[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 100 (Wednesday, July 18, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H4118]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                WE NEED TO UTILIZE NATURAL GAS RESOURCES

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, everybody here and everybody in America 
actually knows we are facing an energy shortage; but I ask today, what 
are we doing about it?
  Our demand for oil and gas continually rises, and we seem to diminish 
our supply of these natural resources at the same time. In times of 
crisis we have actually drawn from our fuel reserves, but we always 
fail to replenish them. Right now the demand for gas is outstripping 
our demand for oil. By 2020, we will consume 62 percent more natural 
gas than we do today.
  But while our demand grows, our production slows. We need to act now; 
but we cannot, because 40 percent of our natural gas sits under 
sagebrush protected by Federal regulations.
  Mr. Speaker, Americans are paying 20 percent more for natural gas 
than they did a year ago. What do we tell these people? We need to tell 
them that we can and will correct this energy problem responsibly and 
quickly by passing the Energy Security Act proposed by the chairman of 
the Committee on Resources, the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Hansen).
  Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this important and 
necessary piece of legislation.

                          ____________________