holds the exact same value and that states know best in how they want to use their public lands.

02:37And so I hope...

02:38So you're saying that you're okay with conveying federal public lands to states?

02:42Is that what you just said?

02:43I hope to be a collaborative partner with Congress on that.

02:47Well, I hope you'll take that very seriously because I have grave concerns about conveyance of public lands.

02:54It belongs to the public and the public should have a response and the public's voice is right here.

03:00So in your initial statement, only Congress can do this.

03:04I hope that you'll live up to that in your position.

03:07Mr. Garrish, I've been in a number of meetings recently about SMRs and development of the future of nuclear power.

03:14It strikes me that it's not going to happen on its own in the private sector because it's simply too expensive.

03:21That there needs to be a kind of chips and science act, if you will, for new nuclear technology with federal support for the first five or some number

03:32because the expense is so great of developing a brand new, highly complex piece of technology.

03:39What are your thoughts on that?

03:40I agree with that completely.

03:42The private sector cannot...

03:44And the records show that he said he agreed with me completely.

03:48You are...

03:51My position on this is that we need to develop a series of mechanisms for financing of reactors.

04:00The private sector can do some of this.

04:03The loan office can help.

04:05That was very helpful in the Vogel plants, as you know.

04:09And it's been helpful in other plants that we have.

04:14In addition to that, we have to look for other sources of financing and even grants in some cases.

04:21And we do have some grant programs currently...

04:23Particularly for the early prototypes.

04:26Getting prototypes to work and to be tested and to demonstrate the materials that you need for licensing.

04:34That is a program that we currently have underway and we are going to implement at the Idaho National Laboratory.

04:42And that's an extremely important part of the process.

04:46We have to get these plants past the first of a kind.

04:51We have to build five of them or ten of them to be able to demonstrate that these can be built in factories and we can move forward.

05:00So, I agree with you. This is a complex matter as to how we go through the process.

05:06But we have to look for financing tools and financing interests and people that are interested in doing this, including the government.

05:13Mr. Karrasher, I really appreciate your willingness to continue to serve and to demonstrate that those of us who remember President Reagan still have something to offer.