[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 68 (Thursday, May 17, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H2324-H2327]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                   1600
                           BUSH ENERGY POLICY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ballenger). Under the Speaker's 
announced policy of January 3, 2001, the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. 
McInnis) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority 
leader.
  Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. 
Hansen), Chairman of the Committee on Resources.
  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. 
McInnis) for yielding to me.
  Folks in America, of course, Mr. Speaker, realize that today the Vice 
President of the United States was able to come up with an energy 
policy that makes an awful lot of sense, and tonight myself and some of 
my colleagues from the Committee on Resources would like the 
opportunity to discuss that issue.
  It never ceases to amaze me when some of my colleagues or 
environmentalists lash out at big oil as if it were some diabolical 
archenemy lurking in the shadows ready to pounce.
  It is amusing to watch them stage press conferences to make big oil 
some sort of bogeyman for environmental problems and for our current 
energy crisis, and afterwards step into their energy-consuming SUVs or 
gasoline-powered cars and drive over asphalt-paved roads in their 
nicely lit, air-conditioned homes which were built and furnished with 
hundreds of products derived from chemicals, plastics, and other 
materials because of petroleum.
  It reminds me of the story of school children raised in the city, 
being asked where milk comes from, and having them respond and say 
well, it comes from the store.
  Somehow, I think we are all missing an important step: the production 
phase. The oil has to come from somewhere. The energy we all consume, 
the lights in this building to keep the cameras functioning, has to 
come from somewhere.
  As our economy grows, we have children and grandchildren and they 
grow up, receive educations, get married, get jobs, raise families. 
Where are they going to get the energy that sustains life, warms their 
homes, and transports their children to school? Where are we going to 
get our energy and what are we going to do about the current building 
energy crisis?
  Many of my environmental friends say that we really do not need to 
focus on production of more oil or energy sources because of various 
environmental concerns. Usually urban dwellers, these individuals 
assert that conservation is the answer.
  Harkening back to the days of Jimmy Carter, when we were told just to 
turn our thermostats down and put on a sweater, I do not believe that 
we can conserve our way out of this situation. It did not work in Jimmy 
Carter's day, and with even more demands today it certainly will not be 
the only answer.
  Yes, we can and should do all we can to not be wasteful in our homes 
and at work. We should all turn off lights that we are not using, 
install more fuel-efficient heating and cooling systems, and encourage 
the development of alternative fuels and more fuel-efficient vehicles.
  But is the answer to our current crisis for all to rush out and 
purchase hybrid gas-electric vehicles that are small, underpowered, and 
fail to meet even the most basic transportation hauling requirements of 
the typical American family, let alone thinking about buying one of 
these vehicles to pull our boat down to our favorite lake, camping 
trailer to our favorite campground?
  It would probably pull the bumper right off the car while sitting in 
the driveway. We are not there yet, and we have a long ways to go.
  Those of us from the West know all too well the hurt that the lack of 
energy and increase in oil and gas prices is causing our economies. We 
in the West often have to travel dozens of miles and hours at a time 
just to commute across long distances between our communities.
  In the First District of Utah that I represent, it would take nearly 
7 hours, traveling at the legal speed limit from between 65 to 75 miles 
per hour, to travel from the northern border of Utah to the southern 
border, a distance of over 400 miles.
  Often, our communities are spread across vast distances, and the only 
viable option for transportation has to be using motor vehicles. The 
skyrocketing price of fuel has hit them especially hard. They do not 
have the option, as urban dwellers in the East may have, to take mass 
transit or ride a bicycle to work.
  For the sake of our quality of our life, our jobs, our economy, we 
have to begin to really address the energy problem that we are facing 
in this country.
  Much of what we are facing in this country, I believe, could have 
been prevented or mitigated significantly if the previous 
administration had not been, to use the words of former Secretary Bill 
Richardson, asleep at the wheel on energy policy.
  Over the last 8 years, I watched as the previous administration 
basically took their marching orders from the extreme environmentalist 
lobby, and whether it was through executive order or by promulgating 
new regulations, locked up millions of acres of public lands to any 
reasonable energy development.
  Mr. Speaker, I watched with concern as the Clinton administration let 
our Nation drift from less than 33 percent dependence on foreign oil 
when he took office to more than 50 percent today. I believe the figure 
is 57 percent.
  President Bush has taken over the reins of government and has been 
left one messy problem to clean up regarding energy.
  For 8 years, all we got was poll-driven photo-ops, like the infamous 
release of millions of gallons of water to float a kayak down the 
Connecticut River in order to provide a nice picture of Vice President 
Gore in his election efforts. All we got was President Clinton 
dispatching then-Secretary Richardson to the OPEC masters to literally 
get on his knees and beg and beg them not to raise oil prices.
  America deserves better, and I am glad that President George Bush has 
made development and implementation of a coherent and comprehensive 
long-term strategy on energy as one of his very top priorities.
  I just met with President Bush this week, and I know that President 
Bush and Vice President Cheney understand the complexities of this 
issue. They are committed to working with Congress to come up with the 
tools that are

