[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 36 (Tuesday, March 28, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H1169-H1170]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 ENERGY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. OSBORNE. Mr. Speaker, I think most Americans are pretty 
interested, very concerned about the high cost of energy, particularly 
fuel.
  At the present time, we are nearly 60 percent dependent on foreign 
oil. OPEC provides the largest part of that oil that we are importing. 
We currently have a very large trade deficit, and petroleum is really 
the major part of, at least the largest single entity in that trade 
deficit, and this is a major threat to our economy. Right now, the 
purchase of foreign oil contributes about one-third of that trade 
deficit that we are now experiencing.
  The United States has only 3 percent of the world's petroleum 
reserves. So we are highly dependent on the rest of the world. We are 
now using more petroleum than we are discovering. So we are on a 
downhill slope. Obviously, we have to do some things differently than 
what we have been doing, and I think the energy bill we passed here in 
the Congress last summer was certainly a step in the right direction.
  Many people may remember there was a renewable fuel standards in it 
that was fairly significant. There were incentives for wind, solar, 
hydrogen fuel cells which may be the wave of the future, something that 
is not a renewable fuel standard, but also some nuclear incentives were 
in there. We have not done much nuclear production for a long time, 
whereas Europe has moved ahead, and much of the energy in Europe is now 
due to nuclear power.
  A couple of the major issues in a renewable fuel standard have to do 
with ethanol and biodiesel, and the remainder of my remarks will be 
addressed mainly to those topics.
  First of all, a renewable fuel standard adds $51 billion to farm 
income over 10 years, and the good news for taxpayers is that this 
reduces government farm payments by $5.9 billion over that 10-year 
period. That is money that otherwise would be paid by the taxpayer. It 
also reduces the trade deficit of the United States by roughly $34 
billion, and it significantly reduces air pollution as well.
  So we think that obviously there are some tremendous benefits to the 
renewable fuel standard. Currently, we are producing roughly 5.9 
billion gallons of ethanol this year, 2006; and the energy bill 
mandates by the year 2012, just 6 years from now, that we produce 7.5 
billion gallons; but, actually, we will far exceed that at the pace 
that we are now producing ethanol.

                              {time}  2000

  By 2025, there is a goal on the part of many of us to become 
independent of the oil that is produced in the Middle East, which would 
mean we would need to produce roughly 60 billion gallons of ethanol, 
biodiesel, and those types of fuels. And this is doable. It is going to 
take a concerted effort, a commitment on the part of our country, but 
we can do that. Technology is changing rapidly.
  One thing that I think is important to show is that we often hear 
that, well, ethanol is okay, but it actually burns up more energy than 
it produces. And that is not true. Ethanol, for every Btu of fossil 
fuel used, yields just about 1.4 Btu's of energy because a lot of the 
energy in ethanol comes from the sun. In contrast, gasoline, for every 
1 Btu of fossil fuel used to produce it, yields about eight-tenths of a 
Btu. So there is an energy deficit.
  The same is true of MTBE. And, of course, MTBE is rapidly being 
phased out, so there is a tremendous demand now for ethanol to fill 
that gap. So, anyway, the technology is certainly changing.
  Something that is on the horizon is cellulosic ethanol. This is 
ethanol that would not necessarily be made from

[[Page H1170]]

corn, but would be made from switchgrass, rice, wheat, corn stover, so 
corn stalks, wheat stalks, and rice stalks can be used. These are 
things that are currently sometimes burned or thrown away. Also wood 
chips. So there is a tremendous opportunity out there in parts of the 
country that are not necessarily in the Corn Belt to be in some form of 
the ethanol industry.
  Biodiesel is now where ethanol was about 10 or 15 years ago. It is on 
the cusp of really becoming a major part of our fuel supply and shows 
great promise. There are many spin-offs and by-products from ethanol. 
For instance, biodegradable plastics can be made in the process of wet 
milling. And right now a great deal of our packaging stores, like Wal-
Mart and others, are now using biodegradable plastics.
  So we think there is a great future here. And, Mr. Speaker, I 
appreciate this opportunity to address the House.

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