[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 102 (Friday, July 28, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1591]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   UNITED STATES AND INDIA NUCLEAR COOPERATION PROMOTION ACT OF 2006

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                               speech of

                           HON. STEVE ISRAEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 26, 2006

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 5682) to 
     exempt from certain requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 
     1954 a proposed nuclear agreement for coooperation with 
     India:

  Mr. ISRAEL. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of H.R. 5682, the United 
States and India Nuclear Cooperation Promotion Act of 2006.
  In January of 2004, I had the opportunity to visit India with my wife 
and colleagues. During that trip I spoke with Defense Minister George 
Fernandes, and we discussed closer military cooperation between India 
and the United States. Even at that time, India favored closer military 
cooperation, but there were too many regulations, restrictions and laws 
on the books in a post 9-11 world. These laws inhibited closer military 
strategic cooperation. Fernandes explained that India and the United 
States hadn't been able to pursue a defense relationship because of 
outdated and insufficient export control policies. This, he said, had 
compelled India to develop a defense partnership with other nations. 
Until recently, approximately 70 percent of India's imported military 
equipment was from Russia.
  One cannot help but ask why this is so? While we were having that 
conversation the United States military was conducting hip to hip joint 
military exercises with the Indian military in the Indian Ocean to 
fight against the global war on terror. If our men and women in uniform 
can conduct military exercises side by side with India's men and women 
against the enemies of democracy--we can develop a partnership between 
the Indian defense industry and the U.S. defense industry. We are 
partners. We share the same values. We share a partnership on the war 
on terror.
  And in a short time that relationship has advanced. The two countries 
have been working closely on joint technology developments. And we need 
to expand that partnership, not only on a security basis, but also as 
we look at another key challenge we face: energy.
  India, America's strongest ally in the region, is on the verge of 
energy insecurity: India does not have the domestic energy resources to 
sustain its rapidly growing economy, and consequently must meet its 
requirements through foreign energy resources. India's oil demand has 
doubled between 1990 and 2003 and will double again within the next 25 
years. As India consumes more energy from the world's finite energy 
supply, the cost for energy for ordinary Americans will increase 
significantly. Two-thirds of India's annual oil consumption is 
imported, and it is projected that India will import over 90 percent of 
its annual oil requirements within the next 15 years. Currently, 
nuclear energy only comprises 3 percent of India's energy consumption, 
and this number cannot increase substantially without civilian nuclear 
cooperation with the United States. That is why I think that along with 
civilian nuclear cooperation, a renewable energy partnership is equally 
as important. Many people don't realize that this deal will help keep 
energy costs down for ordinary Americans by reducing demand in the 
global oil market.
  So I would like to spend a few minutes speaking on U.S.-India 
renewable energy cooperation. Something that is extremely important for 
both countries. After 6 years in Congress I have found that every 
single threat we face here at home is either derived from or based on 
one thing: our dependence on foreign oil. Renewable energy cooperation 
between the U.S.   and India would help both countries tremendously.
  When we dropped 2,500 pound bombs on Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, the order 
was given to 2 fighter planes. Only one could respond, because the 
other was in mid-air refueling. What better metaphor for the dangers of 
our current energy reliance!
  Before leaving for India in 2004 I read the book ``India'' by Stanley 
Wolpert. In his book he wrote--``if India ever learns to harness its 
solar energy economically, the desert states of Rajasthan and Madhya 
Pradesh could become valuable centers of power generation and 
transmission. Even as oil reserves have catapulted Arabia to affluence, 
solar power might launch central India into an age of rich growth and 
development, especially were it used to help tap mother Ganga's 
Perennial flow. India's major liability might then become her greatest 
asset.''

  We have some plans in place but we need to keep pushing to make sure 
that the two countries work together.
  The Indian minister of non-conventional energy sources (MNES) 
recently met with experts at the National Renewable Energy Lab to 
discuss potential areas of collaboration. These areas include solar 
thermal power generation, low wind speed technology research & 
development, renewable energy resource assessment and the use of 
resource data in relevant analysis tools. The Indian Oil Corporation 
(IOC) has proposed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with DOE'S 
National Renewable Energy Laboratory to focus on hydrogen and biofuels 
research. This MOU will be the basis for future joint research. I am 
asking that Congress fully fund these programs and bring them to 
fruition, and work with India.
  Mr. Chairman, we will need democratic partners in meeting threats and 
defending our national security. We will need democratic friends and 
allies with shared values and principles.
  I saw that demonstrated last July not in India, but on the floor of 
the House of Representatives.
  I was one of the Members who urged the congressional leadership to 
allow Prime Minister Singh to address a joint session of congress.
  There it was for the whole world to see. the head of the largest 
democracy on earth (India) . . . speaking in the Congress of the oldest 
democracy on earth (America). That gave me great hope that we will 
triumph over our mutual challenges of terrorism and energy dependence.

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