Congressional Record, Volume 148 Issue 28 (Wednesday, March 13, 2002)

[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 28 (Wednesday, March 13, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1848-S1850]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

NATIONAL LABORATORIES PARTNERSHIP IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2001--Continued

Amendments Nos. 3010 and 3011, En Bloc, To Amendment No. 2917

Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I send two amendments to the desk and
ask that they be considered en bloc and adopted en bloc. I believe they
have been cleared on both sides.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, the pending amendments are
set aside.
The clerk will report the amendments.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

The Senator from New Mexico [Mr. Bingaman] proposes
amendments numbered 3010 and 3011 en bloc to amendment No.
2917.

Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent reading of the
amendments be dispensed with.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendments, en bloc, are as follows:

AMENDMENT NO. 3010

(Purpose: To include biobased polymers and chemicals in the biofuels
program)

On page 405, strike line 16 and all that follows through
line 23, and insert the following:
(6) Biofuels.--The goal of the biofuels program shall be to
develop, in partnership with industry--
(A) advanced biochemical and thermochemical conversion
technologies capable of making liquid and gaseous fuels from
cellulosic feedstocks that are price-competitive with
gasoline or diesel in either internal combustion engines or
fuel cell vehicles by 2010; and
(B) advanced biotechnology processes capable of making
biofuels, biobased polymers, and chemicals, with particular
emphasis on the development of biorefineries that use enzyme
based processing systems.

For purposes of this paragraph, the term ``cellulosic
feedstock'' means any portion of a food crop not normally
used in food production or any non-food crop grown for the
purpose of producing biomass feedstock.
____

AMENDMENT NO. 3011

(Purpose: To direct the Secretary of Energy to study designs for high
temperature hydrogen-producing nuclear reactors)

On page 443, strike lines 21 through page 444, line 2 and
insert the following:
(2) examine--
(A) advanced proliferation-resistant and passively safe
reactor designs;
(B) new reactor designs with higher efficiency, lower cost,
and improved safety;
(C) in coordination with activities carried out under the
amendments made by section 1223, designs for a high
temperature reactor capable of producing large-scale
quantities of hydrogen using thermo-chemical processes;
(D) proliferation-resistant and high-burn-up nuclear fuels;
(E) minimization of generation of radio-active materials;
(F) improved nuclear waste management technologies; and
(G) improved instrumentation science;

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, the amendments have been cleared on
this

[[Page S1849]]

side, and we are in total agreement with the majority and recommend
acceptance.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, the amendments are agreed
to.
The amendments (Nos. 3010 and 3011), en bloc, were agreed to.
Mr. MURKOWSKI. I move to reconsider the vote.
Mr. BINGAMAN. I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, as we come close to the hour of 5
o'clock, I am not sure just what the remainder of the schedule is. I
think we anticipate tomorrow morning starting on renewables.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, my understanding is that we will spend
several hours tomorrow, at least, dealing with a couple of issues
related to electricity restructuring. One is a reliability amendment
that we expect to have offered. I believe Senator Thomas is planning to
offer that amendment. We will have debate and a vote.
Then I intend to offer an amendment on a renewable portfolio
standard, which will then be followed by a proposal by Senator
Jeffords. And then probably also there will be a proposal by Senator
Kyl. We will deal with, hopefully, those three proposals, including the
issue of a renewable portfolio standard. After that, I don't know what
the business will be.
Mr. REID. If my friend will yield?
Mr. MURKOWSKI. Yes.
Mr. REID. If I could just make this comment, I think the two managers
have a great plan: in the morning come in and work on the Thomas
legislation. It is my understanding that he does not want a time set. I
think that is appropriate because there may be other issues that come
up.
But I would hope that we could--if we come in, say, at 9:30--complete
action on that by 12:15 or thereabouts, because every Thursday we have
the policy luncheons, so we do not have votes from 12:30 to 2.
We could do that and then move to the Bingaman amendment. Senator
Jeffords said he would agree to an hour and 15 minutes. So that would
be 2\1/2\ hours, if all that time were used.

