[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 91 (Wednesday, June 4, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H4965-H4971]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
OUR CONSTITUENTS' NUMBER ONE CONCERN IS THE HIGH PRICE OF OIL
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 18, 2007, the gentlewoman from Colorado (Mrs. Musgrave) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
Mrs. MUSGRAVE. Mr. Speaker, recently in my district of Colorado, I
had an opportunity to talk to my constituents firsthand about the high
cost of gasoline. I decided to go right to the gas station and go up
and offer to pump my constituents' gas. Now, this is a very good way to
get an honest opinion from someone who, quite frankly, is caught off
guard to see a Member of Congress right there willing to pump their
gas; and when I introduced myself, some of them recognized me, but
others that don't, I introduce myself and I say, Would you like to talk
to me about what is on your mind today? And almost to a person, they
said, You mean besides the high cost of gasoline? And I knew, after
spending a great deal of time at that gas station, that my
constituents' number one concern is the high cost of gasoline.
They told me in various ways how its affecting their lives. I talked
to one woman, Mr. Speaker, and she was telling me that she had to drive
about 20 miles into Graley where she worked, and her fuel bill was
getting so high that she literally thought about staying with relatives
in town instead of driving the 20 miles each way to get home every
night. It was putting such a financial burden on this lady. She was
literally thinking about not going home every night but staying in town
during the week and going home on the weekend.
I talked to another individual, and he at one time had a fleet of
trucks that he operated. He had a trucking business. So he had
firsthand knowledge about what the high cost of fuel is doing to the
trucking industry. And as he and I stood there and talked, Mr. Speaker,
we were remarking that when you go into stores in Colorado and around
the Nation, there's an abundance of things on the shelves that we
Americans can purchase and enjoy. But what most people don't think
about is every one of those items was hauled in a truck. And truckers
are experiencing a great deal of hardship lately with the high cost of
fuel, and many of them are going out of business.
Now this gentleman that had the trucking business previously now has
a trucking repair business, and he told me that the high cost of fuel
had adversely affected this business that he had also.
I talked to another gentleman, and he works in Denver, Colorado, but
drives from my district up there, and he was telling me that every week
he is seeing the cost of gasoline go up and up and up, and he's
thinking about how expensive his commute is becoming.
It is quite a burden on families. I talked to another individual that
was
[[Page H4966]]
older, and he had an older car, and I would presume that he was on a
fixed income, Mr. Speaker. And this gentleman doesn't have the
opportunity to get another job and work and earn more income. He has
this fixed income. As he sees the price of gasoline going up, the cost
to heat his home going up, and he, like many other senior citizens, are
very concerned about their future and what they're going to do.
I would like to yield time, as much time as she may consume, to the
gentlelady from Virginia.
Mrs. DRAKE. Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to start by
thanking the gentlelady from Colorado for hosting us this evening and
sharing the stories from her own district and the people that she
stopped and talked with.
We've just come off our district work period for Memorial Day, and I
know all of us at home over these last few days have heard over and
over again from our constituents about the extremely high price of gas
and how they just can't make that work in their lives and with their
incomes. And I was thinking about tonight and coming down here to join
you, and I realized this is my fourth year of serving the Congress.
That means this has been 4 years that I have been saying the same thing
over and over and over again.
In my first 2 years here, I served on the Natural Resource Committee
so I had the opportunity to listen. And one thing I learned right away
in 2005 that really upset me, because I didn't know this even though
I've lived in Virginia now for 41 years; I grew up in northern Ohio and
I grew up on Lake Erie, and I found out in 2005 that Canada has been
taking natural gas from under Lake Erie since 1913.
I want you to know I never saw a derrick. I never saw any type of a
rig. I never had any indication that that was taking place. And I
thought, I really felt that I had been misled and that here we are in
America blocking getting our own resources and here all along our
neighbors are doing it.
And we know today that the one thing that would change the price of
gasoline for our citizens, for our constituents, for America, for our
businesses is to increase our own domestic supply. The number one issue
that would make a difference.
In the 109th Congress, my first 2 years here, we did vote in this
House. We voted to open up ANWR. I was surprised in those years when I
learned that the National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska--just for a visual
for people across America, when I learned that if you visualized that
wildlife refuge as RFK stadium, ANWR, where the actual drilling would
take place, would be the size of a postage stamp; and that really upset
me because that wasn't the mental picture that I had. And I also
learned that we have not built a refinery in this country since 1976.
Those were all things that I learned in my first year serving here in
Congress.
Serving on the Resource Committee, I listened to our neighbors in
Canada who came to the Resource Committee to tell us how they were
successfully taking oil products from oil shales and oil sand, and they
came to volunteer to help us be able to do the same thing. And we still
haven't done anything to increase our own domestic resources using yet
a third way to do that.
