Last night, Congressman John Fleming, a freshman from northwestern Louisiana – where massive amounts of economic growth, jobs and government revenues have been created as a direct result of clean-burning natural gas production in the Haynesville Shale region – took to the House floor to tout the real-life impact that American energy production creates and to dispel untruths about the environmentally-safe energy production technique known as hydraulic fracturing.

And as Mr. Fleming’s time to speak expired, he was preparing to show the American people an Energy In Depth diagram displaying how hydraulic fracturing safely produces clean-burning natural gas. Seriously, Mr. Speaker: You couldn’t have given him an extra 10 seconds to do that?

Key Excerpts:

“[Haynesville Shale natural gas production has] pumped $4.5 billion into the economy in FY 2008. It’s created nearly $3.9 billion in household earnings in the same year. The greatest impact on indirect and household earnings was experienced by workers in the mining sector with new household earnings of $191.3 million in 2008. It’s created over $30 million in new earnings in seven separate sectors.”

“[Haynesville Shale natural gas production has] created directly and indirectly over 32,000 jobs.”

“Conservative estimates report that state and local tax revenues increased by at least $153.3 million in 2008.”

“I wanted to talk a moment about how we get the natural gas out of that shale that we are talking about, that’s two miles deep in the earth. The method is called hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracing is a more common term. This method has been used for over 60 years and responsible for 30 percent of America’s recoverable oil and gas. Of wells currently operating today, wells currently operating today, over 90 percent have been fractured at least once.

“Environmentalists and their allies in Congress are escalating their assault on affordable and reliable energy with legislation that would place regulation of hydraulic fracturing under the Safe Drinking Water Act, SWDA. A law that was never intended for this purpose.”

“This legislation would have a far-reaching negative impact on energy and energy producers and consumers alike. For years this process has been safely and effectively regulated by individual states. And of the more than one million wells fractured, not a single case, not a single case of drinking water contamination has ever been recorded.”

“In my state of Louisiana, three different agencies have oversight related to this process. So you see, it’s not an unregulated process.”

NOTE: Click HERE to watch this floor speech.