[[Page H2325]]

 needed to fix the problem. But there is no easy fix.
  We must all recognize that natural resources are to be actively 
managed and wisely employed to advance the human condition.
  We must have a policy that balances competing goods of environmental 
preservation or restoration, while ensuring public access and outdoor 
recreation to our public lands.
  America needs balanced conservatism that recognizes man's role as 
God's steward, not the extreme environmentalist view that it too often 
views as the problem.
  Just like the urban school child who may think that milk comes from a 
carton and not a cow, we as Americans need to look beyond the 
overinflated rhetoric of extreme environmentalist alarms that the Earth 
is in the balance, and educate ourselves on where our energy comes from 
and what the options are for our future.
  We need to separate facts from assertion and science from political 
dogma. Mr. Speaker, I look forward to working with this administration 
as chairman of the Committee on Resources to do our part.
  We all have been affected by rising energy prices, not just 
California. Wyoming Governor Jim Geringer recently recounted to the 
House Committee on Resources the story of a distraught elderly woman 
who called a Wyoming county commissioner in tears because her natural 
gas bill to heat her modest home was $500 a month and her Social 
Security check, which she relied on to provide medicine and food, was 
only $600.
  The crisis is hurting the elderly, the poor, farmers, and small 
business owners. Small family farmers, who are our Nation's real 
endangered species, are feeling the crunch of huge increases in diesel 
fuel to power their tractors. The fertilizer they use, which is a 
petroleum-derived product, has skyrocketed even as commodity prices 
have remained low or fallen.
  It will be a miracle if many more of them hang on and survive in the 
next few months.
  What about the trucking industry? We all benefit from a strong and 
robust trucking industry. The fresh food and produce we buy at our 
local supermarkets is made possible only because of truckers. If they 
were to shut down for even 1 week, our Nation would be in a lot of 
distress. Their costs for fuel have skyrocketed, along with everyone 
else.
  What is the effect? Who pays for all of these increased costs? In the 
short term, the truckers and farmers must pay these large costs, and it 
is hurting them big time. In the long run, we all pay for these 
increased costs.
  Petroleum products make up such a large percentage of everyday life, 
so many things we totally take for granted, so that it will not take 
long until we see these negative effects.
  We must take action. We must do it today, Mr. Speaker. Vice President 
Cheney's energy task force report points the way to a long-term 
solution to our energy crisis that includes conservation but goes 
further to include more research into clean, renewable energy sources 
and increased production of hydropower, nuclear energy, gas, oil and 
coal.
  I am sure Congress will follow this plan closely this summer in 
preparing a package that provides reliable, affordable, and 
environmentally-clean energy for decades to come, while maintaining 
consumer choices in our standard of living.

