[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 79 (Wednesday, June 15, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6600-S6601]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page S6600]]
                                 ENERGY

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, today we will continue consideration of the 
Energy bill, as we just discussed. The debate has been very thorough 
and robust. Today I expect it to be so as we debate a number of very 
important issues, but I am confident, very optimistic, that we will 
have a strong bipartisan bill that will be overwhelmingly supported by 
this body by the time we complete it at the end of next week.
  I thank Senator Domenici and Senator Bingaman for their tremendous 
leadership. They started in this session with a bipartisan commitment 
to produce a bill that speaks to the needs that are so clear and 
evident to all of us and to the American people. They deserve great 
credit for working together and working hard through all of these 
complicated details to come up with a plan that both sides of the aisle 
will be able to support.
  I am pleased that during the Energy bill debate we are discussing the 
importance of increasing our Nation's use of renewable fuels, such as 
ethanol, which we spent a lot of time on yesterday, as we will today, 
as well as biodiesel.
  I am a strong supporter of the renewable fuels standard which will 
double the use of ethanol and biodiesel over the next 7 years. 
Increasing use of these home-grown, clean-burning renewable fuels is 
essential to reducing both our short- and long-term dependence on 
foreign oil.
  We are currently, as has been discussed many times, 56 percent 
dependent on these foreign sources of oil with all predictions aiming 
that we will be 68 percent dependent by 2025 if we do nothing. That is 
a call to action and, in many ways, that explains much of the action on 
the floor of the Senate this week.
  One of the major goals in the bill is to reduce that dependence and 
thereby enhance our own energy security. We will accomplish that 
through adoption of this bill. The renewable fuels standard is a 
critical component, an important aspect of this energy policy.
  Increasing use of ethanol and biodiesel is a bipartisan issue. It was 
in the last Congress. I, along with the then-Democratic leader, Senator 
Daschle, introduced the renewable fuels standard amendment on the 
Senate floor. I am working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle 
to help forge an agreement on this issue again this year, and I am very 
pleased with our progress to date, over the course of yesterday, and I 
expect today.
  In particular I thank Senators Thune, Talent, Lugar, Hagel, Grassley, 
Inhofe, Bond, Voinovich, Coleman, and colleagues on the other side of 
the aisle who worked so hard to get us to this point. It was, again, a 
huge bipartisan effort with people in this body working together. I 
look forward to supporting this bipartisan effort over the course of 
the coming days.
  When we go back to our States, again and again we hear that anyone 
filling up that tank of gas knows that America is in desperate need of 
an energy plan. With gas now averaging well over $2 a gallon, every 
American family, every worker, every small business owner is feeling 
the bite, is feeling the pinch. Gas prices are taking a bigger and 
bigger piece out of the family budget and that, of course, leaves less 
money to spend on items such as clothes, food, groceries, as well as 
looking forward to that next summer vacation.
  We can do better. We are doing better in this bill. We know we can. 
And we have within our reach the ability to deliver clean, reliable, 
and affordable energy. All we have to do is imagine the future and 
project out what the future is going to be like, and then pull that 
back to the present and take action by debating and, where appropriate, 
amending the bill and then passing it over the next several days.
  As we look to the future, imagine a future where coal is turned into 
a clean, cheap gas. It is not as far away as one might think or as most 
people thought 10 or 15 years ago. We have a 400- to 500-year supply of 
coal right here in the United States. My colleague from Tennessee, 
Senator Alexander, discussed on the floor last week how, if we apply 
our technological know-how, imagination, and ability, capture that 
innovation, we can turn that very coal into clean coal gas, and by 
doing that, as a byproduct we would be able to share that with the 
entire world. We can do that by capturing our innovations, taking these 
natural resources, applying those innovations in a way that transforms 
them, and then sharing them with the entire world.
  That is the sort of thinking that is going on in this bill. It is the 
sort of transformational thinking that the American people expect and 
should expect. It is time for an energy plan that is long overdue but 
also an energy plan that incorporates this innovation and this 
technology. We have gone on for way too long, we have gone on for 10 
