[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 154 (Thursday, December 14, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H12089-H12090]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HEATING OIL SHORTAGES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman from Pennsylvania 
(Mr. Gekas) will continue with this dialogue, one of the things that a 
lot of people in America do not realize is that the reason we have the 
prosperity we have today is because we have had cheap energy.
  Some people think that is wrong, that we ought to take and conserve 
all the energy. But if we want to grow, we have a supply and an 
abundance of energy so we can have the high-tech and the computer 
industry, by the way, which now uses 27 percent of our electrical power 
which did not happen 15 years ago. Twenty-seven percent of our 
electrical power today is consumed by computers.
  For those that are in the computer world, think about it: when power 
goes down, their computer goes off. That means the airplanes do not 
fly. That means the stoplights do not work. That means this country 
comes to a halt.
  And so what the gentleman has said, let us get a policy so that the 
future generations, yes, and the present generations in reality will 
have a constant supply of reasonably priced energy.
  But if the gentleman would like for one moment to address something 
for me, he mentioned that if we do this the OPEC countries may drop 
their price. I happen to agree.
  What would the gentleman think we should do, though, maybe what the 
commission can do, to solve that problem.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Gekas).
  Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, I have not been able to predict exactly what 
would happen. It seems to me that we ought to start a course on energy 
independence and go to it without respect to what OPEC does.
  All I am saying is we will have an extra dividend to lower prices 
almost immediately, but then our domestic drillers will have to be 
given additional incentive to continue producing; and that may require 
tax incentive-types of legislation that we would have to put into place 
along with our energy policy.
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, again, the 
commission can probably recognize what we can do to solve that problem. 
Because I expect what the gentleman said will come true, the first time 
the OPEC countries sees that we are serious about setting up a supply 
of energy, they will lower their prices so maybe some of my 
constituents and his constituents and the people in Florida's House 
will say, well, there is no need for this, let us not drill an ANWR.
  Although, by the way, it only disrupts 12,000 acres out of 19 million 
acres.
  Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will continue to yield, 
which reminds me, we are told, and the press knows more about it, that 
the current President, President Clinton, is contemplating a monument 
executive order in which he sets aside x amount of land and other 
resources in Alaska keeping them from development in what we are 
seeking here.
  Can the gentleman tell us about that?
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, there is that possibility. I think 
it would be a terrible disservice to the country.
  I would like to remind the gentleman and people that might be 
listening that this area is a very small area that has a tremendous 
abundance of oil, probably 39 billion barrels of oil, that can be 
accessible to the people in the lower 48 so we would not have to buy 
that

[[Page H12090]]

million barrels a day from Saddam Hussein.
  So if the President was to do that, it would be a terrible travesty; 
it would be wrong for the people and wrong for Alaska. But, most of 
all, it would be wrong for the people that are buying oil from abroad.
  Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, what is missing from all of this discussion 
is the fact that all of us, every American, is interested in 
environmental quality. We do not want anything but clean air and clean 
water and a good area in which to live. But we are in a state of 
almost-crisis now where we have to talk about survival and meeting the 
needs of the American family.
  I am talking about the basic needs of the American family. That is 
why we have to put the environmental concerns on an equal balance, not 
on a priority, and try to develop our resources as we need them.
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, we can do both. As the gentleman 
from Pennsylvania knows, in Alaska we have a bigger caribou herd, more 
wildlife, a better environment just from the development of Prudhoe. 
And I say this can happen again in ANWR.
  But more than that, if we want to see environmental damage, do not 
have the energy available and keep being dependent upon those countries 
overseas.
  I keep stressing the fact that now, this year, remember gas was $2 
per thousand cubic feet last year; this year, right today, it is $9.42. 
That means the average home buying gas today, their heating bill will 
go up 300 percent this winter. And that is a jolt economically, and it 
also means we are running out of natural gas because we have not been 
allowed to develop those fields in the lower 48.
  So Alaska has got gas and we want to sell it to you, but the fact is 
we ought to be developing those gas fields in Wyoming, Montana, New 
Mexico, and, yes, in Pennsylvania, they have gas in Pennsylvania, and 
go after those fields so we can have it available for the constituents 
that my colleague and I serve.
  Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, we are not adverse to developing a plan of 
tax incentives to give our fellow Americans, the entrepreneurs, the 
incentive to go ahead and drill where they might fail; but we ought to 
give them that incentive to do so and to otherwise bring technology 
into place for the development of all these resources.
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman for 
doing this tonight on the floor of the House. I do appreciate his 
bringing this to light.
  He is from Pennsylvania. I am from Alaska. We recognize the need for 
an energy policy. Hopefully this new Congress and with the new 
President, this Nation will come forth with an energy policy that can 
deliver the needed Btus to every family and improve the way we live 
today and not have anyone suffer.

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