[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 10 (Wednesday, February 1, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E40]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 CONCERN ABOUT BECOMING ADDICTED TO OIL

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                          HON. JO ANN EMERSON

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 1, 2006

  Mrs. EMERSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to echo the concern of the 
President, who recently told this body and the American people that he 
is afraid our Nation is becoming ``addicted to oil.'' Not only is 
America dependent on foreign sources of this increasingly politicized 
resource, but supplies of that resource are dwindling and increasingly 
expensive. In order to assure the national security and economic 
prosperity of our Nation, we must find alternative sources of energy.
  America's farmers have found it already--in the rows and rows of corn 
and soybeans I drive past each time I go home to Missouri.
  Alternative sources of energy must be part of the solution to our 
dependence on foreign oil. We cannot ask Americans to drive to the 
grocery store or doctor's office less, we cannot ask our manufacturers 
to ship fewer goods, we will not all pick up and move from rural 
America to the city so we can ride the subway. The Americans who suffer 
most from high fuel prices live in places like Southern Missouri, where 
goods are shipped in from far away and our agriculture and 
manufacturing products are shipped out even greater distances to far-
off markets. We drive farther in a day than most urban Americans drive 
in a week. We use tractors, semi-trailers, and heavy-duty trucks on our 
farms and at our factories. Energy is the lifeblood of our rural 
economy, and high energy costs are a crushing burden on families, farms 
and businesses. Rural America, in particular, depends on our freedom to 
travel. And in that same rural America, there is fuel growing in the 
fields.
  Those same farmers are growing crops that could power all their 
vehicles. When I am out on the highway in Southern Missouri, I see 
literally fields of fuel--corn and soybeans that can be converted into 
Ethanol and bio-diesel. In Southern Missouri, we are starting to build 
Ethanol and bio-diesel refineries. The first few E85 stations are 
opening for business, selling fuel for cars designed to run on 85 
percent Ethanol and only 15 percent petroleum. America is leading the 
way in these technologies, just as we lead the way on our farms 
producing the world's safest, most secure food supply. It is in the 
very best interests of our country to support these efforts in every 
possible way. Oil is the most politicized natural resource in the 
world, it is limited, and its use will eventually become archaic. But 
there are fields of renewable fuel, Mr. Speaker, everywhere.

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