Weekly Updates

I was pleased to see so many of you enjoying time with family and friends on Independence Day in America’s First District. The holiday weekend is always a popular one for traveling, and I know that many folks were watching the miles tick upward on their odometers and thinking of the cost of gasoline. That cost has been on my mind as well, and I recently voted for legislation to help cut the cost of fuel for Americans by boosting domestic energy production.

H.R. 4899, the Lowering Gasoline Prices to Fuel an America That Works Act, would streamline and improve onshore and offshore energy permitting, and it ensures a responsible, all-of-the-above energy plan that utilizes all of our vast energy resources. This legislation included two amendments that I wrote to expedite Virginia offshore energy production and increase Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education in the Commonwealth. The bill would also create a new revenue sharing formula to be phased in for coastal states, entitling these states – including Virginia – to a significant portion of revenue received by the U.S.

There has been bipartisan support at all levels of government for the responsible development and exploration of sources of energy off the coast of Virginia, and I was pleased that my provisions were included. The resources are there, and this legislation is a significant opportunity to make them available, thereby helping to relieve pain at the pump and increase American jobs.

There is no single solution to fixing our energy problems, but H.R. 4899 is one key part of a thorough approach to energy policy as a whole. I also believe that renewable energy sources must play a part in such a strategy, which is why I introduced H.R. 1398, the Advancing Offshore Wind Production Act, last year. This bill would streamline the complex process for approving offshore wind permits in the Outer Continental Shelf.

The main streets of Virginia’s First District are full of ideas to get our economy back on track, and your feedback is critically important to me as I serve you. I can be reached by telephone at (202) 225-4261, through my website (www.wittman.house.gov), on Facebook (www.facebook.com/reprobwittman), and via Twitter (www.twitter.com/robwittman).