U.S. Senators John Boozman and Tom Cotton, along with Congressmen Rick Crawford, French Hill, Steve Womack, and Bruce Westerman, released the following statement after meeting today with U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Ernest Moniz to get thorough answers to questions they asked in September about the Plains and Eastern Clean Line Transmission Project:

“We appreciate Secretary Moniz listening to our concerns about the Plains and Eastern Clean Line Transmission Project and the use of section 1222 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to implement this project. We continue to have serious concerns that this project erodes the rights of local communities and the State of Arkansas to have a seat at the table in the decision making process.”

In September, members asked the Secretary to address their detailed concerns about the federal government’s possible unprecedented partnership with a third party to construct an electrical transmission project through Arkansas.  The insufficient responses to their questions led members to request a meeting with Secretary Moniz in early November.

Read the letters members sent to Secretary Moniz here. 

Citing insufficient responses to their questions, Boozman and Cotton placed a hold on the confirmation vote of a DOE nominee earlier this month.

Congressman Steve Womack has represented Arkansas’s Third Congressional District since 2011 and serves on the House Appropriations Defense, Financial Services and General Government, and Labor-Health and Human Services subcommittees and the House Committee on the Budget.

###