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Energy & Environment

We have a responsibility to ensure that this country is preparing for a safe, reliable and secure energy future. Overreliance on a limited range of fuel technologies, foreign sources of energy, and finite resources is unreasonable. We cannot drill our way out of our energy problems; we only have two percent of the world's proven oil reserves but we use about 20 percent of the world's oil.

Our strength will lie in our ability to transition to new, cleaner, more sustainable resources. And we must recognize the impact that our energy choices have on public health and the global environment, now and far into the future.

As co-chair of the Critical Materials Caucus, I am working to encourage innovation in the field of renewable energy and secure the materials necessary to transition to a renewable energy economy. In addition, addressing the climate crisis is imperative for our national security, the ecosystems that feed us, our public health and safety, and our future economic well-being.

We also must work hard to protect our environment and be good stewards of our land, air, and water; I help protect our environment close to home as an advisory member of the Tri-Valley Conservancy.

What I am Doing for You

I introducedH.R.5033, the Rare Earth Magnet Manufacturing Production Tax Credit Act,which would help produce rare earth magnets in the United States that are critical to the production of electric vehicles.

Congresswoman Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon (R-Puerto Rico) and I introduced H.R. 6138, the Preventing Our Next Natural Disaster Act, a bipartisan bill to help communities better prepare for, respond to, and recover from natural disasters including those driven by climate change. The bill would make several changes to FEMA's pre-disaster mitigation grant program by increasing funding, ensuring that communities who need it most get access to this funding, and improving data collection to better track and manage resources before and after natural disasters.

I'm an original cosponsor of H.Res. 332, a "Green New Deal" nonbinding resolution that envisions a 10-year national mobilization akin to FDR's New Deal that would put millions to work in good-paying, union jobs repairing the nation's infrastructure, reducing air and water pollution, and fighting the intertwined economic, social, racial and climate crises crippling the country.

I cosponsored H.R. 848, the Growing Renewable Energy and Efficiency Now (GREEN) Act of 2021, a comprehensive use of the tax code to combat the threat of climate change. The bill builds on current successful tax incentives that promote the deployment of green energy technologies, while providing new incentives for activities that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

I'm an original cosponsor of H.R. 5423, the Solar Energy Manufacturing for America Act, to provide tax credits for American manufacturers at every stage of the solar manufacturing supply chain, from polysilicon production to solar cells to fully assembled solar modules. The bill would create tens of thousands of good-paying American solar jobs and free the U.S. from dependence on foreign solar panel manufacturers like China.

I cosponsored H.R. 3097, the Green Transportation Act, to direct cities and states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector. This sector represents the single largest source of carbon pollution in the United States, which makes tracking and reducing those emissions an urgent priority in mitigating the climate crisis.

I cosponsored H.R. 1915, the Water Quality Protection and Job Creation Act of 2021, a bipartisan bill to authorize $50 billion in direct infrastructure investment over the next five years to address America's crumbling wastewater infrastructure and local water quality challenges.

I'm an original cosponsor of H.R. 3116, the Clean Ocean and Safe Tourism (COAST) Anti-Drilling Act, a bipartisan bill to prohibit the U.S. Department of Interior from issuing leases for the exploration, development, or production of oil or gas along the Atlantic Coast, including the North, Mid-, and South Atlantic and Straits of Florida planning areas.

I cosponsored H.R. 653, the West Coast Ocean Protection Act, to permanently ban oil and gas drilling in federal waters off the coast of California, Oregon and Washington.

I cosponsored H.R. 3053, the American Coasts and Oceans Protection Act, to prohibit any new leasing for the exploration, development, or production of oil or natural gas along the Southern California coast, from San Diego to the northern border of San Luis Obispo County.

I cosponsored H.R. 815, the Arctic Refuge Protection Act, to repeal the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge oil and gas program and to designate approximately 1,559,538 acres of land within Alaska in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as a component of the National Wilderness Preservation System.

I cosponsored H.R. 1788, the Clean Energy Hydrogen Innovation Act, to expand the definition of eligible hydrogen projects under the Department of Energy's Loan Guarantee office.

I cosponsored H.R. 2885, the Preventing Outages With Enhanced Resilience and Operations Nationwide Act of 2021 (POWER ON) Act, to provide $100 million for electric grid resilience grants through the Department of Energy to enhance the physical resilience of the electric grid; the money could be used for activities, technologies, equipment, and hardening measures to enable the electric grid to better withstand the effects of extreme weather, wildfires, or any other natural disaster.

I voted for H.R. 803, the Protecting America's Wilderness and Public Lands Act, which passed the House. This legislation is a package of eight bills that all received bipartisan votes of support in the House during the 116th Congress and were originally reported out of the House Natural Resources Committee. The bill designates approximately 1.5 million acres of public land as wilderness, protects more than 1.2 million acres of public land from new oil and gas and mining claims, ensuring that iconic landscapes like the Grand Canyon and Colorado's Thompson Divide are permanently protected from the irreversible threats posed by extraction, and incorporates more than 1,200 river miles into the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System