[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 135 (Saturday, November 20, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2113]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          INTRODUCTION OF THE ENERGY INDEPENDENCE ACT OF 2004

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                          HON. JOHN B. LARSON

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, November 19, 2004

  Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to reintroduce 
the Energy Independence Act, a bill that would direct the Secretary of 
Energy to develop and transmit to Congress a strategic plan to ensure 
that the United States is energy self-sufficient in 10 years.
  Like an investment portfolio, a successful national energy portfolio 
must be a balanced and diverse portfolio. It should include traditional 
fossil fuel sources like oil, coal, and natural gas; emerging 
technologies like fuel cells; and traditional alternative energy 
sources such as solar and wind generation. It should balance incentives 
for efficiency and conservation with innovative methods of new 
generation.
  However, the United States imported an average of over 12 million 
barrels of oil per day in 2003 from foreign countries to meet our 
domestic energy needs, totaling nearly 4.5 billion barrels during all 
of that year. Even at last year's comparatively modest average price of 
$31 per barrel, that adds up to almost $140 billion spent on foreign 
oil.
  Today, with the average price of a barrel of crude oil up another $10 
from last year to about $40 and with average daily imports remaining 
roughly the same, America's expenditures to purchase foreign oil 
increased to more than $180 billion this year. This is clearly not a 
balanced approach to energy.
  Today, we have before us, for the first time in human history, the 
technology to provide clean, reliable energy for every person, home, 
business, and vehicle in America. With this technology, we have the 
opportunity to end once and for all America's reliance on foreign 
energy sources while at the same time creating quality, highly skilled 
jobs for the next century in a new and expanding technological field.
  This proposal returns to the American people one of the fundamental 
rights defining this nation: independence. Through it we can establish 
long-term energy independence for individual Americans, specifically, 
independence from foreign energy sources, independence from the current 
over-burdensome and inefficient energy infrastructure, and independence 
from environmentally destructive energy sources.
  It will provide for the security of the country in both economic and 
military terms by eliminating our reliance on foreign energy sources.
  The Energy Independence Act requires the Secretary of Energy to 
examine and report on the status of existing energy technology and 
domestic resources as well as developing energy generation and 
transmission technologies, focusing on their integration into an 
overall national energy portfolio to meet the stated goal of achieving 
energy self-sufficiency within 10 years.
  It also requires that the plan include recommendations to Congress 
for targeted research and development in promising new energy 
generation and transmission technologies, and funding levels necessary 
for specific programs and research efforts necessary to implement a 
plan providing for the energy self-sufficiency of the United States 
within the next 10 years.
  I urge my colleagues to support this legislation and make energy 
independence a reality for America.

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