[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 44 (Monday, April 10, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E519]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E519]]



         DON'T USE SHORTAGE TO PROMOTE ANWR, COAST DEVELOPMENT

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                           HON. GEORGE MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, April 10, 2000

  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, the recent rise in 
energy prices should serve as a wake-up call for the Republican 
leadership in Congress. From legislative obstruction that prevents 
improved auto fuel efficiency to gutting the budgets for energy 
conservation and efficiency programs, the Republicans in Congress have 
set the American people up to be exploited by OPEC.
  Now, as the predicted crisis hits, the Republicans offer solutions 
that are as bankrupt and empty as their legislative record over the 
past five years:
  Republicans vote for opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to 
oil and gas development.
  The Republican Whip declares that ``the cleanest thing you could do 
is to drill [for oil] off the coast of California and Florida,'' 
repealing the moratoria on offshore oil drilling.
  Republicans want to repeal the gas taxes that are paying for urgently 
needed transportation improvements throughout America.
  These are the same leaders who have repeatedly advocated the 
abolition of the Department of Energy and promoted the export to Asia 
of domestic oil from Alaska, all the while slashing programs designed 
to make America less dependent on foreign fuels.
  As the Nation prepares for the celebration of Earth Day, these 
vigorously anti-environmental initiatives by the Republican leadership 
are extraordinarily ill-timed. But that should not come as a great 
surprise from a party whose third-ranking leader in the House of 
Representatives has been quoted as likening the Environmental 
Protection Agency to the Gestapo.
  There is no easy or instant solution to make us more energy 
independent. Thanks to the budget cuts embraced by the Republican 
leadership, we have lost years of critical research and development in 
energy conservation and efficiency programs that were requested by the 
Clinton administration.
  Instead of anti-environmental Republican policies, we should be 
working together to make the daily activities of Americans more energy-
friendly. Who wouldn't want to drive a more fuel efficient car, live in 
a home that is better insulated, or have utilities which use less water 
and electricity? These kinds of measures can save much more oil than 
would ever be produced from the Arctic Refuge and without environmental 
destruction.
  The Republican strategy is to trade energy efficiency for 
environmental catastrophe. That is not a sane national energy policy. 
That is a choice the American people should not have to make, and it is 
a choice they rightly reject.

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