[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 31 (Thursday, March 19, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H1304]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   DISASTER IN THE DOMESTIC OIL PATCH

  (Mr. WATKINS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WATKINS. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor today to speak out on a 
situation that is vital to the security of this Nation of ours. An 
emergency exists, a disaster exists in our domestic oil patch. Oil 
prices have dropped below $12 a barrel and soon will be below $10 a 
barrel. These are the lowest prices, the newspapers say, in over 10 
years. When adjusted for inflation, it is down below the 1973 shock. 
Oil production in Oklahoma is at the lowest level since 1914. While 
Saudi Arabia and Venezuela are playing Russian roulette with each other 
in a price war, they are killing the small oil producer in the United 
States and killing our independence from foreign-oil.
  At present we are importing approximately 60 percent of our oil in 
this country from Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. The remaining 40 percent 
is produced mostly by domestically small, marginal wells. These small 
marginal wells are in jeopardy.
  We must enact an emergency package in 1998 and put a long-term energy 
policy in for this country. Our National security depends on such 
action.

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