[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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