[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 53 (Wednesday, March 22, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E656]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E656]]
 IN PRAISE OF PAUL HARVEY'S COMMENTS ABOUT THE BELEAGURED OIL AND GAS 
                                INDUSTRY

                                 ______


                       HON. ERNEST J. ISTOOK, JR.

                              of oklahoma

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 22, 1995
  Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Speaker, recently a column by fellow Oklahoman Paul 
Harvey was published which effectively highlights the problems faced by 
our Nation's domestic oil and gas enterprises. I commend this column to 
my colleagues in the hope that Mr. Harvey's wise words, born of 
experience, will be heeded as we consider legislation affecting this 
vital industry this session.

               [From the Daily Oklahoman, Mar. 10, 1995]
               Nation's Oil Industry Continues to Suffer

                            (By Paul Harvey)

       Our nation's balance of trade with other nations is 
     unbalanced in their favor largely because of all the foreign 
     oil we are buying--needlessly.
       While drilling rigs sit idle in Texas, Oklahoma and 28 
     other states, our country continues to import from other 
     countries more than half of all the oil we use. Meanwhile, 
     the administration persists in maintaining policies that make 
     it impossible for stateside oil companies to compete.
       Commerce Secretary Ron Brown has persistently refused even 
     to consider a tariff on imports, which would ``level the 
     playing field.'' The White House has declined even to 
     consider initiatives to bolster our own oil industry, to 
     stimulate our own production.
       Denise Bode, president of the Independent Petroleum 
     Association of America, is outraged. She predicts ``a fire 
     storm'' in the oil- and gas-producing states.
       The American Petroleum Institute, convinced it will get 
     nothing from the White House, is turning for help to 
     Congress. The eight-member Oklahoma congressional delegation 
     is seeking remedial legislation.
       Sens. Bob Dole, R-Kan., and Don Nickles, R-Ponca City, are 
     offering a parallel proposal to the Senate. What they seek is 
     a $3-a-barrel tax credit for existing and new marginal oil 
     wells, phasing out when the market prices hit $20 a barrel.
       It can be argued that our nation is vulnerable again to 
     being held hostage by Middle East potentates, who could cut 
     off our oil within hours in the event of confrontation. That 
     is so.
       But a poor boy who grew up in Tulsa is more urgently 
     anxious about the prospect of losing our nation's limited 
     reserves forever.
       Underground oil is not a ``pool'' of liquid. Mostly, it is 
     suspended in sand or porous rock. Over time, even under 
     applied water pressure, the flow dwindles, until one day, you 
     have wells producing perhaps only three barrels a day.
       After time, that three-barrel well will not pay its way 
     because of cheap imports. If you plug that well, and later 
     effort to re-drill the same well might cost $5 million, which 
     is utterly unrealistic. So, that oil is gone forever.
       Domestic United States oil production is the lowest it has 
     been in 40 years--500,000 jobs have disappeared in the oil 
     industry in the past 10 years. Twenty-two thousand have been 
     eliminated in just the two Clinton years.
       Considering those numbers, a tax credit to encourage 
     production is one of the best investments our country could 
     make.
     

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