  Right now our Nation's energy problems have taken on an urgency we 
have not seen for almost 30 years. For the first time in memory, demand 
for electricity in the West this summer is expected to exceed maximum 
output. Demand could exceed supply by as much as 7,000 megawatts during 
parts of June, July, and August.
  The production strain on the power grid will be so great that several 
hot days or a power plant failure could trigger outages that would 
cascade like dominoes through the West.
  Shortages are coupled with soaring prices. Gasoline is already over 
$2.70 a gallon in some parts of California. We have all heard 
predictions of $3 a gallon in California and the Midwest before the 
summer is out.
  Al Gore's book, Earth in the Balance, called for those higher gas 
prices, which may explain one reason why the previous administration 
did nothing to forestall this crisis.
  Natural gas prices jumped sharply this winter and will jump again 
this summer when natural gas is used at its annual peak. These prices 
have already driven up the costs of goods, services, and housing across 
the country.
  Skyrocketing prices threaten small business. They threaten the health 
of the ill and the elderly who must choose between livable temperatures 
or buying food. Low-income families, anxious to keep infants and small 
children comfortable, have already tapped out most State and local 
emergency assistance programs.
  The crisis did not happen overnight. It took us a lot of years to get 
there. It has been 20 years since a large refinery was built in the 
U.S. and more than 10 years since a power plant was built in 
California, even as the population there continued to increase 
dramatically.
  We have neglected energy production and infrastructure. We are 
producing 30 percent less oil now than 30 years ago. Natural gas 
development on public lands is down by 14 percent, and we need at least 
38,000 miles of pipeline to deliver the natural gas we need.
  Our new economy runs almost entirely on electricity. Yet, according 
to the Edison Electric Institute, investment in our transmission system 
has declined by 15 percent a year since 1990, while use has jumped 400 
percent in the last 4 years alone.
  Our transmission grids across the country need repair, updating, and 
expansion. The Bonneville Power Administration provides affordable 
power to hundreds of towns and western cities. But Bonneville Power has 
not added new transmission lines in the system in 14 years, and much of 
its grid is 30 years old.
  Bringing the system up to an adequate capacity will cost an estimated 
$775 million. The strategy in the Bush energy plan is both 
comprehensive and long term.
  The Bush administration recognizes that hasty, short-term fixes 
threaten both our economy and environment. Decisions made in a crisis 
prompt us to waive environmental regulations.
  In the late 1970s and 1980s, after a profound energy price shock, the 
Federal Government established the Energy Mobilization Board to 
override Federal, State, and local environmental laws that got in the 
way of energy production. Right now, Clean Air Act limits are being 
waived in California in a rush to avert a large disaster. By focusing 
on diverse long-term solutions, the Bush energy plan avoids these kinds 
of choices in the future.
  Short-term fixes also threaten our economy. Upgrading and expanding 
our infrastructure requires investment money. Yet utility companies are 
reporting that Wall Street is alarmed by talk of price caps in 
California.
  They are understandably hesitant to invest in companies that could be 
impacted by these price caps. We desperately need to invest in our 
Nation's energy infrastructure, fully and with confidence. We must 
avoid short-term fixes that pose long-term threats to our economy and 
environment.
  The Bush energy plan calls for prudent streamlining of the process 
for licensing new nuclear plants and the recycling of hydropower 
plants.
  Mr. Speaker, I am a big fan of nuclear power. Regardless of what the 
American public has been led to believe by the likes of the Hollywood 
bunch or antinuclear activists, new technologies and nuclear power have 
made it the most safe, affordable, and environmentally friendly form of 
energy.
  New technology for reprocessing spent fuel rods exists and is 
improving. Nuclear power accounts for only 20 percent of the U.S. power 
supply. Yet in Europe, it is 35 percent. In France alone, it is 70 
percent. This energy is clean, economical, and safe.
  We have not had a new nuclear reactor built in this country in more 
than 20 years. It is time we stop letting inflammatory rhetoric and 
fear tactics of uninformed special interest groups stand between us and 
one of the best energy sources we have.
  We must reduce the time and costs of relicensing hydroelectric 
plants. The previous administration created a battery of new Federal 
dam regulations aimed at wiping out hydropower.
  Recent events have proven the previous administration to be foolish 
in this regard, but those regulations still stand today, and we have to 
do something about them. Because of them,

[[Page H2326]]

towns and cities that own dams must spend years and millions of dollars 
to relicense their dams and meet several dozen new, stringent 
environmental requirements. One of those dams is the Cushman Dam owned 
by the city of Takoma, Washington.
  This dam generates enough power to light 25,000 homes for a year. The 
previous administration would not let the city relicense its dam unless 
it met several dozen new environmental requirements that will cost tens 
of millions of dollars. That city is now fighting in court for the very 
survival of the primary power source.