years without a comprehensive plan. We have attempted this in the past. 
We attempted it in the last Congress and we were unsuccessful. We 
passed a good bill on the Senate floor and the House passed a bill, but 
we did not get agreement in conference to get a bill to the President 
of the United States.
  As we have debated and have been unable to bring a bill to 
conclusion, energy prices have gone higher and higher. We have become 
more and more dependent on foreign sources of energy. These foreign 
sources do not necessarily have the best interests of the United States 
at heart.
  In the 1960s and early 1970s, the United States produced almost as 
much oil as we consumed. In those decades, imports were very small. In 
about 1972, U.S. oil production began to decline, and it has been 
declining steadily ever since.
  At the same time as our economy has grown, U.S. consumption of oil 
has steadily increased. So declining supply, increased consumption. As 
a result, our reliance on foreign oil and foreign sources of energy, of 
course, have had to increase. So the problem is pretty clear, and that 
is the response we are delivering on the Senate floor.
  Today, we import most of our oil from the North, from Canada; also 
from the South, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and Mexico. However, as we 
look out over the next 5, 10, and 15 years, the Department of Energy's 
Energy Information Administration predicts that more of the oil that we 
need will come from the OPEC countries in the Middle East.
  We must take steps to reduce our dependence on foreign countries and 
thereby enhance our energy security at home. When we rely on other 
nations for more than half our oil supply, we simply put our security 
at risk. We need a system based upon efficiency, balance, and common 
sense. We need a system that will respond to the obvious needs that are 
growing worse, challenges that are increasing each day that we do not 
produce a bill.
  We can look at nuclear energy as a great example. It is clean, it is 
efficient, and it has the potential to significantly reduce our 
dependence on foreign supplies. The Navy powers dozens of its vessels 
with nuclear energy and docks these ships at ports all over the world. 
They have not had one accident.
  France uses nuclear energy to provide 80 percent of its electricity 
supply. Japan allows one, two, three new reactors to be built each 
year. In the United States, we have not ordered a new nuclear power 
reactor plant in the last 30 years, since the 1970s. We can, and we 
should, pursue commonsense efforts to produce clean, safe, affordable, 
and reliable energy, nuclear energy, for America's families. It only 
makes sense. It is common sense.
  Increasing our domestic supply is critically important, but we also 
have to look at the conservation side of the equation. We simply need 
to look at the transportation sector. Nearly 70 percent of the oil we 
use goes to power the cars and trucks that we drive every day. If we 
are serious about reducing our dependence on foreign oil, we must look 
at new ways to power and fuel those vehicles. We are already doing this 
with hybrid cars which, as we all know, are becoming more popular, and 
with the alternative fuels that we have been discussing on the floor 
yesterday and today, ethanol and biodiesel. We must continue to move in 
this direction by continuing and increasing our investment in hydrogen 
fuel cell research.
  President Bush has said that his goal is that today's 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.

[[Page S6601]]

  The fuel that we are increasingly talking about, which is probably 
the most dramatic when we look at the challenges before us, is natural 
gas. Natural gas is another energy source we depend on heavily and 
another area in which we are becoming increasingly reliant on imports. 
Because natural gas is clean burning and relatively cheap, it has 
become the fuel of choice for new electric power generation in recent 
years. Sixty percent of homes across America are heated and cooled 
today with natural gas.
  While demand has been steadily growing, and for good reason, domestic 
supply has remained relatively flat. In fact, in 2003, we imported 15 
percent of the gas we used but by 2025 the percent of gas that is used 
that will be imported is going to go up twofold, is going to double. 
Yes, we need to take bold action in the United States to address 
America's energy challenges, and we need to do this head on. We are 
doing that on the Senate floor.
  The Energy bill we are debating over these 2 weeks is a strong step 
in the right direction. I hope that we will be able to continue to work 
together to pass a strong and bipartisan bill so we can get this 
important legislation to the President of the United States so that he 
can sign it.
  America needs this policy. It needs this policy to keep our families 
safe, strong, and secure. We need a policy that keeps us competitive, 
and we need a policy that continues to help us to move forward.
  I yield the floor.

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