[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 21 (Friday, February 8, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S817-S819]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Mr. SALAZAR:
  S. 2613. A bill to amend title 10, United States Code, to require the 
Secretary of the Treasury to transfer certain amounts to the State of 
Colorado, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Armed Services.
  Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation--a 
companion bill will be introduced in the House by my colleague 
Representative Salazar--to ensure that the communities in northwestern 
Colorado most affected by the enormous recent increase in oil and gas 
drilling activities, especially those in Garfield and Rio Blanco 
Counties, immediately receive their fair share of the surplus funds 
from the Anvil Points cleanup fund. Our legislation will direct 
Colorado's share of those surplus funds to land, water and wildlife 
protection and conservation efforts, and for repair, maintenance and 
construction of roads and other infrastructure affected by oil and gas 
development in those counties.
  Under the Transfer Act, Public Law 105-85, Colorado has not and will 
not receive any of the leasing revenues from oil and gas production on 
former Naval Oil Shale Reserve land until cleanup of the Anvil Points 
Superfund Site is complete. Normally these substantial revenues would 
be shared 50-50 between the State and Federal government under the 
Mineral Leasing Act. Today the trust fund set aside for the cleanup of 
Anvil Points is in surplus, and that surplus currently amounts to 
approximately $66.5 million. The Salazar-Salazar legislation amends the 
Transfer Act to immediately release Colorado's share of the surplus 
funds to Western Slope communities to mitigate development impacts in 
and around the former Naval Oil Shale Reserve in Garfield and Rio 
Blanco Counties.
  The Anvil Points trust fund currently accrues approximately $1.5 
million per month.

[[Page S818]]

