During a Senate Energy Committee hearing last week, Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) spoke about increasing energy baseloads by expanding traditional hydrocarbon resources.
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00:00Thank you Senator Hickenlooper. Mr. Hausweit, you're very familiar with the
00:08Bakken and so you know that even though before it was commercially viable to
00:14produce the Bakken, it was technologically viable. And so the
00:17challenge we had, and I was governor back at that time and you know starting in
00:222000, is we were drilling the vertical wells, which you're very familiar with,
00:26but the economics were such that all the companies were leaving. There were
00:29other places where they could go and frankly do better. We started to work on
00:35the shale play and eventually of course cracked the code and went from just being
00:39technologically viable to commercially viable. So talk to me in terms of carbon
00:46capture, because the same thing applies. Now you're very familiar with the Energy
00:50and Environmental Research Center at the University of North Dakota. My first
00:54question is, are you committed to continuing the PCOR partnership that they
00:58have with the Department of Fossil Energy at DOE? Senator, thank you for the
01:04question. Thank you for the time earlier this week. I'm very familiar with the EERC.
01:08It's a team of very talented scientists, geologists. I don't know the details of the
01:13agreement that's currently in hand at DOE. If confirmed, I do commit to reviewing
01:17that contract, understanding the benefits to the DOE and to the nation. Okay, the, but
01:22that is part of the work that is going to, and, and EERC is a great example of, of the
01:28type of entity that you need to work with along with private enterprise to crack the
01:32code here. You need to crack the code in terms of getting carbon capture
01:37commercially viable. How are you going to do it? Senator, thank you for the
01:43question. Working with the brightest minds in the country is, is one way. We need to
01:47drive the cost down, just like we did with the shale revolution. In order to make
01:50anything compete for capital, it needs to generate a return that attracts investment.
01:54We need to find ways not only to capture CO2, we need to use the CO2. Most of our
01:59unconventional revolution resources are maturing, and we're leaving 90% of the
02:05oil in the ground. We have 90% of the oil that we need to go get, and CO2 is an
02:10incredible resource to do that. It's got the right physical properties that it will
02:14be easy to inject, it will mix with the oil at lower pressures, and will allow us to
02:18go recover the remaining resource below our feet. Below wells that have already been drilled,
02:22and locations that have already been built, with infrastructure already in place. So we
02:26need to be thinking about how to use this resource to go recover more affordable, reliable
02:30energy. Right. It's a huge twofer, right? You not only pull the CO2 off the coal plants,
02:36so now you've got longevity with base load, but now you also have that CO2 for carbon floods,
02:41which doubles the life of these oil fields, right? That's energy and more energy, right? And better
02:46environmental stewardship. Senator, we need to get more oil out of the ground, and CO2 is a
02:50fantastic resource to do that. And we have this time now to do it with an administration
02:56that understands how to produce all of our energy resources. So we need to get this done
03:01for future, so we have this resource for future generations. Would you agree? We need this resource
03:07for many generations. Hydrocarbons make up more than 80% of our primary energy, and we need
03:11more of it for many, many decades. Thank you. And so then I'm going to turn to Ms. Teresa.
03:17Ms. Teresa, going down the same line, we have a group, we need more electricity. All these smart guys
03:23wanted for AI and all these different uses, right? They always want more and more and more electricity,
03:29yet at the same time, we face all these pressures that actually constrain our ability to produce that
03:34base load electricity. And so coal-fired electricity is incredibly important for the
03:40stability of the grid and having that base load. How are you going to work with your colleague next
03:45to you there and make sure that we have these coal plants around for a long, long time, future generations,
03:51so that they can provide you that base load you need for an electric reliable grid?
03:56Thank you, Senator, for that question. Counting on you two to get this done now, so.
04:00Well, it is a daunting task, but we work for President Trump, and I think that he would only
04:08trust folks who are movers and shakers and want to get things done. And so I will, if confirmed,
04:15it also will involve not just the two of us working together, but working with our federal families. And
04:21also the grid in itself has many, many stakeholders working with the states and the local people to get
04:28it done. And so the collaboration that I talked about before, we will have early conversations and
04:34ongoing engagement to ensure that what we are doing is in the best interest of our taxpayers and can
04:41benefit all Americans with affordable, secure, reliable.
04:45Do you agree we need to add base load?
04:46Oh, absolutely. In fact, that is,
04:50we're in a situation today. Thank you for reminding me about that. The base load is so important for
04:57stabilizing our grid. It allows more buffer in the system to accommodate the different shapes that
05:05are happening. You were talking about the AI and data centers. We know that they're not only going to
05:10have huge demand, but they're also going to have interesting shapes that the grid is going to have
05:14to respond to. And base load will certainly help to support that.
05:18So, uh, Mr. Daufermeyer, um, and then you've got the key role to play in that, you know, delays defeat.
05:26You know, you start out talking about your job, uh, in terms of, uh, guiding white, uh, water rafting
05:34and hunting and fishing. I mean, I about cried. It sounded so good. I mean, I love to hunt, love to fish,
05:38love the outdoors. And, uh, you know, I could just see the serene look on your face while you're talking
05:43about it. That's really awesome stuff. So we love the environment and we want to, uh, always protect
05:48it and all that. But at the same time, we got to develop this energy. Um, and, uh, and so we've
05:54got to have a, uh, certain, uh, a permitting process that works, that's certain that we get the investment
06:01made. We do it right and well, but we get her done, right? Amen. Talk about that. How are you going to
06:06work with these two next year to, to make sure we have energy from these sources that we can't get to
06:11energy dominance without the things we're talking about? How do you see us moving forward to get
06:16that done? Yep. Well, thank you so much, Senator Hoeven for the question and thank you for all that
06:22the work that you have done, uh, or that I witnessed. I was not involved with the Dakota Access Pipeline,
06:28but I was familiar with it and, and I know that you were very helpful and that's a perfect example of
06:34the whole country was familiar with it. Yeah. It's a perfect example of a broken regulatory system.
06:38Exactly. You know, it's one president says you got the permit. It's been operating for almost,
06:43I don't know, well over five years now, um, you know, 500,000 plus barrels a day and it still
06:49doesn't have the final regulatory approval. Right. Think about that. Yeah. And it, you know,
06:54it's granted, you know, the right of way and then it's revoked and then it's granted again and it's
07:00revoked and it's just, you know, if we continue along that line, if we continue to have a permitting
07:05system, you know, that operates like that, that the, the capital will dry up, the investment
07:11in these types of infrastructure projects will not be there and we will not be able to
07:15meet the growing demand and ultimately, you know, heaven forbid, we'll lose the AI arms race to China.
07:21So, you know, I think permitting is absolutely critical to our energy security and I think
07:25we all agree that our energy security is, is critical to our national security.
07:29Thank you to all three of you. Appreciate it. Senator Cortez Mesto. Thank you.