[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 111 (Thursday, August 2, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8695-S8696]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          AMERICAN INDIAN ENERGY AND NATIONAL ENERGY SECURITY

  Mr. CAMPBELL. Madam President, as Congress begins the August recess 
and Americans get in their cars, vans and trucks to take their deserved 
vacations, we should keep in mind that the U.S. dependency on foreign 
sources of energy is at an all-time high of more than 60 percent.
  Both the House and Senate are considering various parts of what will 
become our national energy plan, but to date little attention has been 
paid to energy development and conservation on American Indian 
reservations.
  Indian lands comprise about 5 percent of the total landmass of our 
Nation and if consolidated, would be about the size of the State of 
Minnesota. In the last century, Indians were relegated to small 
remnants of their aboriginal lands, in areas most considered ill suited 
to agriculture or any other form of activity.
  On and under these Indian-owned lands are huge reserves of oil, 
natural gas, coal bed methane, uranium, and alternative sources of 
energy such as wind and hydropower. There are many tribes that want to 
develop these energy resources and are looking to Congress for 
assistance to do just that.
  We are not just talking about drilling in the Alaska National 
Wildlife Refuge, ANWR. Indian resources span from the coal fields of 
Montana to the natural gas patch in Colorado and beyond.
  The tribes are not only interested in research and development, and 
financial and tax incentives, though they are needed, but are looking 
for changes and reforms to existing regulations that have kept energy 
and other projects from Indian lands.
  Developing Indian energy is not only in the interest of the tribes 
and their members, but is largely consistent with the Bush 
administration's emphasis on production, conservation, and ensuring 
long-term supply is guaranteed.
  It is Congress' obligation to ensure the Nation's supply of energy is 
secure and also to assist Indian tribal development and job creation in 
the process. To this end I am working to help ensure that tribes are 
brought into the fold when Congress gets serious about energy policy 
this fall.
  I ask unanimous consent that copies of various recent news articles 
be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

             [From the Wall Street Journal, June 29, 2001]

             Falling Energy Prices Could Spark the Economy

                              (By Greg Ip)

       Washington.--Energy prices, which helped drive the economy 
     to the brink of recession, are declining and could be crucial 
     to reviving growth.
       Rising production, moderate weather and weakening demand 
     have helped reduce prices of natural gas, gasoline and 
     Western wholesale electricity to below year-ago levels and 
     return inventories to a comfortable range. If sustained, the 
     drop in prices, combined with a tax cut and lower interest 
     rates, helps increase the likelihood of an economic recovery 
     in coming months.
       But here is the catch: Prices have dropped in part because 
     slowing economies in the U.S. and abroad have lessened 
     demand. A sharp rebound in growth could tighten supplies and 
     cause prices to rise.
       ``It looks that the worse of the energy stocks may be 
     behind us, in part because of growing supply and, even more 
     important, the effects of the economic downturn are really 
     starting to show up on the demand side,'' said Tom Robinson, 
     senior director at Cambridge Energy Research Associates. 
     ``The market looks much better supplied heading into the 
     summer and next winter than most people would have thought 
     six months ago.''
       Higher energy prices, by some estimates, reduced economic 
     growth about a percentage point in the past year by sapping 
     consumer incomes. Spending isn't likely to fully rebound 
     because the prices haven't returned to previous levels and 
     because retail electric bills have yet to fully reflect the 
     jump in wholesale costs earlier this year.
       Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan yesterday blamed 
     rising energy costs for hurting profit margins and investment 
     as they drove up business costs between the spring of 2000 
     and last winter, little of which was passed on in higher 
     prices.
       The subsequent decline suggests ``some easing in pressures 
     on profit margins from energy this quarter,'' he told the 
     Economic Club of Chicago. While the Fed couldn't be certain 
     the spike in gasoline prices ``is behind us . . . it is 
     encouraging that in market economies well-publicized 
     forecasts of crises, such as earlier concerns-about gasoline 
     price surges this summer, more often than not fail to 
     develop.''
       Crude-oil prices have slipped to about $25 a barrel from an 
     average of $28.63 in May and more than $30 a year ago. But 
     drops in other energy prices have been more striking. 
     Consider:
       Spot natural-gas prices, which rose from $4.40 per million 
     British thermal units a year ago to above $10 in the winter, 
     have since slipped to about $3.25. Mr. Robinson estimates 
     robust drilling activity has lifted North American production 
     as much as 3% from a year ago, while demand has fallen as 
     some power plants substituted cheaper fuels for gas. Combined 
     that has dramatically boosted gas in storage from far below 
     seasonal norms to well above.

[[Page S8696]]

       Regular gasoline average $1.54 a gallon across the country 
     Monday, down from $1.71 in the late May and 12 cents below 
     year ago levels, according to the Energy Department. Larry 
     Goldstein, president of P * * * Energy Group, an industry 
     research organization, said that consumption instead of 
     rising the expected 1% to 1.5% this summer is now expected to 
     fall 2%. Gasoline inventories, bolstered by surging imports 
     are near a five-year high.

                           *   *   *   *   *

                                  ____


             [From the Reno Gazette Journal, July 31, 2001]

          Teamsters Back Oil Exploration in Alaska Wilderness

       Washington.--The Teamsters will start airing radio ads this 
     week in favor of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife 
     Refuge in Alaska. The campaign aligns the union with the Bush 
     administration and sets it apart from much of organized 
     labor.
       The 60-second spots will air on radio stations in 
     Pennsylvania and West Virginia this week as the House 
     prepares to vote on the issue and other energy proposals.
       The ads will cost at least $20,000, said Teamsters 
     spokesman Rob Black.
       Pennsylvania and West Virginia were selected because of the 
     impact energy exploration could have on their economics, 
     union officials said. More than 200 businesses in those 
     states are involved in Alaskan petroleum exploration.
       The ads say that opening the refuge could mean 75,000 new 
     jobs--``Good jobs, union jobs''--with 40,000 of those in 
     Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
       Environmentalists get slammed for being ``so intolerant and 
     excessive'' while jobs are being lost and families are 
     hurting.
       ``Part of the problem? Not understanding that protecting 
     the environment and developing new sources of energy go hand 
     in hand,'' the ads say. Listeners are urged to call their 
     representatives.
       Vice President Dick Cheney met with the Teamsters and some 
     of the more conservative construction and steel unions 
     earlier this summer, when the Bush administration was trying 
     to build support for its energy plan by touting job creation.
       The Teamsters union, which supported former Vice President 
     Al Gore in last year's election but sometimes tilts 
     Republican, has been a thorn in the Bush administration's 
     side on another issue--whether to open the border to Mexican 
     trucks.
       The union has been lobbying against President Bush's plan 
     to allow the trucks on America's roads on Jan. 1, in keeping 
     with the North American Free Trade Agreement.
       The Senate is nearing a vote on the issue, and Democratic 
     leaders predict passage of tougher safety standards for 
     Mexican trucks.
       Bush prefers giving the trucks access to U.S. roads and 
     then auditing Mexican trucking companies during the next 18 
     months.
       The Teamsters union has been airing $50,000 worth of radio 
     ads, opposing Bush's plan, in the Washington area.

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