[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 139 (Sunday, October 29, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S11320]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have the greatest respect for my friend 
from Idaho. We served together in the House, and we have worked 
together many years on public resources issues dealing with the West. I 
don't mean to be disagreeable, but on this issue we simply disagree. I 
am going to take a couple of minutes because I have told the Senators 
from Ohio and Iowa they can speak next.
  The oil problem started in the Republican administration; it 
certainly wasn't the fault of the Republican administration. There was 
an embargo by the OPEC nations. Following that, there was an bipartisan 
effort to change things. There were incentives to develop oil shale, do 
alternative energy with wind and solar and geothermal. But with the oil 
glut that came about, all of that was taken away. Some of the research 
involving alternative energy was simply not renewed by Congress. That 
is too bad.
  During the years of the Clinton-Gore administration, they have tried 
very hard every year that I have served on committees and subcommittees 
with jurisdiction to deal with energy matters. They have tried every 
year--especially in the appropriations process--to get more money for 
development of alternative energy sources. They have been stymied every 
time.
  We should also understand that if we could reduce the consumption of 
fuel in America--for example, if we had more fuel-efficient cars and if 
we had automobiles that were 3 miles per gallon more efficient, we 
would save a million barrels of oil a day.
  There are things we need to do here. We need to join in a bipartisan 
effort, not a finger-pointing effort, to develop energy policy in this 
country. None of us wants to be dependent on foreign oil. In fact, with 
the oil being so cheap, there was no incentive for us to do it. 
Congress failed, and it wasn't simply that we didn't meet what the 
administration wanted. Certainly, this legislation has been suggested 
by my friend from Idaho, has as its centerpiece oil development in 
ANWR, the pristine Arctic wilderness, which we are not going to do.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.

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