{time} 2130
I was fascinated when I would listen to the hearings about using the
technology of liquefied coal, that that's old technology, that we can
do jet fuel, diesel, gasoline, that would run in all of our engines
today by using coal.
America is the Saudi Arabia of coal. Again I question, why are we
doing this and why are we making America less competitive? Why are we
putting this burden on our citizens?
I met Alaskan citizens who came to talk to me, to beg us to drill in
ANWR, and they are the people that live right there.
I think it's time that we had a strategic energy plan. Now, in 2007
and 2008, the discussions that have taken place on this floor about
increasing domestic supply have come not because we've brought any sort
of strategic plan to the floor. It's come in other pieces of
legislation like you saw tonight, in a bill when Representative Cathy
McMorris Rodgers stood and did a motion to recommit to try to get at
the problem that we're all facing in America.
I know that we can protect our environment. I know that we can
encourage conservation, that we can incentivize alternative energies as
well.
In the Second District of Virginia, we're very proud of one of our
universities, Old Dominion University, that is creating biodiesel out
of algae. How exciting and interesting is that. They are also doing
significant research in what's called coastal energy: wind, wave,
solar. But there again, how do we increase our domestic production in
our country?
But I also go back to what about families across America. Just before
we went on our Memorial Day break, when I got home, when I was sitting
there talking to my husband about what was his week like, what was my
week like here in D.C., and he said to me, I know you don't know this,
but do you know our water bill was $88 for last month? $88 just for
water.
We both know that in the last 7 years our real estate taxes have
tripled, and we're seeing today what we're paying for gasoline, what
we're paying for food, and you've explained very, very well about the
higher cost of transportation and that we have to move these products.
And that's us sitting there talking. We've lived in our house for 20
years. Our children are grown. How do families do it today? How do
families do it that have to commute any distance because of the price
of housing in our country? And more and more people have had to live
further out.
If we want America to be competitive, if we want to grow our economy,
if we want our families to be able to feel like that they're getting
ahead and succeeding, we have got to join together in this Congress. We
have to have a bipartisan solution, and we have to increase our
domestic supply.
I'm sure that you were as distressed as I was when I read the
newspaper article that our President had gone to Saudi Arabia and asked
them to increase the gas production. My first thought was, why didn't
he come here to Congress and tell us that we must change the law and
allow for this domestic production, to allow for the siting of
refineries, and to tell the American people that it is the policies
right here in Washington that are stopping that from taking place?
That's what I would hope that he would do.
I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity. I know you have
other speakers. I think you and I could probably talk half the night to
America about this issue, about how important it is, but every single
person listening to us tonight knows how critically important it is
that we increase our domestic supply and that we're able to drop this
price and for American families to be able to feel that they can do
something, that they can enjoy life and not have to worry and worry how
they're going to pay for all the things that are in their lives today.
This is something that I feel we, as Members of Congress, could make a
difference and could make those changes.
Mrs. MUSGRAVE. I thank the gentlelady. She has spoken very well about
the impact on families with the high price of fuel and what we need to
address those prices.
It's interesting, too, as we talk about families, we have schools. In
my district, it's 7\1/2\ hours from one side of my district to the
other. We have rural school districts, and buses have to travel long
distances, and now schools are trying to ascertain how they're going to
pay the high cost of fuel, and there are changes coming up.
When you look at schools, they're doing things like going to the 4-
day week. They're changing. They think of the money they can save if
they don't have to transport the kids and heat the buildings and do
those things during the day. So when they look at the fuel price for
transportation, they're thinking they're going to go to this 4-day
week.
Sadly, it's impacting sports and schools, and we know that many times
sports is what keeps students in schools, and it has such a good role
to play in their life, but they're having to curtail their driving for
this because they can't afford it anymore and they might drop programs.
So schools that even want to do field trips, and this is especially
enriching for students who perhaps may be in
[[Page H4967]]
families where they can't afford to do many things, but these kids
enjoy these school trips. These outings are very good for them, but
schools are saying that students will have to pay for a fee for that or
they will have to forgo their field trips.
This is having a huge impact on families and on schools.
I would like to yield now to the gentleman from Tennessee.
Mr. DAVID DAVIS of Tennessee. I would like to thank the gentlelady
from Colorado for doing this special hour. I don't think there's
anything more important facing Americans right now and facing this
Congress than to deal with the high cost of energy, and I thank you for
your leadership.