  Under this legislation half of those incoming funds will go to 
Garfield and Rio Blanco Counties and half will go to the Federal 
Government. After the cleanup of the Anvil Points site is complete and 
the Secretary of the Interior certifies that the Federal Government has 
collected enough money to pay for the cleanup, the Anvil Points trust 
fund will cease to exist and oil and gas leasing revenues from the area 
will be divided 50-50 between the State of Colorado and the Federal 
Government.
  The oil and gas industry provides Colorado with much-needed revenue 
that enables our State to flourish. We must ensure that some of those 
revenues go back to the communities from which they originated. Our 
bill will ensure that the oil and gas industry does not leave the 
counties of Garfield and Rio Blanco looking like a spoiled moonscape 
but instead allows the watersheds and wildlife there to prosper and 
continue to be a haven for sportsmen and recreationists from across 
Colorado.
  Yesterday, I along with Congressmen Mark Udall and John Salazar also 
introduced legislation that repeals the eleventh-hour money grab by the 
Federal Government in last year's omnibus appropriations bill that 
would reduce from 50 percent to 48 percent the share of total royalties 
paid to Colorado and other States. The core underlying principle of the 
Mineral Leasing Act--that our Nation and our States share equal claim 
of our precious mineral resources--should be maintained. Our bill 
restores each State's share to its full, coequal 50 percent of mineral 
leasing revenues.
  Together these bills restore Colorado's share of oil and gas leasing 
revenue to its full 50 percent. With respect to the excess funds now 
held by the Federal Government for the cleanup of Anvil Points, our 
legislation will direct Colorado's share of those surplus dollars to 
land and water conservation, wildlife protection, and roads and other 
infrastructure affected by oil and gas development in the local 
communities most affected by these activities.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. BARRASSO:
  S. 2614. A bill to facilitate the development, demonstration, and 
implementation of technology for the use in removing carbon dioxide and 
other greenhouse gases from the atmosphere; to the Committee on 
Environment and Public Works.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I rise today to speak on legislation I 
am introducing to address climate change.
  Today, I am introducing legislation to address a major technological 
challenge that faces all of us. It is the challenge of how to solve the 
problem of the warming of our planet. This bill is called the 
Greenhouse Gas Emission Atmospheric Removal Act, or the GEAR Act.
  Members of this body have discussed various proposals to regulate the 
output of greenhouse gases. Some advocate doing it through a cap and 
trade approach. Others have advocated a tax on carbon.
  Such proposals are aimed at limiting future carbon output into the 
atmosphere. Many proposals have been introduced and debated using this 
approach of dealing with our carbon output. Overlooked in the debate 
are the greenhouse gases that are currently in the atmosphere.
  The best science tells us that the greenhouse gases already in the 
atmosphere are the gases that are causing the warming of our planet. To 
what extent, we are not certain. So let us resolve to find a way to 
remove the excess greenhouse gases that are already in the atmosphere. 
Remove them, and permanently sequester them.
  To accomplish this goal, we are, as a Nation, going to need to make a 
significant investment to develop the technology. The approach my 
legislation takes to address this is through a series of financial 
prizes where we set the technological goals and also define the 
outcomes we demand.
  The first researchers to meet the criteria would receive not only 
Federal funds, but also international acclaim. The prizes would be 
determined by a Federal commission under the Department of Energy. The 
commission would be composed of climate scientists, physicists, 
chemists, engineers, business managers, and economists. The commission 
would be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the 
Senate.
  The awards would go to those, both public and private, who would 
achieve milestones in developing and applying technology. Technology 
that could significantly help to slow or reverse the accumulation of 
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The greenhouse gases would have to 
be permanently sequestered. Sequestered in a manner that would be 
without significant harmful effects.
  This is how it would work. There would be four different levels of 
prizes. The first level award would go to the public or private entity 
that could first demonstrate a design for a successful technology that 
could remove and permanently sequester greenhouse gases. Second, there 
would be a prize for a lab scale demonstration project of the 
technology that accomplishes the same thing. Third, there would be an 
award for demonstrating the technology to remove and permanently 
sequester greenhouse gases that is operational at a larger, working 
model scale. Finally, there would be an award for whoever could 
demonstrate the technology to remove and permanently sequester 
greenhouse gases on a commercially viable scale.
  There you have it--four different levels of development. First for 
designing the technology, then for a lab scale demonstration of the 
technology, then for a larger working model, and then finally, the 
proven use of the technology on a commercially viable scale. Once the 
technology is developed, the United States would share intellectual 
property rights to the technology with whoever invented it. This bill, 
as drafted, does not include a specific dollar amount for each prize. 
Instead, it authorizes such sums as may be necessary.
  The commission will be directed to report to Congress 1 year after 
enactment of the law. The commission will recommend the levels of 
funding that would be necessary to achieve the goals of this act.
  I believe prizes can be a unique tool in creating technological 
development. It only seems natural that if we get all the best 
scientific minds thinking about the same problem, we significantly 
enhance our chances of solving it.
  Historically, prizes have been used to spur all types of 
technological development to solve big problems. In 1714, the British 
government offered the first prize of this type for a device capable of 
accurately measuring longitude. John Harrison, a clock maker, was 
awarded 20,000 pounds for designing an accurate and durable chronometer 
59 years later. This transformed our ability to sail the seas.
  In 1775, the French offered a 100,000-franc prize resulting in an 
artificial form of alkali being produced. In 1810, the first vacuum 
sealed food was produced by Nicolas Appert, after 15 years of 
experimentation, driven by a 12,000-franc prize offered by Napoleon. 
Today, vacuum sealing is still used throughout the world.
  In 1909 the first flight across the English Channel was spurred by a 
prize offered by a newspaper. Charles Lindbergh was competing for the 
Orteig prize offered by the wealthy hotel owner Raymond Orteig, when he 
flew in the Spirit of St. Louis nonstop from New York to Paris in 1927. 
The achievement spawned a $300 billion aviation industry.
  The British Spitfire, the fighter plane that won the Battle of 
Britain, was developed as a result of the Schneider trophy, a series of 
prizes for technological development.
  More recent examples include the creation of the X Prize Foundation, 
which gives multimillion dollar awards to the first team to achieve 
specific goals. The X Prize Foundation began a revolution in private 
space flight with the $10 million Ansari X Prize.
  On October 4, 2004, the Mojave Aerospace Ventures team, led by famed 
aircraft designer Bert Rutan and financed by Microsoft cofounder Paul 
Allen, captured the Ansari X prize for the historic space flight of 
Space Ship One to space and back, twice within 2 weeks. Space Ship One 
is now hanging in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
  The U.S. Government also offers prizes through NASA's Centennial 
Challenges program. According to NASA, the awards are made based on 
actual achievements, not just proposals. The Centennial Challenges seek

