U.S. Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT) has been appointed to the role of ranking Republican on the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee in Washington, D.C.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a rare coup for a freshman congressman, U.S. Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah) has been appointed to a leadership role on Capital Hill.
After just a year in Congress, the representative from Utah’s 1st Congressional District has been appointed as the new ranking Republican member of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the House Committee on Natural Resources.
“I’m very excited to have a leadership opportunity in my first term in office,” Moore said in a Feb. 10 interview with Cache Valley Daily. “That chance doesn’t come around very often.”
Moore was appointed to lead the GOP representatives on the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee by U.S. Rep. Bruce Wasterman (R-AK), the senior Republican on the House Resource Committee.
Moore will replace U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) in that role. Gosar was recently censured by the House and stripped of his committee assignments for what the House leadership considered offensive Internet postings.
“Since day one,” Westerman said while announcing Moore’s subcommittee appointment, ”he has been an active leader on the (Natural Resource) committee and I know Mr. Moore will continue the great work of the subcommittee in holding the Biden administration accountable to the American people.”
Moore attributes his appointment to his record of bipartisanship on Capitol Hill during the 2021 congressional session and the longstanding working relationships established by staff members he inherited from former U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah).
The responsibilities of the House Committee on Natural Resources include the development of America’s oil and gas assets, both onshore and offshore; establishing renewable energy sources – solar, wind, geothermal and ocean energy; overseeing coal and hardrock mining regulations; and ensuring a fair return for the American people for energy and mineral development.
The responsibilities of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations include evaluating the Natural Resource Committee’s efforts to ensure effective management of our limited natural resources and ensuring that U.S. energy and natural resource policies are grounded in science that is free of financial conflicts of interest.
“Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee have worked hard this past year to conduct rigorous, thoughtful oversight over the Biden Administration’s harmful policies,” Moore explained. “Those policies are driving up energy prices, mismanaging our lands and making America again dependent on foreign countries for energy products and critical minerals.”
Moore added that the Biden Administration’s policies regarding natural resources are catering to fringe energy and environmental groups that “don’t see the big picture.”
“President Joe Biden has come in and set these aggressive climate goals to push for energy options like wind and solar,” Moore emphasized.
“Everybody is in favor of renewable energy, but you’re not going to be able to run this county on wind and solar alone. You’ve got to consider nuclear energy and hydroelectric energy too. Natural gas also is one of our best options to replace fossil fuels without prices going absolutely out of control.
“An unwillingness to embrace that diversified energy portfolio is one mistake (that Biden is making),” Moore argued. “Another one is setting these unrealistic energy goals without a strategy to accomplishment them.”
Moore insisted that the cure for our growing energy crisis is to invest in a broad range of energy sources and allow American ingenuity, innovation and capitalism to do their jobs unhindered.
But, to achieve that kind of national policy change, Republicans must also do their jobs.
“If we’re always just complaining,” he said, “we lose the confidence of the people.
“If we’re convincingly highlighting instead how bad policies create bad outcomes, that’s how you earn the trust and support of the American people.”