[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 112 (Friday, August 3, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1565-E1566]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              SECURING AMERICA'S FUTURE ENERGY ACT OF 2001

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. GEORGE W. GEKAS

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, August 1, 2001

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under

[[Page E1566]]

     consideration the bill, (H.R. 4) to enhance energy 
     conservation, research and development and to provide for 
     security and diversity in the energy supply for the American 
     people, and for other purposes.

  Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to express my support for H.R. 
4--The Securing America's Future Energy Act of 2001. This bill will at 
long last define our national energy policy so that the United States 
will have an ample, affordable and increasingly efficient energy supply 
for the future.
  It is time that the American people declare independence from foreign 
sources of energy. We need to develop our own resources and our own 
technology so that the economy and security of the United States will 
not be adversely affected by decisions of foreign energy suppliers in 
the future.
  Mr. Chairman, on March 20, 2000, in the 106th Congress, I introduced 
H.R. 4035, The National Resource Governance Act of 2000 (the NRG Bill). 
The goal of this bill was to establish a commission that would 
investigate U.S. dependence on foreign energy sources, evaluate 
proposals that would make the United States energy self-sufficient, 
explore alternative energy sources, investigate areas currently not 
being used for oil exploration and expand drilling in areas such as the 
Arctic National Wildlife Reserve and offshore. This commission would 
then submit its findings and recommendations to Congress and the 
President so that steps could be taken to design and implement a 
national energy policy.
  I introduced the NRG Bill because I believed that our lack of a 
comprehensive national energy policy would lead to energy shortages and 
a continued dependence on OPEC. My concerns continued and on November 
11, 2000 and again on October 4, 2000, I wrote then-Energy Secretary 
Bill Richardson to share with him some of my concerns and the concerns 
of my constituents. Mr. Speaker, I ask that the text of this letter be 
entered into the Record.

                                                 November 1, 2000.
     Hon. Bill Richardson,
     Secretary of Energy,
     Forrestal Building, Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. Secretary: On October 4th, I sent a letter to you 
     asking for your response to reports run in The Wall Street 
     Journal and other media suggesting that crude oil released by 
     the Administration from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) 
     may in fact be diverted to Europe. Assuming that the SPR oil 
     would not be diverted to Europe, I further asked that you 
     reconcile the apparent disparities between the 
     Administration's claim that tapping the SPR would forestall a 
     winter home heating oil crises in the Northeast United 
     States, and independent reports that the SPR oil would not 
     even reach the intended markets until early next year.
       I am extremely disappointed that you have not yet responded 
     to these two basic, yet important questions. In my October 
     4th letter I asked that you provide me with ``an immediate 
     assessment'' of the aforementioned media reports. I 
     specifically requested that you provide me with a report 
     ``early next week'' so that I might convey the information to 
     my constituents who are preparing themselves for the onset of 
     winter weather.
       Since my last letter to you, officials from your Department 
     have testified to Congress about the President's decision to 
     tap the SPR. I understand that acting Assistant Secretary of 
     Energy Robert S. Kripowicz acknowledged, in one of those 
     hearings, that the release of 30 million barrels of crude oil 
     from the SPR may yield only an additional 250,000 barrels of 
     home-heating oil for the Northeast, including my state of 
     Pennsylvania, which face possible fuel shortages this winter. 
     If Mr. Kripowicz can provide answers to Congress regarding 
     the Administration's recent actions, I fail to understand why 
     an answer to my letter has not been forthcoming.
       Mr. Secretary, Pennsylvanians are afraid that the United 
     States has no energy policy. We wonder how long we will 
     continue to be dependent on foreign sources of energy. 
     Unfortunately, your failure to answer basic questions about 
     your Department's actions only serves to confirm those fears. 
     Please provide my office with a response to the questions 
     raised in my letter of October 4th, by November 8th.
           Very truly yours,
                                                  George W. Gekas,
                                               Member of Congress.


  Mr. Chairman, my letters went unanswered as did the concerns of so 
many Americans worried about energy prices, supply, the environment and 
national security. Unfortunately, my concerns became a reality. This 
past winter we saw what the lack of a comprehensive national energy 
policy meant to the people of California as they experienced 
unannounced rolling blackouts. We also saw the implications of high 
gasoline and energy prices on our economy. H.R. 4 will define a 
national energy policy that will avert such situations in the future.
  Today, I not only rise to support H.R. 4, the Securing America's 
Future Energy Act of 2001, but I rise to commend President Bush, Vice 
President Cheney and the rest of the members of the National Energy 
Policy Development Group for their leadership in proposing a much 
needed national energy policy. The development and implementation of 
this bold and innovative policy will certainly insure that the United 
States will be less dependent on foreign sources of energy, be more 
efficient and thus more environmentally sensitive, and will also 
provide every American with access to ample and affordable energy.

                          ____________________