[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 98 (Monday, June 18, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7801-S7802]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ENERGY
Mr. REID. Mr. President, it is summertime and school is out and
people are planning their vacations. Most all the vacations are ones
where people drive. They, of course, go visit relatives, they go to the
beaches and the mountains where it is cool, barbecuing with friends,
but driving is part of America. If you have traveled in Nevada, which
millions of people do by automobile every year, going through Nevada
and coming to places such as Las Vegas, Reno, and Lake Tahoe, you find
the price of gas is very high. But it is that way all over the country,
not just Nevada. The record-high price is no accident. It is a result
of America's addiction to oil.
I say again, as I have said many times before, today in America we
are going to use 21 million barrels of oil; 65 percent of that oil we
will import. We will do it from unstable countries and regions. We have
been told with no uncertainty by scientists that we have only 10 to 15
years to do something to dramatically reduce the elements of pollution
that cause global warming.
This week we are going to continue our debate on energy legislation.
This is a bill on which every Senator should agree, but they do not.
This is a bill that comes out of the Energy Committee on a bipartisan
basis, a bill that comes out of the Environment and Public Works
Committee on a bipartisan basis, a bill that comes out of the Commerce
Committee on a bipartisan basis. They were all put together and this is
what is before us, a bipartisan energy bill.
The bill addresses both sides of the energy crisis, consumption and
supply. That is what it is all about. On the consumption side, this
bill raises fuel economy standards for cars and trucks and raises
efficiency standards for light, heat, and water.
We now know we have to produce vehicles that get 27 miles to the
gallon. For people, including our automobile manufacturers, to say: We
can't do it, we can't simply in a decade produce vehicles that will be
35-miles-per-gallon efficient--our country is one of ingenuity, of
inventing things--certainly we can do that. We have to do that.
On the supply side, our legislation invests in renewable fuels that
can be produced right here in America. It would sure be good for our
country if we could include an amendment that would diversify power
generation to include at least 15 percent of the energy from renewable
sources. This will save consumers tens of billions of dollars every
year, cut our oil consumption by more than 4 million barrels a day,
reduce our dependence on oil and foreign energy sources, and take a
giant step
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forward in the fight against global warming.
Raising CAFE standards and implementing a renewable portfolio
standard are two of the most crucial parts of this legislation. I urge
my colleagues to stand on the side of the American people by supporting
this legislation: CAFE that is in the bill, and the renewable portfolio
standard that was introduced by Senator Bingaman.
There are some who say we need to produce more oil. Of course we do.
But keep in mind, out of 100 percent of the oil in the world, America
controls less than 3 percent of it. This is the world; here we are. We
have that much of the oil. We can't produce our way out of the problems
we have. But it appears to me that many are saying more of the same:
drill, drill, drill, which is similar to what the administration is
saying about the war in Iraq, more of the same. That will not work.
Drill, drill, drill will not work either.
It is time for our country to stop stonewalling and start supporting
the kind of innovation that is already happening across America with
the renewable portfolio standard. In the State of Nevada, there is a
renewable portfolio standard. American ingenuity is looking at things,
like in California where one professor is working on a new technology
that can manufacture fuel out of simple plant material in any
industrial park in America. I have eminent scientists who visit with me
on this issue. There is wide-ranging support. I had come to my office
one day last week--I was surprised--Paul Newman, the famous actor. He
came to talk about this plant material. He is a person who is devoted
to the environment. He is using his celebrity status to come and tell
Members of Congress to do something about it.
So we have eminent scientists, we have people of celebrity status
such as Paul Newman, and the rest of Americans who want us to do
something about it.
In Pennsylvania, Amish farmers are charging their buggy batteries
with solar power. In the State of Nevada, the Southern Nevada Water
Authority, which is Las Vegas, is using solar energy at water pumping
stations to move water uphill, something that in the past would have
required tremendous nonrenewable power. There are things that can be
done.
I was listening to public radio this morning. They are having a
drought in Australia--I believe it was Sidney. I am not sure what the
name of the city was. But they have had a lot of new people come and
their water supply has dropped by 21 percent, so they are desalinizing
water from the ocean. But the people said: We are not going to do that
by burning fossil fuel. So what they have done is they have wind farms
60 miles away--I think that is how far it is; quite a ways away--wind
farms, producing all the energy which now supplies 20 percent of the
water for that city in Australia which needs millions of gallons of
water every day.
It can be done. We need to lessen our dependence on fossil fuel. That
kind of innovation is exactly what America does best, and that is what
the Government should be investing in, things like I just talked about.
The energy crisis will not be solved overnight, but this bill is a
crucial first step. So let's take that first step. It is a bipartisan
piece of legislation; not divided by our political parties but united,
I hope, by our commitment to a cleaner, safer energy future. We are
going to finish this bill sometime this week unless something goes
haywire.
Then, when we finish that, we are going to move on to everyone's
favorite subject, immigration.
I mentioned this last Friday, and I say it again: People who have
weekend schedules should understand if they are going to be gone from
the Senate, they are likely going to miss votes. We cannot get to
immigration until Thursday at the earliest. In an effort to finish by
our Fourth of July recess, we have to take up the bill Thursday,
probably late in the day, which will mean votes over the weekend. It is
always possible by unanimous consent that may not be necessary, but I
am telling everybody the odds are tremendous that we will be voting
this weekend. And on Monday there will be votes and there will be votes
before 5:30. It is our last weekend before the Fourth of July recess.
We have work to do. I hope we don't run into the Fourth of July recess,
but we may have to if we can't get things done.
I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news regarding the schedule, but
we have obligations to complete energy and immigration.
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