With the national average cost of gasoline at the pump today at $3.98
a gallon, moms and dads across the country are struggling to balance
the family budget. It breaks my heart, and I know of a young family
back in northeast Tennessee just trying to make enough money to make it
to work or take their child to school. It breaks my heart when we have
senior adults that are on a fixed income that don't have the
opportunity to have more money, to be able to afford the gasoline to go
to the doctor or go to the hospital or go to the grocery store. It
breaks my heart when you have a small business that's trying to create
those jobs and make life better for their fellow man. It breaks my
heart.
This Congress must pass meaningful legislation to reduce the price of
gasoline and fuel at the pump, and we need to do it soon.
Just recently, Shell Oil Company Chairman John Hofmeister testified
before the Senate on why gas prices are so high. He said, ``As
repetitive and uninteresting as it may sound, the fundamental laws of
supply and demand are at work.''
Over the past few weeks, I along with most of my colleagues on this
side of the aisle have produced an energy policy, not just a piece of
an energy policy, but a true energy policy that addresses our supply of
American energy. This energy policy explores all facets of our energy
needs, from drilling for American oil and natural gases to using
alternative fuels like switchgrass and ethanol. The policy increases
American supply, which will effectively lower prices.
This energy policy will help people like Earl Humphreys, who owns and
manages Lawn Boyz Lawn Care in Bristol, Tennessee. Earl told me that he
may not be able to continue his business much longer because of high
fuel prices. He is not making enough money to support his family,
purchase his fuel, pay his staff, and keep the doors open on his
family-run business. How sad.
People like Earl are relying on Congress to do something. Colleagues
on this side of the aisle and I have offered nothing but solutions. On
the other side of the aisle, they've offered nothing but excuses.
Congress' Democratic leadership is out of touch with the American
people like Earl. Instead of increasing American energy supply so that
prices can go down and Earl can continue to support his family, the
Democrat leadership wants to tax energy producers, stifle American
production, and abandon cars, SUVs and pick-up trucks that we all rely
on.
Recently, one Congressman proposed a 50-cent tax increase on
gasoline. Now, that makes absolutely no sense to me. We can't tax and
regulate our way out of an energy crisis, and we can't tax your pick-up
truck from empty to full.
Leadership's energy policies have been to conduct seven
investigations into price gouging, conduct four investigations on
speculators, and create $20 billion in new taxes on oil producers.
Unfortunately, the leadership of Congress' policies don't save
Americans any money at the pump.
In fact, gasoline prices have increased from $2.33 a gallon to $3.98
per gallon since Speaker Pelosi and her Democrat colleagues took
control of this Congress last year. That's not a solution.
When China and other growing industrialized nations are moving from
bicycles to cars, Americans are being made to go from cars to bicycles.
That's not a solution.
Currently, China is drilling for oil and natural gas almost in sight
off the coast of Key West, Florida. The irony here is that while China
is out there drilling, America can't, under the leadership of this
Congress.
What is it going to take to make this Congress realize that we need
to increase American energy supply and decrease our dependence on
foreign energy, our dependence on people that hate us and hate our
freedoms?
The majority of the American people understand, East Tennesseans
understand and I understand, Earl understands and people from Bristol,
Tennessee, understand, we must take immediate action to allow for
drilling in an environmentally safe way on American soil and off our
coasts. In the Outer Continental Shelf alone, it's estimated that we
have over 17 billion barrels of oil, oil that someone else is drilling
for. On the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve alone, we have the
potential to provide consumers with over 1 million barrels of oil per
day. We need solutions.
We must take immediate action to allow for the construction of new
refineries, and we can do that on old military bases.
We must take immediate action on production of natural gas where our
supply is abundant. Eastman Chemical Company, which is located in my
district in northeast Tennessee, has been using clean coal gasification
to meet their ever increasing energy needs on a daily basis.
We must take immediate action to allow for the construction of safe
nuclear power plants. For instance, France currently powers 80 percent
of their energy needs from safe nuclear power plants.
We must take immediate action using alternative fuel sources, like
switchgrass and ethanol from nonfood sources. New technologies like
switchgrass and ethanol are exciting and will be part of our solution
to lower high energy costs.
We must take immediate action by using clean coal technology,
something that the Germans used in World War II. This is not
futuristic. They were doing it in World War II. Coal is not some smutty
leftover from the Industrial Revolution. We have approximately 250
years worth of coal right here in the United States, and you can take a
lump of coal and actually turn it into gasoline and drive your car and
fly jet planes. They did it in World War II.
We need solutions. Republican energy policies like the ones I've just
listed will save every American at least $1.82 per gallon of gasoline.
That's $36.40 for each 20-gallon tank full of gasoline. Tennesseans
like Earl sure can use a $1.82 discount at the gas pump.
We need solutions. Americans like Earl are looking for solutions, not
excuses. The time for solutions is now. That's why I've cosponsored the
No More Excuses Energy Act. It combines all these different types of
energy to bring down the price at the pump and make sure we have energy
to heat our homes in the winter. We need solutions, not excuses.
