[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 39 (Monday, April 3, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H1631-H1632]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                TIME TO BREAK THE ADDICTION TO CHEAP OIL

  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, recent disruption in oil supply has 
created problems with heating oil prices, costs to truckers for their 
diesel fuel, and increased gasoline prices. The response and the 
proposed solutions have ranged from the ridiculous to the absurd, even 
the destructive. Most reasonable people agree that the United States 
cannot always have unlimited supply of oil at the lowest cost in the 
developed world. Such assumptions are not just wrong headed, they are 
impossible to maintain and they encourage behaviors that are costly to 
the American public. We are, as a Nation, addicted to cheap oil. It 
skews our policy in the Mideast; discourages development of alternative 
fuels and energy conservation. It encourages waste, pollution and the 
negative side effects of our exclusive reliance on the automobile for 
personal transportation. It also makes us much more vulnerable to 
disruption in oil supply and price whether by natural market forces, 
unintended disaster or unfriendly policies from OPEC nations.
  It is important for us to acknowledge that the United States consumes 
three times as much fuel per capita as any other developed country. 
Just 5 percent of the world's population of the United States consumes 
over a quarter of the world's oil supply, equivalent to Western Europe 
and Japan combined. For all the hysteria about recent price increases, 
we are still well below the 1981 high of $2.49 per gallon in today's 
dollars, and a little over a year ago we had the cheapest gasoline 
prices in our history in real terms.
  Amongst the most unfortunate so-called solutions has been the 
proposal to cut the Federal gasoline tax 4.3 cents or more. There is no 
indication at all that a tax reduction will mean any reduction in price 
for the consumer. So long as supplies are constrained and demand is 
high, the market will charge what the market will bear. A tax cut will 
simply mean more profit for oil producers and distributors. This is 
also an invitation for people to manipulate oil supply and prices. If 
the United States Congress, led by the Senate, is so misguided as to 
cut the gasoline price to take the pain out of higher prices, even if 
it would work, and there is no evidence that it would, it is simply an 
invitation for OPEC or others to continue manipulation because Uncle 
Sam will take up the slack and reduce the pain. It is further ill 
conceived because the gas tax now is largely dedicated to funding our 
transportation infrastructure.
  At a time when communities are struggling to maintain the condition 
of their roads, wrestling with capacity questions and looking for ways 
to provide support for transit so that the traveling public has 
choices, losing $7.2 billion a year of infrastructure investment will 
be counterproductive, making our problems harder while costing us more 
money.
  How we move and organize our energy supplies and their environmental 
consequences has everything to do with a community's livability. 
Instead of pandering to OPEC and playing an elaborate game of pretend 
with the American public and certainly instead of making the problem 
worse, Congress should be part of the solution. We should now have an 
energy policy in this country. There has been little discussion in 
recent years. We ought to use this occasion to reexamine our attitudes 
regarding the utilization of energy.
  Instead of Congress interfering with the administration's efforts to 
increase energy standards for automobiles, we ought to have minimum 
fuel efficiency standards for all motorized vehicles. It is time to 
stop pretending that pickups and SUVs are anything but what the vast 
majority of people use them for,

[[Page H1632]]

personal transportation. They ought to be subject to the same standards 
as cars. Instead of giving billions of dollars of extra profit to OPEC 
and oil distributors, if people really think that government does not 
need the money, we should invest it in the development of alternative 
energy sources. Wind, solar, fuel cells and higher-efficiency vehicles 
are all ways to cut down on our dependence on oil, and especially oil 
imports.
  There ought to be a premium placed on energy efficiency in building 
design and land use. This could have a huge impact on energy 
utilization. Most important, it is time for politicians to stop 
treating the public as spoiled children who cannot accept the truth or 
modify behavior. If we treat the American public like grown-ups, as 
full partners in the development of energy strategies and more livable 
communities, our families and businesses will, in fact, rise to the 
occasion. And our communities will be more livable, our families will 
be safer, healthier and more economically secure.

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