                              {time}  1615

  In Utah and Arizona, Lake Powell produces tremendous amounts of clean 
hydropower. Yet, extreme environmental groups like the Sierra Club are 
advocating working toward decommissioning the dam and draining the 
lake, all to let a river run through it. Yet, to make up for the lost 
electricity, it would take at least five coal-fired generating plants.
  Sometimes we are not too smart on how we approach complex problems. 
Hydropower is clean and renewable, and we must do more, not less, in 
that area. We need to maximize power generation of Federal Bureau of 
Reclamation dams, even as the previous administration put regulations 
in place that placed power generation at the very bottom of a long list 
of other priorities.
  The Bush energy plan calls for opening a small percentage of the 
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil exploration and development. I 
totally support it.
  Despite the doomsday slick commercials one sees on TV by some groups, 
I know it can be done in an environmentally sensitive manner. The vast 
majority of the refuge would remain off limits to oil production.
  Current estimates suggest the oil we can gently distract from ANWR 
would replace Iraqi oil imports for the next 58 years. That is not just 
a 6 months of oil, as some special interest groups would have us 
believe. We are talking about replacing the oil we receive from one of 
the most hostile foreign governments.
  Oil development on the coastal plain of ANWR will only impact 2,000 
acres of 19.6 million acres. It would provide an estimated 735,000 
well-paying jobs.
  We have new technology to tap oil and gas in a way that protects the 
Arctic tundra and nearby wildlife.
  ANWR is not only rich in oil but is rich in natural gas.
  Mr. Speaker, in October of 1996, then-President Clinton announced 
that he had created the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, 
and with one fell swoop of his mighty pen, and without so much as a 
scintilla of input from any elected official from the State of Utah, 
locked up a million acres of public lands from future coal or energy 
development.
  That is my home. I know a lot about southern Utah. I have lived there 
all of my life. I can tell my colleagues, Mr. Speaker, we locked up a 
trillion tons of low-sulfur coal that could be used and done in an 
environmentally sound way.
  Mr. Speaker, President Clinton had made the statement when he 
announced it, he said ``We can't have mines everywhere.'' No. Mr. 
Clinton is right. We cannot have mines just anywhere, just where it is 
there. Just like Willy Sutton was quoted as saying, when asked why he 
robbed so many banks, he said ``because that's where the money is''. 
The reason we have mines in places is because that is where the ore is.
  By locking up the Grand Staircase, our Nation has lost a mammoth 
reserve of high-Btu, low-sulphur coal that could power hundreds of 
cities in this country for centuries to come. The impact on the surface 
of the site would be almost negligible.
  In conclusion, let me just say the future is bright. I know Americans 
know how to handle a problem when they see it coming, but they want 
somebody who will give them some direction. American people are bright, 
and they are patriotic.
  As President Bush and Vice President Cheney said, we have got a plan 
for you; we can make it work. I think the American people will realize 
we all have to sacrifice a little bit; but in the long run, we will be 
better off. It is the people who never have a plan, who are asleep at 
the switch, who are the ones, who have given us trouble at this time.
  Now is the time for America to say here is a good plan, let us get 
behind it, and let us follow it.