Mrs. MUSGRAVE. I would like to yield to the gentleman from
Pennsylvania now.
Mr. PETERSON of Pennsylvania. I thank the gentlelady from Colorado
and gentlelady from Virginia and the gentleman from Tennessee for the
right to join them this evening for an issue that I think is very much
on the mind of every American.
I can't talk to a neighbor, a friend, anywhere but what they're
talking about energy prices. And it's interesting that it's not being
talked about in this House in a productive way.
In fact, 2 weeks ago we passed a bill that attempts to give us the
right to get OPEC into our courts to force them to produce more energy,
accusing them of not producing enough energy. Now, I don't know how a
government who has locked up so much of its own supply--and I'll show
you here on this chart--both coasts are off-limits to oil and gas
production and a portion of the gulf. And out in the middle part of the
country, millions and millions of acres are locked up.
{time} 2145
And of course up here in ANWR, that part of Alaska that was set aside
by President Carter for energy production, has been locked up. And we
passed a bill in the Clinton administration, and he vetoed it. That was
10 years ago. They said it would take 10 years to get production here,
but today we would have that energy if it had happened.
[[Page H4968]]
Folks, while we lock this up, we pass a bill trying to get us the
ability to bring OPEC countries into a court somewhere to force them to
produce. Now, people back home kind of laughed at me and they said,
well, how do we force a country to produce when we won't produce our
own? How do you rationalize that? But it sounds good if you don't look
at the facts, I guess. But here we are, and now the Senate, this week,
is working on carbon taxes, which will increase energy prices another
20 to 30 percent.
Mr. Speaker, Members of the House, and Americans, listen to the
carbon tax debate. It will tax energy further and raise the cost of
fossil fuels, hoping, I guess, we won't use them so that we will be
forced--and we will get into the renewables in a little bit. But it
seems interesting to me that, at a time when every American that I talk
to has one thing on their mind, affordable energy, and Congress is the
reason. I'm here to say tonight, this body and three Presidents are the
reason.
This moratorium on our Outer Continental Shelf, that's from three
miles offshore owned by the States to 200 miles that's owned by the
Federal Government and us, the taxpayers, we own that. We're the only
country in the world that's locked it up. It was locked up 28 years ago
by President Bush I for 5 years to study and see where the best was and
see if we had some sensitive areas we needed to protect. President
Clinton came in, just extended it to 2012 and said they wouldn't
explore out there. And then the current President has not supported
raising this moratorium. In fact, I wrote him a letter 2 weeks ago, a
man I love dearly, but disagree with very much on lack of energy
leadership because he understands the energy issue--at least he should,
he's from an energy family. But he has spoken three times recently in
public about opening up onshore and offshore. So we sent him a letter
saying, Mr. President, it seems like if you're serious about opening up
offshore, that you would lift the presidential moratorium--because we
actually have two moratoriums. We have a presidential decree that's
been through three Presidents that says you can't produce out there. We
have legislation that Congress passes every year in the Interior bill
that says the Federal Government cannot spend one dollar to lease
offshore leasing on either coast in the Gulf. Eighty-five percent.
This is where most of the world produces a lot of their energy, these
great resources. It's the most environmentally sensitive place. Fishing
in the Gulf is better where we produce oil than where we don't produce
oil. And when we had the terrible storms in Katrina a few years ago,
the fishermen were saying--some of the rigs were really damaged, and
the platforms, so they said, you're not going to take them away, are
you? They said, no, we're going to repair them and use them. Because
that's where the best fishing is.
Now, with those terrible storms, the Minerals and Mines Management
said we had no measurable spillage. Actually, we have more spillage on
our ocean shores from ships and sporting boats than we have from
drilling anywhere. We have not had an offshore incident since 1969 in
Santa Barbara. Our technology today is tremendously improved. There is
no viable reason that we're not producing energy offshore.
Now, I'll be offering an amendment next Wednesday, the 11th of June,
in the Interior Appropriations bill that will open up and remove these
moratoriums from 50 miles out for both gas and oil. That will allow us
to produce. Now, it's not something that's just going to happen
overnight, it still would have to be, once it's opened up and signed by
the President, it would have to be part of the 5-year plan.
What's interesting is we know there's huge reserves out here, but has
never been measured by modern seismographic and modern techniques that
we use today. And it's like taking an old black and white picture tube,
television, and comparing it to one of our beautiful flat screen TVs
today of what you can see. Today they can know what's there, what type
of energy is there, how deep it is, and how difficult it will be to
produce it. But we, by law, this Congress has prohibited anybody from
exploring out there, even to look at what's out there. Does that make
sense? Of course it makes no sense.
