[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 123 (Thursday, October 5, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H8921-H8922]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    ISSUES REGARDING OIL PRODUCTION AND CONDITIONS IN RURAL AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Peterson) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PETERSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I came down here to talk 
about rural issues, but I feel a little compelled to talk a little bit 
about what was just discussed.
  I come from Pennsylvania, and in fact 5 miles from my home the first 
oil well in America was drilled, Drake's well. So I come from an area 
where my district had four refineries, we only have three now, but an 
area that has been in the oil business since it started. It is where 
all the major oil companies in America started, in western 
Pennsylvania, because that is the first oil field that was developed.
  It is interesting to talk to people about these simple ways to fix 
this problem when it is obvious they have never been in a refinery and 
they certainly do not understand the oil business.
  I am going to just back up a little bit and talk about the problem we 
have

[[Page H8922]]

with oil going from $10 to $35 a barrel. It is because we have been 1 
million or more barrels short per day in our volume that is necessary, 
so we are gradually creating a shortage. When we have a shortage in the 
marketplace, we drive the price up.
  We still have a shortage in the marketplace. We are still not 
importing and domestically producing enough oil to build up a supply.
  Normally, in the spring, refineries have all of these tank farms full 
of gasoline because they cannot produce enough gasoline in the 
summertime for us to drive our cars as much as we do, so they build 
those supplies.
  In the summertime and in the fall, they build up the supplies of home 
heating oil, and they have this reserve. This country is way behind. 
All the refineries are way behind in building up just the normal stocks 
that they need for this winter for home heating.
  Now, we are talking about instantly starting a reserve for New 
England. In Pennsylvania, a number of years ago when we had the first 
energy crisis, we had reserves. We had oil and gasoline and fuel oil 
set aside. Then it was allocated. That is what they are talking about 
to help themselves in New England when the pipeline is only half full, 
and it needs to be full to have enough to do the winter. If we put some 
in a set-aside reserve, we cause a shortage.
  I remember when I argued with our Department of Energy in 
Pennsylvania because we were having this problem every year, and I 
spent half of my time helping people get fuel oil or gasoline for the 
gas stations.
  I said, I think we are close enough in volume now where if you would 
not have anything in reserve this year, the system would work. And we 
argued for weeks. Finally they did that, and we did not have any 
problem that year.
  But the problem we have now, no matter what we do, the refineries in 
America cannot fill those tanks to supply us, and especially if we have 
a cold winter, we really are in a dilemma. They run at 96 to 97 percent 
capacity, so there is not much room to refine more than they are 
refining.
  What people do not realize, my son works in a refinery. He is an 
electrician in a refinery. They are getting ready for a 4- or 8-week 
shutdown where they stop refining. They have to do this to different 
parts of the refinery annually, and sometimes twice a year, because the 
refinery runs at such high temperatures, such high pressures, certain 
pipes and valves and things all have to be replaced every so many 
months.

                              {time}  1730

  So they shut the refinery down and rebuilt all those lines and 
rebuilt all those things so that it is safe. Otherwise, these lines 
would wear out from heat and pressure, and the refinery would blow up. 
They are a very dangerous facility.
  So refineries have to shut down for weeks and months and sometimes 2 
months at a time. It depends on if it is a minor overhaul or major 
overhaul, and they just have to do it. Some of the shortages that we 
have had is when we have had refineries down longer than they 
anticipated.
  I can remember when my son said they were going to have a 4-week 
shutdown, and they ended up with a 6-week shutdown because they had 
problems they did not realize they had.
  So this is not a simple process. Suddenly saying we are going to set 
some oil aside for New England could actually cause us a national 
shortage that would double the price. So I think those from New England 
ought to think carefully that we need to fill the pipeline of oil that 
we refine, we need to get some more normal reserves that we 
historically have had before we start setting some aside for any one 
part of the country. It is not a simple issue.
  I also was a little amused. I am not going to say that wind does not 
have some potential in a few parts of the country. We spent billions on 
wind. We have not had much progress. The researchers have told me they 
have just about researched wind to death.
  I heard a speaker last year that said if we built windmills, the 
latest type of windmills, a mile wide from coast to coast, that would 
be 3,000 miles of windmills a mile wide. Now think of the imprint that 
makes on the landscape. Think of the environmental impact statement one 
would have to get to do that. We would produce 11 percent of our 
electricity.
  Is it the answer to our future energy needs? No, I do not think wind 
will ever be. It is not dependable. So many parts of the country, one 
just cannot count on it. One cannot store it when one has it. It is not 
a resource that we can count on. So I think to pour a lot of money in 
wind is throwing the money to the wind from my point of view.
  I do have to say that those who are suddenly trying to say the 
Republicans are the cause of high oil prices in this country, I was one 
a couple years ago that said $10 oil will destroy our country's ability 
to produce its own oil. In Pennsylvania, most of the producers have 
gone broke. In Texas and Oklahoma, many of the producers went broke.
  Mr. Speaker, $10 oil destroyed our oil infrastructure; and because of 
that, one just cannot turn the spigot on. We have to find ways to get 
them the resources they need so they can rebuild, because a lot of them 
went broke with $10 oil; and the infrastructure is no longer in place. 
It is not a simple issue.

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