[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 20 (Tuesday, February 29, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H540-H541]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1845
              CURBING AMERICA'S DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Simpson). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, almost everyone is understandably upset 
about the recent rise in the price of gasoline. The really sad thing is 
that we could easily bring these prices down or at least keep them from 
going up further.
  We have become far too dependent on foreign oil, with slightly over 
half, in fact some estimates as high as 60 percent, of our oil coming 
from other countries. This endangers our national security, in addition 
to hurting us in the pocketbook.
  We are sitting on many billions of barrels of oil in Alaska and 
offshore other States but some extremists do not want us to drill for 
any oil, cut any trees or dig for any coal. In fact, one 
environmentalist once told me he hoped the price of gas would go to 3 
or $4 a gallon so more people would be forced to use mass transit and 
there would be less pollution.
  We could drill for oil on less than 1 percent of the Arctic Wildlife 
Refuge in Alaska and potentially get billions of barrels of oil and 
billions more offshore from other States.
  In 1998, the U.S. geologic survey estimated that the coastal plain of 
this Arctic Wildlife Refuge, an area set aside by Congress for 
evaluation of its oil and gas potential, could have up to 16 billion 
barrels of recoverable oil. This is equivalent to 30 years of Saudi oil 
imports.
  The House Resources Committee web page states that ``ANWR consists of 
19 million acres in the northeastern corner of the State, of which 8 
million has been designated as wilderness. The coastal plain of ANWR, 
designated as a study area for possible oil development in 1980, 
comprises 1.5 million acres, or 0.4 percent of the total acreage of 
Alaska. This debate centers on development which would affect only 
2,000 acres within that 1.5 million acres with the potential to produce 
the largest unexplored onshore geologic structures known in the United 
States.''
  The Arctic Wildlife Refuge is almost 19.8 million acres, 1.5 million 
acres of which is flat, brown tundra without a tree or bush on it and 
very few animals. Yet the groups opposed to drilling never show 
pictures of this flat, brown tundra. They almost always show pictures 
of the Brooks Range which is mountainous with trees and animals, but no 
one has ever advocated oil exploration there.

[[Page H541]]

  The less than 1 percent area where the oil is can be explored without 
cutting one tree or bush or harming a single animal. Offshore oil can 
now also be produced in a very environmentally safe way.
  I voted several years ago to require double hulls on oil tankers and 
have voted for many other environmental bills. But you cannot just shut 
down development of natural resources without destroying jobs, driving 
up prices, and hurting poor and working people most of all.
  Often what is behind much of what happens here is big money. Some of 
these environmental extremists are some of the best friends extremely 
big business has.
  I wonder if some companies which want us to import a lot of oil, or 
possibly the OPEC countries themselves, or possibly oil companies with 
big investments elsewhere simply do not want us drilling in Alaska 
because they would lose big money.
  Are they supporting and funding some of these environmental groups 
because it is to their monetary advantage to do so?
  I mean, if you are talking about drilling on only a couple of 
thousand or a few thousand acres out of an area many millions of acres 
in size and you can do so in a completely safe way environmentally, why 
do these people keep fighting it?
  Almost all of these radical environmentalists come from wealthy 
families. But they will be hurting the poor and working people the most 
if they keep these oil prices from coming down.
  Mr. Speaker, we should open up this less than 1 percent area of ANWR 
and certain other offshore areas, get many millions barrels of oil and 
become less dependent on foreign oil in the process.
  If we do not, gas prices in the future could go even higher or not 
come down and millions of poor and working people will be the ones who 
are hurt the most.

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