Let's look for a moment at our energy use. This is the interesting
part. We are 40 percent petroleum, 23 percent natural gas, 23 percent
coal, 8 percent nuclear. Now, that's 94 percent of America's energy.
That's fossil fuel, except nuclear.
Then you have the renewables. And, you know, I'm for wind and I'm for
solar and I'm for geothermal and I'm for cellulosic ethanol and all of
those good things, but we have to look at how small they are. I said to
a gentleman on the plane this morning flying in, I said, if we double
wind and solar in the next 5 years, how much of our energy do you
think--oh, 10 percent? I said, less than three-quarters of 1 percent.
Because when you get down here, the only one that's really grown a lot
recently is woody biomass.
Now, we have almost a million Americans now, just under a million
Americans heats their homes with pellet stoves; that's saw dust pressed
into a pellet, and they use it to heat their home. We're heating
factories today with saw dust and wood chips. I have a hospital in my
district that just put in a new wood boiler that has saved 70 percent
on their energy bill by burning sawdust and wood chips and their own
cardboard and their own paper. So that's been the one that's been
growing. Geothermal has been just constant at a very small fraction.
Wind and solar are fractions; these are fractions. Now, if we double
them, they're still fractions. And I'm for them. But I guess the false
hope has been--and I want to share with you who I think is really at
fault. Now, Congress is at fault, but who has influenced Congress?
Well, there is a group called the Sierra Club. And here is what is on
their web page. They're against the oil shale development that's been
talked about out west, where we think there's huge reserves. They're
against coal liquefaction because we're the Saudi Arabia of coal and we
think liquefied coal or coal-to-gas could get us away from the--66
percent of our petroleum now comes from foreign unstable governments.
And that's where all our money is going, folks. We're enriching that
part of the world who helped furnish us with 9/11.
They're against offshore energy production. Back to the map I had up
here. The Sierra Club will lead the fight. I debated a Sierra Club
member on NPR last week on a California radio station, and they said
we'll be leading the fight to stop Congressman Peterson's bill from
being passed.
Green Peace; you know what they want to do? They want to phase these
out. And that's what a lot of Congress wants to do. They say, we can't
use fossil fuels anymore. Well, okay, I'll buy that. I would like to be
fueling our country down here. I will do anything and everything to
fund these. And those who say we haven't spent billions on research in
wind and solar are not being honest with you, we're spending billions
annually to subsidize those.
So Green Peace wants to phase these out; can't do this anymore. But
that's really what we're doing, that's why we have high energy prices;
we're phasing out fossil fuels before we have a replacement. We've
decided we're not going to produce fossil fuels. Because if we don't
produce them--I've talked to Members here on the floor. Well, John, if
we continue to produce fossil fuels and they're affordable, Americans
will not use renewables. I said, but if you phase out fossil fuels
before we have the renewables, we're going to have awfully high energy
prices.
Now, we were arguing that when oil was $30 and $40 a barrel. I don't
think any of us dreamed we would see $135 oil this year. I thought we
might hit $100 oil this fall. That was my prediction. I did not dream .
. .
Now, what's interesting that's happening now, oil I think was $122
when it closed today; that's not cheap, but it's better than $135. But
natural gas prices, creeping, creeping, creeping. And natural gas is
the fuel that I think is the bridge fuel.
Here's what natural gas prices have been doing. Natural gas prices
are spiking again. This chart was made on the retail price. Today,
natural gas was $12.40 out of the ground. And now what's ironic about
that, this is a time of year when you don't use a lot of natural gas
because you're minimizing heating and you're minimizing cooling. You're
kind of at the period where we depend on natural temperatures. So we
use much less natural gas at this time
[[Page H4969]]
of year. So this is when natural gas prices dive. And we put that cheap
gas in the ground and we use it next winter because in the winter time,
when we're heating the country, we can't produce enough gas for that
period of time, so we store it. And my district has many caverns, salt
caverns where we store gas for the northeast.
So we're now putting $12.40 gas in the ground for next winter. Last
year at this time we were putting $6.50 and $7 gas in the ground. So
the American public yet do not realize that we've had--they're paying
very high prices for home heating oil, they're paying very high prices
for gasoline and diesel, and they're paying very high prices for home
heating oil and propane. But natural gas didn't increase much last
year; it was kind of a soft year on natural gas prices. But this year,
only the good Lord knows how expensive it's going to be because it
appears, for some reason, it's going up like a quarter a day; so that's
every four days you're up a dollar. I don't know what's causing it,
it's increased use.
We have said no to about 50 coal plants that were designed to be
built to replace old coal plants in the last 6 months in this country.