                          Energy Conservation

  Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, let me tell my colleagues, in my opinion, 
the biggest problem we have got out there is not so much the immediate 
energy crisis that we now face, it is the fact of our dependency upon 
foreign countries for our energy needs.
  Right now, today, as we speak, 60 percent of our energy requirements 
come from foreign countries. We cannot afford for the future of this 
country, for future generations, for planning the future progress of 
this country to continue to increase our dependency or, in fact, to 
continue to have our dependency at a 60 percent rate. It puts this 
country in high danger of energy espionage or energy blackmail.
  We cannot continue that path of going down that direction because the 
direction or the result of where that leads us is not good for future 
generations.
  There are two separate ways, two methods to address our dependency on 
foreign oil. One of those methods, of course, as we have heard from the 
gentleman from Utah (Mr. Hansen), the previous speaker, is more 
exploration. We have got to find more of our own energy resources.
  But the second one, and this was highlighted today and it has been 
highlighted again and again and again, is conservation. Conservation is 
something that everybody in America can practice this minute, this 
hour.
  Those of us on this floor, those of us across this country, as we 
hear these comments, we can begin to conserve energy. We can begin to 
become less dependent on foreign oil by exercising a little individual 
responsibility ourselves.
  I will give my colleagues an example. Right now our latest census, I 
think, showed our population at about 282 million people. Can one 
imagine how much energy we would save if 282 million people that were 
using lights turned off the light as they left the room. Think of the 
instant savings in electricity.
  If we had 282 million people who combined trips to the grocery store 
every week, every Sunday, if these 282 million people took a look and 
said, all right, we ought to have our groceries. Here is what we need 
this week. Let us go to the grocery store once instead of three times, 
or let us go twice instead of three times.
  Now, obviously we do not have a clear factor of 282 million people 
because we have young people and there are people that do not drive, et 
cetera. But my colleagues understand the point.
  Imagine how much water we could save, how much energy on water 
heaters we could save if, instead of running the garbage disposal with 
hot water, we ran our garbage disposal with cold water, if these 
millions and millions of people ran that garbage disposal for 20 
seconds, which really in most cases is adequate to dispose of the 
garbage that one has, instead of continuing to allow the water and the 
electricity generating, running the garbage disposal to run for 60 
seconds or 70 seconds.
  We can conserve as the citizens of this country. We can contribute to 
help alleviate this problem. I have got a couple of examples. Now I am 
not going to go through all of these because I have several of my 
colleagues that I think have very important points to offer. But there 
are some key conservation areas that I am asking those of you who are 
hearing me, who are listening to go ahead and deploy yourself this 
evening in your own home. Set an example in your own home.
  The best thing you can do when you go home this evening, most of us 
use ceiling fans for cooling in the summer. In the summer, make sure 
your fans are running in a clockwise direction. Clockwise. Because that 
is what pulls the cool air off the floor.
  So when you go home this evening, look at your ceiling fan. Most 
ceiling fans will run both directions. I would guess that many of you 
today, when you go home, will find out that your fan is actually going 
counter-clockwise. If you move it, simply one flick of the switch to 
clockwise, you have done something today to help conserve energy in 
this country.

[[Page H2327]]

  Many of you own automobiles. I would bet most of you who own an 
automobile have not read your owner's manual; or maybe when you 
purchased the car, in my particular case, several years ago, you read 
the owner's manual then, but you have not looked at it since.
  Take a look at your local newspaper. Your local quick lube. They say 
change your oil every 3,000 miles. Do you know what the experts say, 
that major automobile company that designed your automobile, that were 
in charge of the manufacture of your automobile? More likely than not, 
you are not required to change your oil every 3,000 miles. In fact, if 
you look at your owner's manual tonight on your way home from work, I 
will bet you it says in your owner's manual change the oil every 5,000 
miles or every 6,000 miles.
  Do you know that, if we could get people to change their oil when the 
owner's manual tells them to change their oil instead of changing their 
oil when the marketing enterprises out there, the quick lubes tell you 
to change your oil, we could save a minimum, a minimum in this country 
of 11 million barrels of oil a day. We could start today.

  There are a number of different things. Do you know how much energy 
we could save if people simply closed the refrigerator after they 
walked away from it, if people shut off the air conditioner when they 
were not going to be home?
  A lot of us want to help get this country out of this problem. A lot 
of us in our hearts, we do not have it in our hearts to waste energy. 
We have it in our heart to be good citizens, and good citizens help 
conserve energy.
  Let me just summarize it like this. I have had a number of 
constituents who have said to me, gosh, it is going to take a while for 
us to get electrical generation in place ready to go. It is going to 
take a while for us to find additional energy resources so that we can 
lessen our dependency on foreign oil. What can we do in the meantime?
  Again, let me repeat to all of my colleagues, as we leave these 
Chambers, we can help immediately by turning out lights, by not 
changing that oil every 3,000 miles, by making sure that the direction 
of the ceiling fan is going as it should go.
  I myself this morning, as I walked into my office, it is routine for 
me when I get to my office to turn on all the lights in my office. But 
for the first 2 hours I am in my own office in the morning, I sit at 
one location in my office; and I read newspapers. I only need one 
light. I do not need six lights. This morning in my office, I only had 
one light on, not six lights. The rest of my colleagues can do that as 
well.
  So my contribution to these comments this afternoon is let us all 
contribute today to conservation. That is exactly what the Republican 
plan calls for. That is exactly what our President and our Vice 
President have said.
  Again, we need two elements to lessen our dependency on foreign oil. 
We need to look for other energy resources. There is no question about 
it. We need to do it in an environmentally clean and safe manner. But 
we also need to conserve. If we combine those two elements, this 
country will, I think in a modest period of time, fairly quickly move 
out of this energy crisis, and we will be secure with energy for the 
future generations. That is what is critical.

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