mr. speaker , i want to rise in strong support of the rule . 
it is a good rule in spite of some of the comments that been made about it . 
the process has been fair . 
i want to make a few very quick remarks . 
the committees of jurisdiction each held an open markup . 
the committee that i chair , the markup , including opening statements , took 3 1/2 days . 
we considered every amendment that was offered ; and we accepted , i would say , 40 percent of the amendments . 
many of those were accepted from members of the minority of my committee who ended up voting against the bill ; but because i felt it improved the bill , we took the amendments enthusiastically . 
eighty amendments were offered at the committee on rules yesterday . 
i believe that the committee on rules has made in order about 30 of those . 
it may be a little bit fewer than that , but a large number of amendments have been made in order , including a substitute by the gentleman from michigan ( mr. dingell ) xz4001100 , the ranking member of the committee on energy and commerce . 
we accepted amendments on the floor on some of the more controversial areas in the bill . 
my good friend , the gentleman from massachusetts ( mr. frank ) xz4001400 , was speaking earlier about the lng siting provision . 
the gentleman from delaware ( mr. castle ) xz4000700 will have an amendment on the floor sometime tomorrow to strike that provision . 
i happen to think the lng siting provision is a good part of the bill . 
we are importing more net liquefied natural gas , and we are going to import more . 
we need to find areas to site those facilities . 
it is interstate commerce , so the federal energy regulatory commission does have primary jurisdiction ; but the bill before us says the states shall be involved , not may be , shall be . 
the bill before us has a specific list of conditions that have to be considered , including population density and alternative siting . 
the bill before us has a first-time-ever guarantee that the states have the automatic right to go in and inspect these facilities for safety conditions . 
we have worked very hard on that lng siting provision to make sure that states are very involved ; but ultimately , on the final decision , as it should be because this is interstate commerce , the ferc is the one that makes the final decision . 
so , mr. speaker , i know this is a contentious bill . 
it has been before the house each of the last two congresses . 
we have passed it . 
the last congress we passed the conference report , but the senate did not bring it up . 
today or tomorrow , we want to pass this bill . 
we want to go to conference with the senate later this spring , bring back the conference report and put a bill on the president 's desk to help our energy future . 
i would urge a `` yes '' vote on the rule . 
it is a good rule and fair to all involved . 