[[Page S819]]

novel solutions to NASA's mission challenges from non-traditional 
sources of innovation in our universities, in industry, and from the 
public.
  Most recently, Sir Richard Branson and former Vice President Al Gore 
announced the Virgin Earth Challenge, a $25 million global science and 
technology prize. The prize was established to encourage a viable 
technology, which will result in the removal of at least 1 billion tons 
of atmospheric carbon dioxide per year for 10 years.
  It is my hope and my goal that this legislation will foster the kind 
of solutions we need to address the concerns about climate change. What 
I am proposing is that we take a new look at climate change. With that 
new look, our solution will be based on removing excess greenhouse 
gases that are already in the atmosphere.
  We must think anew, and we must act anew. That sentence, ``we must 
think anew and we must act anew,'' is engraved on a scenic overlook 
along Interstate 80 between Cheyenne and Laramie, WY. It is engraved on 
the pedestal that holds a large-size bust of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln 
was the one to have the vision for the Transcontinental Railroad. It is 
now time for us, as Americans, to think anew and act anew about the 
issue of climate change and controlling greenhouse gases.
  Americans have always looked within ourselves for solutions. We have 
always had confidence in American ingenuity and American creativity to 
deal with the challenges of the future. Yes, we want to protect our 
environment, and yes, we want a strong economy. The way to have both is 
by thinking anew and acting anew.
  It is time to use our untapped human potential and American spirit to 
develop the technological solutions we need. It is now time for the 
U.S. Senate and for Congress to find a solution to global climate 
change, not through limits but through imagination, innovation, and 
invention.
  I look forward to working with each and every one of you on achieving 
this goal.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. REID:
  S. 2615. A bill to extend the Protect America Act of 2007 for 15 
days; read the first time.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the 
bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
placed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 2615

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. 15-DAY EXTENSION OF THE PROTECT AMERICA ACT OF 
                   2007.

       Section 6(c) of the Protect America Act of 2007 (Public Law 
     110-55; 121 Stat. 557; 50 U.S.C. 1803 note) is amended by 
     striking ``195 days'' and inserting ``210 days''.
                                 ______
                                 
      By Mr. AKAKA (for himself, Mr. Burr, Mr. Rockefeller, Mrs. 
        Murray, Mr. Obama, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Brown, Mr. Webb, Mr. 
        Tester, Mr. Craig, and Mr. Isakson):
  S. 2617. A bill to increase, effective as of December 1, 2008, the 
rates of compensation for veterans with service-connected disabilities 
and the rates of dependency and indemnity compensation for the 
survivors of certain disabled veterans; to the Committee on Veterans' 
Affairs.
  Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President today, as Chairman of the Senate Committee 
on Veterans' Affairs, I introduce the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-
Living Adjustment Act of 2008. This measure would direct the Secretary 
of Veterans Affairs to increase, effective December 1, 2008, the rates 
of veterans' compensation to keep pace with the rising cost-of-living 
in this country. The rate adjustment is equal to that provided on an 
annual basis to Social Security recipients and is based on the Consumer 
Price Index.
  Several of my colleagues on the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, 
including Ranking Member Burr, and Senators Rockefeller, Murray, Obama, 
Sanders, Brown, Webb, Tester, Craig, and Isakson join me in introducing 
this important legislation. I appreciate their continued support of our 
Nation's veterans.
  Congress regularly enacts an annual cost-of-living adjustment for 
veterans' compensation in order to ensure that inflation does not erode 
the purchasing power of the veterans and their families who depend upon 
this income to meet their daily needs. This past year Congress passed, 
and the President signed into law, Public Law 110-111, which resulted 
in a COLA increase of 2.3 percent for 2008. The 2009 projected COLA 
increase is 2.5 percent.
  The COLA affects, among other benefits, veterans' disability 
compensation and dependency and indemnity compensation for surviving 
spouses and children. Many of the more than 3 million recipients of 
those benefits depend upon these tax-free payments not only to provide 
for their own basic needs, but those of their spouses and children as 
well. Without an annual COLA increase, these veterans and their 
families would see the value of their hard-earned benefits slowly 
diminish, and we, as a Congress, would be neglecting our duty to ensure 
that those who sacrificed so much for this country receive the benefits 
and services to which they are entitled.
  It is important that we view veterans' compensation, including the 
annual COLA, and indeed all benefits earned by veterans, as a 
continuing cost of war. It is clear that the ongoing conflicts in Iraq 
and Afghanistan will continue to result in injuries and disabilities 
that will yield an increase in claims for compensation. Currently, 
there are more than 2.8 million veterans in receipt of VA disability 
compensation.
  Disbursement of disability compensation to our Nation's veterans 
constitutes one of the central missions of the Department of Veterans 
Affairs. It is a necessary measure of appreciation afforded to those 
veterans whose lives were forever altered by their service to this 
country.
  I urge our colleagues to support passage of this COLA increase. I 
also ask our colleagues for their continued support for our Nation's 
veterans.

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