[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 76 (Thursday, June 9, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6244-S6245]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ENERGY INDEPENDENCE
Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I do wish to comment just a bit further on
energy, really as a prelude to what we will be spending a lot of time
on beginning hopefully Monday and then spending the course of that week
into the next week, and that is the issue surrounding gasoline prices,
natural gas prices, concerns that individuals think about every single
day as they turn on the lights in their home, as they go to work, on
the way filling up the gas tank of their automobile with gasoline, as
they use energy sources over the course of the day in the activity of
their small business, and that is the energy challenges that are before
us, have been before us. Now is the time to address them, and that we
will.
With gasoline now averaging over $2 a gallon, anyone who has gone to
the pump lately feels that impact, they feel that squeeze of higher
energy prices. It is costing families who have driven to work this
morning more and more just to get to work, over the last several years
costing them more to go pick up their kids from school in the
afternoon, or as many people prepare for summer vacations costing them
more because of this increase in energy prices. It is not just the
gasoline prices that are climbing. We have rising natural gas prices
that have been driving up electric bills in the last 4 months, higher
electric bills for everybody, especially families and small businesses.
As energy costs take a bigger and bigger bite in the family budgets,
families are able to spend less on other necessities in their lives,
whether it is food or shelter or health care. As electric bills consume
more and more of the small companies' assets or their bottom lines,
they invest less, they invest less in inventory or in capital
expenditures, or they invest less in how much they can pay employees
working for that small business. In order to keep our economy strong,
and it does translate down into jobs, making others' lives more
fulfilling every day, we must rely on a reliable and affordable and
secure supply of energy, reliable, affordable, and secure. That is the
purpose of the Energy bill that will be brought to the floor of the
Senate early next week.
Right now, we face enormous challenges, huge challenges. We have not
had a comprehensive national energy policy or energy strategy, cohesive
strategy in over 10 years. This has contributed to the higher prices.
It has threatened our ability to maintain a reliable, affordable, and
secure supply of energy for the future. The fact is that--and it is
probably the easiest thing to remember when you start talking about
energy other than the impact it has on everybody in everyday life--we
are too dependent on foreign sources of energy. We have to look to a
more diverse energy series of sources. We have to look to new
technologies here at home. Yes, absolutely we need to conserve more,
and we also need to produce more in order to enhance our energy
independence and to enhance our energy security.
One of the primary energy challenges we face is this reliance on
foreign oil. In the 1960s and early 1970s, the United States produced
almost as much oil as we consumed, and during that period of time
imports were very small. In 1972, however, U.S. oil production began to
decline, and that production has been declining steadily ever since.
The U.S. consumption of oil has been steadily increasing. So we have
declining production and increasing consumption.
As a result, our reliance--this I would say irresponsible reliance
that we have today on foreign oil, on imported oil--is growing. Ten
years ago, in 1995, we were 47 percent dependent on foreign sources of
oil. Today, that 47 percent has grown to a 56-percent dependence on
foreign sources of oil. If you project that out, by 2025, if we do
nothing, we will be 68-percent dependent on foreign oil; much of it, as
we all know, coming from countries that do not necessarily have our
best interests at heart.
Today we import most of our oil from Canada, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia,
and Mexico. However, as we look forward, the Department of Energy's
Energy Information Administration did project more and more of the oil
we need will come from the OPEC countries in the Middle East.
We must take steps to reduce our dependence on foreign countries and
enhance our energy security at home. When we rely on other nations for
more than half of our oil supply, we simply put ourselves at greater
risk.
While there is no silver bullet that can make us 100-percent energy
independent in the near future, there is a lot we can do right now to
reduce our dependence and enhance our security. Much of it will be
addressed on the floor in the next 2 weeks.
Everything should be on the table, including increasing conservation,
enhancing energy efficiency, investing in new technologies that will
allow us to both use energy more wisely and tap new sources of energy,
and finally, increasing domestic production of energy sources at home.
The transportation sector is a prime example. Nearly 70 percent of the
oil we use goes to power the cars and trucks we drive every day. If we
are serious about reducing our dependence on foreign oil, we must look
for new ways to fuel our vehicles. We are already doing this with the
hybrid cars--they are becoming more and more popular, as we all know--
and with alternative fuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel.
We must continue to move in this direction by continuing to invest in
hydrogen fuel cell research. President Bush has stressed this again and
again, and he has said his goal is that today's
[[Page S6245]]
children will take their driver's test in a zero-emission vehicle. That
would go a long way toward helping to reduce our dependence and enhance
our security.
Natural gas is another energy source we depend on heavily and is
another area in which we are, unfortunately, becoming increasingly
reliant on foreign imports. Because natural gas is clean burning and
relatively cheap, it has been the fuel of choice for new electric power
generation in recent years. Sixty percent of American homes are now
heated and cooled with natural gas. But while that demand has been
growing, domestic supply has remained essentially flat. In 2003, we
imported 15 percent of the gas we used. By 2025, that number will
nearly double.
We simply cannot continue on this path, and that is why we are
bringing this bill to the floor next week. We need to take bold action
in the Senate. It is what the American people expect; it is what they
deserve. This is exactly what we will do. We will take that action in
the Senate to address these energy challenges head on.
The bill that was reported out of the Energy Committee last month was
done so on a bipartisan basis, and it is a step in the right direction.
It likely will be amended and improved on the floor of the Senate next
week. I, again, thank Chairman Domenici and Senator Bingaman for their
tremendous work and for the cooperative spirit with which they
approached these issues. I hope that same bipartisan spirit will
prevail on the floor and that we can get this important legislation to
the President as quickly as possible.
Several of us had the opportunity to meet with the President
yesterday, and this was at the very top of his list of issues that he
expects us to address. Our goal is to get that legislation to his desk
for his signature as soon as we possibly can.
America needs a policy that keeps our families safe, strong, and
secure, a policy that keeps America moving forward.
Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Martinez). Without objection, it is so
ordered.
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