[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 83 (Tuesday, May 20, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H4157]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           OFFSHORE DRILLING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Poe) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
  As gasoline prices soar to almost $4 a gallon, the American driving 
public wants Congress to do something about it, and it is our 
responsibility.
  Where I live, I represent a good part of rural southeast Texas, and 
many of these individuals are rice farmers, and they work the land, and 
they can't afford the diesel for their pickup trucks and for their 
trucks to go and work at the refineries in southeast Texas. All people 
throughout the country have this same common issue: Why are gasoline 
prices so high? Why isn't Congress doing something about it?
  Well, part of the reason is Congress, instead of exploring our own 
natural resources, Congress has decided to make the decision to punish 
energy consumption in this country and to make it more difficult for 
America to take care of Americans. Congress' policy is let's rely on 
OPEC; let's rely on that dictator Chavez and get their crude oil while 
we figure out something else to do on how to take care of ourselves 
down the road, but the problem is immediate, and we need to deal with 
it, and we can deal with it.
  The first issue: Drilling for crude oil and natural gas. Now, because 
of Congress, we have made it impossible to drill offshore. This map of 
the United States shows two areas offshore. This blue area is down by 
Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. This area in the Gulf of 
Mexico is where we drill offshore, and we are glad to do that. That 
crude oil that we take from the Gulf of Mexico and distribute 
throughout the United States is good for America. But you see, Mr. 
Speaker, there is also more crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico by Florida. 
There is also crude oil over off the east coast. Mr. Speaker, there's 
also crude oil off the sacred coast of California, the west coast, but 
we don't drill over there. We don't drill in the Gulf of Mexico. We 
don't drill on the east coast. Why? Because of Congress.
  So one thing we could do is lift the offshore drilling prohibitions, 
not the regulations, but the prohibitions. But because of the 
environmental fear lobby that is so strong in this Congress, we don't 
drill where there's crude oil or natural gas. Way up here, not even on 
the map, is a place called ANWR where there is nothing except crude 
oil, and we don't drill for crude oil in ANWR because of the 
environmental fear lobby and because of Congress.
  Let's lift those restrictions and take care of ourselves rather than 
rely on foreign dictators and OPEC to get our crude oil.
  Now, there is going to be another offshore drilling rig out in the 
Gulf of Mexico over here near this red zone, but it is not going to be 
built by Americans. Those rigs out there off the coast of Florida, 
about 48 miles, are going to be built by the Cubans, and it's financed 
by the Chinese. That's right. The Chinese and the Cubans are drilling 
where America ought to drill.
  Doesn't that bother anybody? Lift the restrictions.
  The second thing we need to do is have more refineries. I represent 
southeast Texas. We have the Nation's largest refinery and the second 
largest refinery. Down in the Sabine-Neches Waterway that borders 
Louisiana there are numerous refineries, but they're running at 
capacity because we haven't built a new refinery in this country in 30 
years.
  Why? The environmental fear lobby is prohibiting us from taking care 
of ourselves. So it doesn't do any good to produce more crude oil if we 
don't have the refinery capacity to produce gasoline and diesel fuel. 
So make it easier to have refineries in this country. We need to take 
care of ourselves.
  I was somewhat embarrassed as an American citizen when our President, 
the most powerful person on Earth, had to go and ask OPEC last week to 
produce more crude oil so we could have gasoline. Of course, they in 
their arrogant way said, ``Well, we'll think about it. Maybe we will 
and maybe we won't.'' See, that is what is happening to our country. We 
are being held hostage because Congress will not let America take care 
of Americans.
  Mr. Speaker, we need to produce the crude oil, the natural gas that 
we have. We need to even produce and to build more nuclear plants in 
this country. Right now, China is building nine nuclear plants, and 
they have 40 on the drawing boards. How many are we making? We're not 
making any because the environmental fear lobby will not let us build 
nuclear power plants in this country.
  So how long is it going to take Congress to get the message that we 
need to reduce gasoline prices? One way to do that is to increase 
supply, and we can take care of ourselves. We are the only major power 
in the world that depends on other nations for our fuel and for our 
economy. This ought not to be, but it is just the way it is.

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