States have rejected them because of the carbon issue now, or the fear
of the carbon issue. So those will all be natural gas plants.
Now, up until about 12 years ago we didn't use natural gas to make
electricity, and so we made about 8 percent of our electricity with
natural gas. And that was peak power in the morning and the evening
because you can turn a gas generator off and on, the rest you can't.
Now that we use it unlimitedly, we're at 23 percent of our electric is
being produced with natural gas. And it's a huge strain on the natural
gas system.
Now, natural gas should never be a problem in America. We can't
probably produce all the oil we need; we can do a lot better than we're
doing. But there's no reason America can't have lots of natural gas. We
have reserves onshore, offshore, but unfortunately most of them are
owned by government entities and they're locked up. Congress has locked
them up. Congress has said we're not going to produce. And these
environmental groups--let me go back through them. Green Peace; phase
out fossil fuels. Environmental Defense; they're against power plant
smokestacks are public health enemy number one, so you can't have a
power plant. League of Conservation Voters; coal to liquids, the wrong
direction. They're going to fight it. Defenders of Wilderness; every
coastal State is put in harm's way when oil rigs go up on our coastal
waters.
Folks, I showed you the chart earlier about every country in the
world, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Great Britain, Canada, New
Zealand, Australia, they all produce offshore, cleanly. The new
technology, they turn the wells off when there are storms at the base.
There has not been a major spill. And there has never been a gas spill
that spoiled a beach. Gas is a clean fuel.
And in my view, if we had abundant reasonable natural gas, we could
fuel a third of our cars with natural gas. In the cities, our buses,
all our short-haul vehicles, our construction vehicles, could all be on
clean, green natural gas. But the price is so high today, there is no
incentive to do that.
To conclude here, here is the Energy Department's charts. The middle
is now. This is history. This is what they project for our usage in the
future.
Now, not long ago there were commercials on television by oil
companies that led me to believe that renewables were ready to take
over, they were ready to fuel this country, all we had to do was
release them. Well, this is what the Energy Department thinks. Not much
changed. Now, I don't quite agree with some of these. I think natural
gas will increase measurably out here because the carbon issue is going
to restrict coal. It may prevent us from doing coal-to-liquid. And it
shouldn't happen, but it's actually happening. Coal plants are being
turned down--clean coal technology plants are being turned down by
environmental agencies to replace all dirty coal plants that we would
like to replace because of the carbon issue.
So I look for gas to be--if we do a carbon tax, every country that
has done a carbon tax, everybody has to go to natural gas because it's
a third of the carbon when you burn it of any other fossil fuel. It's
the cleanest fuel, it's almost the perfect fuel. But folks, we need
oil, we need gas, we need coal, we need nuclear. We need all the
renewables and hydros. And we need to grow them all as fast as we can.
But our environmental groups want to eliminate all of the below and run
the country on above. And it actually goes clear up to here, because
they're not for nuclear. The environmental groups are not for nuclear,
they're not for coal, they're not for gas, they're not for oil. But
folks, that's how we run the world.
And with today's clean technology, there is no argument why we can't
have affordable energy in America.
{time} 2200
But it is the will of this Congress to open up. I hope next Wednesday
on the Interior Subcommittee that we can be successful with our
amendment that would open up the Outer Continental Shelf, from 50 miles
out, to oil and gas production. Now, that won't change anything, but I
just asked some oil company executives, who I don't talk to often but
who were at a hearing, if we opened up the Outer Continental Shelf in
its entirety, both coasts, and we opened up ANWR, what would that do to
energy prices? He said, well, it would take the fear factor out because
here is the problem we have in America.
Historically, there was capacity in the world of about 10 million
gallons a day of oil that could be pumped if we needed it, from eight
to ten. That has been historic. Recently, as China and India have
increased their usage and as many of the countries--Mexico, Chavez,
Nigeria, Russia, and all of them--have nationalized their oil companies
and are now run by the government, they are not being run as
efficiently, and they're not producing as much, so production has
actually slipped in many of those countries.
We are down now to where there is about a 1.2-million-extra-barrel-a-
day capacity in the world to meet the world demand. So, if you have a
storm and when Exxon was arguing with Chavez over producing, the price
went up. When we had the oil refinery a short time ago that was only a
78,000-barrel refinery, the price went up. Why? Because that is going
to take some supply off the market. There is no slush. So, if you have
any one of these countries--these dictatorships--topple and instead of
producing 7 million barrels a day they would produce 5, there wouldn't
be enough oil. So the fear factor allows Wall Street to play on those
fears and run those prices up. If you took the fear factor out, the oil
companies told me, it would probably reduce prices at least 20 to 25
percent. That's just theory. That's their thought. Take the fear factor
because there is not enough oil in the marketplace.
