[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 127 (Wednesday, September 26, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S9851]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         NATIONAL ENERGY POLICY

  Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, I rise in opposition to the energy 
policy-related amendments filed by the Senator from Oklahoma. While I 
support moving forward with comprehensive national energy policy, the 
underlying bill is too important to our national security to bog it 
down with controversial amendments.
  There are many substantive problems with these amendments, not the 
least of which is their probable negative impact on public health and 
environmental quality. They take us back to the polluting past, rather 
than forward into a cleaner, more efficient and sustainable future.
  There are also serious procedural problems with moving on these 
amendments. The committees of jurisdiction, including the Environment 
and Public Works Committee, have not completed work on important parts 
of comprehensive energy legislation.
  Also, I would remind Senators that the administration has completed 
very few, if any, of the reports recommended by the Vice-President's 
National Energy Policy Development group. I believe these reports were 
intended to inform and justify to the public and Congress the need for 
any changes to existing law and programs.
  These amendments drive us further and further away from making the 
truly fundamental changes in our national energy policy that are 
necessary to address global climate change.
  The amendments will dramatically increase U.S. greenhouse gas 
emissions. That further violates our commitment in the Rio Agreement to 
reduce to 1990 levels.
  The next Conference of Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on 
Climate Change begins in late October. Despite the terrorist attacks on 
our Nation, the attendees will hope for U.S. leadership to combat 
global warming.
  Whatever the administration may present, I hope the message from the 
U.S. Senate will not be the recent adoption of a national energy policy 
that blatantly undermines our Senate-ratified commitment to reduce 
greenhouse gas emissions. The underlying bill already sets us up to 
violate the Anti-Ballistic Missile Defense Treaty. That is enough to 
weigh down one bill.
  We should not further encroach on the good will of our global 
neighbors at a time when we are seeking their support in our efforts 
against terrorism. I urge the defeat of these amendments when and if 
they are offered.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, will the Senator yield?
  Mr. JEFFORDS. I am happy to yield.
  Mr. INHOFE. Is the Senator aware that since back to and including the 
First World War the outcome of every war has been determined by energy? 
Is the Senator aware that we are now 56.7-percent dependent upon 
foreign countries for our ability to fight a war and that half of it is 
coming from the Middle East? And is the Senator aware that the largest 
increase in terms of our dependency on any one country is Iraq, a 
country with which we are in war right now?
  Mr. JEFFORDS. I am aware of the situations the Senator describes. I 
am just concerned about the methodology being utilized to try to solve 
that. I would like to work together with the members of the committee 
to try to see if we can find common ground.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. I thank the Chair.

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