I would hope, I say to the manager, my friend from Alaska, that we
could get Senator Kyl to agree on a time for his amendment tonight, so
when we do the wrap-up we could have it set that whenever we finish the
reliability amendment--that is the Thomas amendment--we could
immediately go into the mechanics set up for the Bingaman amendment,
the Jeffords amendment, and the Kyl amendment, and have an end for
that.
It seems it should not be difficult for people to agree for times on
that because, if Senator Kyl's amendment is adopted, then it wipes out
everything in front of it anyway. So I hope Senator Kyl can give us
some time tonight so we can complete action on this matter tomorrow.
Mr. MURKOWSKI. If I may respond to the majority whip, I am in
complete agreement. We do not have a time agreement yet among
ourselves. I assume the leadership will set the time for us to come in.
But I encourage Senators on our side to be prepared on reliability,
which, as the majority whip indicated, will be offered by Senator
Thomas in the morning.
I also encourage all Members on our side, if they have other
amendments they intend to offer, I would like to get the amendments in
so we can anticipate what we will have before us. I would be willing at
some point in time to agree to a list of amendments that have been
brought in by a certain time, let's say, prior to the end of this week,
something of that nature. But we can pursue that.
But I do agree with the majority whip that we should move along. The
renewable portfolio, as the Senator indicated, probably will take some
time. So I would be happy to work towards some time agreements as we
proceed tomorrow.
Mr. REID. If I could propound a unanimous consent request, I ask
unanimous consent that tomorrow, when we resume consideration of the
energy bill, at approximately 9:30 a.m., immediately following the
prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, Senator Thomas be recognized to
offer his reliability amendment.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Mr. MURKOWSKI. Reserving the right to object, in fairness to Senator
Thomas, we have not had a chance to contact him as to whether it would
be 9:30 or 10 o'clock, but I am not going to object.
Mr. REID. We will protect him until he gets here.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. REID. We will attempt to work with the managers to see if we can
work out something for this evening on time for renewability. If we
can, it is the plan of the two managers that after completing the
Thomas amendment we will move to Bingaman, Jeffords, and then Kyl.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, it would be inappropriate if I let a
day go by when I did not remind my colleagues that there was some
significance as to what we did during the day.
Today, there has been a good deal of conversation that, indeed, we
could make up by CAFE savings what we would generate by opening ANWR.
The Senate, in its action--you notice I did not reflect on wisdom--
basically precluded that, at least for the time being until we go to
conference.
Also, the issue of the pickup truck, I think, spoke for a majority
concerning safety issues.
I wouldn't be surprised before we are out of here if we also have an
amendment that addresses the Suburbans and SUVs relative to safety.
The point I would like to leave with Members today is that we are
rapidly diminishing excuses for not opening up ANWR and recognizing
that, indeed, the argument that previously prevailed that we can simply
make this up on CAFE standards is clearly not in the interest of a
majority of the Senate, primarily for the reason of safety associated
with Americans, and children in particular, and the advantages of a
heavier car moving our children around.
As we look at alternatives, I remind my colleagues who are in
objection to opening ANWR that they do bear responsibility for coming
up with alternatives that are realistic. Certainly from our side, ANWR
is realistic. And the probability of a major discovery is second to
none from the standpoint of the geology of North America.
I think I have said enough for today. Anything I would say further
would be repetition of what I have said time and time again. In an
effort to relieve my colleague from New Mexico and the staff and the
Presiding Officer, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, just to indicate to my colleague from
Alaska, my interpretation of what occurred today is perhaps somewhat
different than his. My own view is we made some substantial progress in
getting agreement on provisions related to electricity restructuring;
that is, the package of amendments Senator Thomas proposed and that we
agreed to was a very good effort on the part of our staff, the
Republican staff, Senator Thomas's staff, various people who have been
working very hard on that set of issues.
My own view is, the bill was substantially weakened by the two votes
we had related to CAFE standards in particular. Clearly, the Senate was
not willing to step up and ensure any kind of significant increased
efficiency in the transportation sector in the coming years. That, to
me, is a disappointment, a weakening of the bill.
I don't see the logic that my colleague from Alaska seems to read
into everything: The lack of wisdom of the Senate in the area of CAFE
standards should justify additional lack of wisdom in the area of
opening ANWR to drilling. But that is a debate for another time.
I do hope my colleague from Alaska will offer his ANWR amendment at
the earliest possible date. Clearly, we cannot move to complete action
on this bill until that much awaited event occurs. We have been hearing
about his proposal on ANWR for many months. We have had the opportunity
now to

[[Page S1850]]

have it offered for the last week and a half. We hope very much soon
that will happen.
With that, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I would certainly concur with my
colleague that we have made significant progress, particularly on that
portion covering electricity. I remind my colleague that the transit of
people, goods, and services utilizes not electricity but oil. We are
somewhat extraordinary in this country inasmuch as we are about 3
percent of the population, and we use about 25 percent of the energy
and contribute about a third of the gross world product. We are pretty
efficient, but nevertheless, we don't move in and out of Washington,
DC, by hot air. Somebody has to take the oil, whether it be oil coming
from Saddam Hussein, refine it, put it in the airplanes.
Until we find another alternative, we are going to either have to
make a choice of increasing our dependence on imported sources such as
Iraq or have the alternative of developing resources here at home and
preserving U.S. jobs and the U.S. economy rather than exporting our
dollars overseas. I hope the wisdom of the Senate will prevail when we
get to the ANWR amendment.
Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

____________________