[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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