What has happened and no matter what we do is China's growth in
energy use and India's growth in energy use is 15 to 20 percent a year
because, as they build a home and buy their first vehicles, they are
now in the energy business. Where they used to have a donkey and a hut,
they now have a house. Millions of people all over the world are
joining our way of life, and to join our way of life, they need heat in
their homes; they need a vehicle that needs fuel, and they're part of
the energy business. Those are the developing countries in South
America, in India, in China, in Malaysia. It's happening everywhere. We
are soon going to be the second biggest user of energy because China is
about ready to go by us.
I believe, if America continues to refuse to deal with energy and
bring available energy to America, we will not compete in the new
global economy. We are in an economy today where we have never had
competitors like China and India before. We have never had this kind of
pressure on us. We have to compete.
I want to make one final point on natural gas. Natural gas is not a
world price. We have had one of the highest prices of any country in
the world of natural gas now for 8 years. That is why half the
fertilizer industry has left this country; they use huge amounts of
natural gas. I'll just share with you some data here that's scary.
Dow Chemical announced a 20 percent price increase, but it's what you
look at behind that that's scary. In 2002, their natural gas bill was
$8 billion. In 2008, it was $32 billion. That's
[[Page H4970]]
four times. In 2002, 60 percent of their revenues came from American
plants. Just a few years later, it was only 34 percent of their
revenues. Why? They had to move offshore to compete in the global
economy. Over half the fertilizer companies have left America in the
last 3 years because of natural gas prices. The increase in the cost of
natural gas has caused plastic resin prices to rise to record levels.
It has put American-based plastic facilities--and my district is full
of plastic plants--at a severe competitive disadvantage, says Josh
Young of the American Plastics Council. As a result, the factories are
closing or are moving offshore. They are leaving Americans jobless.
Over the past 5 years, the plastic industry has lost nearly 4,000 jobs
in Florida, which refused to allow us to drill, and more than 300,000
jobs nationwide just in the plastics industry. Petrochemicals have lost
hundreds of thousands of jobs, fertilizer thousands of jobs and steel
makers, aluminum makers and glass that use huge amounts.
My prediction is that bulk commodities like glass and bricks, that
should always be made close to home, will soon be made in Trinidad
where gas is $1.50 instead of $12 coming out of the ground. We will
make our bricks and glass in Trinidad, South America. It will come here
in about a day and a half on a ship.
That's not the America I dream for. Available, affordable energy is
available to us if this Congress will do what is right: Open up
offshore, do coal to liquids, expand the use of nuclear, continue to
subsidize the renewables and to incentivize the renewables. I think we
also need to incentivize Americans. I mean Americans are conserving.
They have to conserve, but we need to incentivize Americans with tax
breaks that would help them write off any measurable improvement they
made in their homes and in their lifestyles, whether it's heating their
homes with more modern appliances or whether it's better insulation or
better windows or better doors, so we can conserve the use of energy.
As was talked about here on the floor earlier, there is education. My
school districts are getting hammered with energy costs. The hospitals
are getting hammered with energy costs as are your agencies that give
free aid to the people. I mean every social agency is getting hammered
with energy costs.
I talked to a church person tonight who said they weren't sure they
were going to be able to keep their church open next winter. The energy
bills last year have made it almost prohibitive to keep their church
open in the colder months in the winter. They are going to have to find
a place to meet somewhere else.
Folks, this is a self-induced problem by this Congress and by three
Presidents. In our Presidential debate, the number one issue ought to
be who has the best plan for available, affordable energy for America.
Mrs. MUSGRAVE. I thank the gentleman.
I would like to yield to the gentlelady from Virginia.
Mrs. DRAKE. Well, first, I'd like to thank the gentleman for that
very thorough explanation to America as to what is really going on. I
was very proud to stand beside you several months ago when you did your
press conference on your bill. There were several of our colleagues
there--original cosponsors on your bill--standing with you.
I'll never forget standing with you as well were representatives from
Dow Chemical because they made an announcement, too. They told us that
they were doing a $30 billion expansion in China, Saudi Arabia and
Libya, 10,000 jobs that they wished were right here in America. The
reason they did it was because you couldn't pay $10 to $12 for a unit
of gas here that you could pay 85 cents for in Saudi Arabia. I've never
forgotten that. I thought it was very, very painful.
Your bill as well does something that is very important. It has a
37\1/2\ percent royalty back to the State. Now, the Commonwealth of
Virginia desperately needs that kind of funding for our number one
issue of transportation. Your bill also fully funds the Chesapeake Bay
Commission's request for the bay cleanup. So there are ways that we can
be environmentally protective and that we can be environmentally sound.
You brought up various environmental groups, and I wanted to say to
you that I was going to speak to the Natural Resources Committee one
day about why I support deep sea drilling in the Outer Continental
Shelf. I represent the entire Atlantic coast in Virginia. Well, there
was someone there from one of our environmental groups whom I knew. I
went up to him, and I said, ``I know if you're speaking you're going to
say the exact opposite of me, but what I really want to ask you is: Do
you understand the impact that you have on our economy or is that your
point?'' He actually acted like I'd hit him. I said, ``No, no, no.
Wait. I'm really serious. I'm trying to understand what the issue is,
but I truly believe you either don't know or you intend to do it.'' Do
you know what? He turned and he walked away and he wouldn't answer me,
but we cannot as leaders in our country stand back and allow this to
take place.
I just wanted to finish up with a couple of facts that I found very
interesting. One is, if we were to increase that nuclear that you have
on there, we could keep 200 billion tons of carbon out of our
atmosphere annually if we simply had the nuclear capability of France.
Mr. PETERSON of Pennsylvania. That's right.
Mrs. DRAKE. The second thing is that we're 13 times more likely to
have a spill if we transport oil product by tanker. I think that's
important for America to know.
There is another that you've said, that it has been over 30 years,
almost 40, since there has been any significant spill from any sort of
deep sea drilling. We all saw what happened with Katrina and Rita.
There were no problems there. We know Canada has an oil rig in the
north Atlantic, off the coast of Newfoundland, called Hibernia. There
have been no problems there. As you have said, the technology is so
much better.
The other important thing is the horizon is only 12 miles out. You're
talking 50 miles from Virginia Beach. That's half the way to Richmond.
So there is no way you would ever see a rig.
I want to thank you because you have done just a tremendous job of
bringing this issue to the forefront and of explaining it to America,
and I truly believe that when Americans have the facts and Americans
understand this issue that Americans will be demanding of us as Members
of the House and as Members of the Senate that we deal with this issue.
I really hope that they call their Representatives all across America,
that they phone and tell their Representatives and demand that we deal
with this issue and not make America less competitive.
I keep talking about families. What about single parents? How do you
deal with this incredible cost? You have brought it up. It is something
that we have been extremely concerned about, the price of natural gas
for home heating, and we have been very fortunate in our area to have
milder than normal winters. That has not been the case across the
country. So thank you.
I would like to thank the gentlewoman and yield back to her as well.
Mrs. MUSGRAVE. I thank you both for your expertise in this area and
also Mr. Davis as he spoke this evening.
Mr. Peterson, your charts and the case that you presented tonight are
very clear before the American people. We all have a desire to go to
alternatives. We all want to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. You
talked about that 40 percent. 60 percent of that comes from very
unstable areas of the world, and we know that, and we want to lessen
that dependence that we have on them and become energy-independent, but
this is a long road. We have to start right now, right here today, for
the American people who are suffering with the high cost of energy.
I would just challenge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle.
We talk about long-range planning. We always have to do long-range
planning. We need to look at the big picture. Today are the solutions
that the Republicans have come forth with--more domestic exploration.
You have spoken so well, Mr. Peterson, to our Nation's being locked up,
but nations around the world do energy exploration off their coasts in
an environmentally sound way. There is no reason that America should
not be doing that.
Look at the States like I am from, Colorado. There are abundant
natural
[[Page H4971]]
resources that we have, and there are the technologies that are
available now with oil shale, and there is the future we have on that.
We need to get to work on that right away.
You and I have talked and all of us have talked this evening about
the lack of refinery capacity and how we can look clear back to the
1970s. We have not had any refineries built since then. We need to get
away from this failed policy and get real in this country about what we
need to do.
When I was at the pump, when I was talking to those people in
Greeley, Colorado the other day, I saw firsthand how this is affecting
the middle class, people who have to drive back and forth to work. You
know, they want to be able to take their children to the baseball games
this summer. They want their kids to participate in these things and to
enjoy their summer in Colorado, but they are very worried. My folks who
are on fixed incomes are very concerned about how they are going to get
back and forth to the grocery store and to the doctor and how they will
run the errands that they need to do. We need to respond as Members of
Congress, on both sides of the aisle, to this crisis that is right here
now before our middle class, and we need to bring forth these solutions
that we have suggested tonight to bring down the cost of energy.
It is time for Congress to act, and every day that goes by that we do
not enact sound policies that will allow us to do domestic exploration
in an environmentally sound way--yes, move to alternatives, do these
things that we need to do, increase refinery capacity--we are letting
the American people down. I am standing tonight with my colleagues to
say it is time to address this problem for the middle class and for the
United States and to get on the road to energy independence but, in the
here and now, to bring down the cost of energy.
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