[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 94 (Monday, June 9, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H5057-H5059]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     RECOGNIZING THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE OZARK NATIONAL FOREST

  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the 
resolution (H. Res. 1158) recognizing the 100th anniversary of the 
establishment of the Ozark National Forest in Arkansas.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 1158

       Whereas on March 6, 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt set 
     aside by proclamation 917,944 acres of land for conservation 
     purposes, which was designated as the Ozark National Forest;
       Whereas the Ozark National Forest was the first federally 
     protected stand of hardwoods in the United States;
       Whereas the Ozark National Forest is home to Arkansas's 
     tallest mountain, Mount Magazine;
       Whereas the Ozark National Forest is home to Blanchard 
     Springs Caverns, which is a magnificent limestone cave 
     system, and the only cave system featuring guided tours 
     administered by the Forest Service;
       Whereas in 2006, the Ozark National Forest helped enrich 
     the lives of 2.1 million visitors by sharing the beauty of 
     Arkansas, which is known as ``The Natural State'';
       Whereas diverse flora in the region include more than 500 
     species of trees and woody plants, and hardwoods occupy 65 
     percent of the forests; and
       Whereas the Ozark National Forest operates outstanding 
     destinations for visitors, including the Lake Wedington 
     Recreation Area, which is on the National Register of 
     Historic Places, White Rock Mountain, 6 National Scenic 
     Byways that offer spectacular views of the Ozark Mountains, 
     over 200 camping and picnic sites, 9 swimming beaches, 11 
     special interest areas, 5 wilderness areas, hundreds of miles 
     of trails, including the Moccasin Gap Horse Trail, the 
     Huckleberry Mountain Horse Trail, the Mill Creek Trail, and 
     the Ozark Highlands Trail, trails for hiking, mountain 
     biking, and recreational off-highway vehicles, and thousands 
     of acres of lakes and streams: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives recognizes the 
     100th Anniversary of the establishment of the Ozark National 
     Forest in Arkansas.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Costa) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Nunes) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California (Mr. Costa).


                             General Leave

  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on the resolution that is under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  House Resolution 1158 recognizes the 100th anniversary of the 
establishment of the Ozark National Forest in Arkansas.
  On March 6, 1908, then President Theodore Roosevelt set aside, by 
proclamation, the Ozark National Forest which today includes more than 
1 million acres in the northwestern part of the State. The Ozark 
National Forest is one of the true gems of our national forest system, 
providing extensive recreational opportunities, more than 500 species 
of trees, habitat for 11 threatened or endangered species, and it's 
very appropriate therefore today that the House recognize the forest's 
100th anniversary.
  This resolution is sponsored by the entire Arkansas delegation, and 
they are to be commended for their work on this measure. Representative 
John Boozman and the sponsor, Representative Mike Ross, have worked 
particularly hard to get this measure to the floor today.
  Mr. Speaker, I would ask that Members of the House support the 
passage of House Resolution 1158.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. NUNES. Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  House Resolution 1158, introduced by Congressman John Boozman and 
supported by the entire Arkansas delegation, recognizes the 100th 
anniversary of the establishment of the Ozark National Forest. 100 
years ago, President Theodore Roosevelt set aside, by Presidential 
proclamation, 917,000 acres of hardwood forest land in Arkansas.
  I want to commend Congressman Boozman on his hard work and dedication 
to recognize this unique and wonderful resource area that we have in 
our country.
  At this time I yield to my good friend from Georgia (Mr. 
Westmoreland) as much time as he may consume.
  Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to bring up some more 
points about the Federal lands since that's one of the main things that 
we're talking about here today is Federal land. Coming from the 
Committee on Natural Resources and, Mr. Speaker, being privileged 
enough to be on the floor today with the subcommittee chairman that has 
authority over this, we have a problem in the fact that the majority, 
the Democratic majority keeps making what I think are false arguments 
about oil companies having the ability to drill on Federal lands right 
now.
  The problem is that, and this is the reality, that 97 percent of the 
Federal offshore areas and 94 percent of Federal onshore areas are not 
leased by the government. 97 percent of offshore, 94 percent of 
onshore. The government is stockpiling these leases, not the oil 
companies.
  And I'm not being a big defender of the oil companies. I just know 
that the truth is the truth. It's many things to many people. But at 
the end of the day, it's the truth. And the truth is that they are not 
stockpiling these leases.
  The truth is that raising taxes on them is not going to bring down 
the price of gas. Oil companies are, indeed, drilling on these leases, 
which have oil in them, and when there's a pipeline close that they can 
ship this oil. You know, we haven't built a refinery in this country 
since the late 1970s. So that would be, Mr. Speaker, a perfect bill to 
bring to the floor where we can refine more oil.
  We keep putting these boutique fuels on the market, and I forget, but 
I think there's probably 16 or 18 of those boutique fuels now, three 
different grades. We don't have the ability to refine even the crude 
that we have. So a novel idea is, why don't we build some refineries 
where some of these leases are, or where we know there are some oil 
reserves?
  You see, if these leases and this available land that's out there 
does not have oil on it, why would somebody want to drill in a dry 
hole?
  And so, if the government is only leasing this land that they know is 
a

[[Page H5058]]

dry hole, how can they expect the oil companies to get oil out of it?
  Well, that's a pretty novel idea. And the fact that we have the 
leadership in this House, the Democrat leadership, the Speaker of the 
House sending President Bush a letter demanding that he ask OPEC to do 
more production, to do more drilling, when we're sitting here in this 
country, with 97 percent of our Federal offshore areas and 94 percent 
of our Federal onshore areas with no ability to drill on it. They must 
have felt that was kind of interesting.
  We cannot produce, and I say we, this country cannot produce its own 
energy dependence by asking the companies that have the leases here to 
drill on land that does not have the oil.
  Now, with more than 2 billion acres of Federal lands not leased, how 
can these oil companies find the oil?
  We know the oil is under there. But if you're not going to lease the 
land, you've only leased the land that doesn't have the oil, and then 
you're saying that the oil companies aren't drilling on the land they 
have, when the land they have does not have the oil. I'd like to hear 
the answer to that one, Mr. Speaker.
  We have got to open up these lands for us to be able to become 
dependent on our natural resources and not the resources of others. I 
think it's a great question, Mr. Speaker, that all the American people 
would ask is, is there oil under this Federal land?
  Is there environmentally safe ways to drill it?
  Is there natural gas there?
  Is there shale coal there?
  Is there coal that can be converted to oil there?
  If it's there, let's go get it. ANWR, today, I think it was released, 
10.4 billion, that's billion with a B, barrels of oil. 10.4 billion.
  Mr. Speaker, we could use that natural resource that this country has 
to bring down the price of gas for the hardworking men and women of 
this country. And, Mr. Speaker, I hope that the American people will 
get an answer from the Democratic leadership about this commonsense 
plan, because surely the bill that was passed in January of 2007 was 
not that commonsense plan. Surely they are holding this commonsense 
plan for some reason.
  And so I'm asking, the people of the Third District of Georgia are 
asking, and, Mr. Speaker, I think the American people are asking, where 
is this commonsense plan?
  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Georgia indicated earlier 
in his comments with regards to statistics gained by the Minerals and 
Management Service, which the last time I've checked has been under the 
executive branch of our Republican administration, has increased the 
leases to public lands, both on and offshore, 361 percent.
  In addition, the gentleman from Georgia indicated that there is an 
increase in revenues to the Minerals and Management Service, therefore 
to our Nation's treasury, because, in fact, more leases are being 
provided, and there is more oil and gas being derived from those oil 
leased lands.

                              {time}  1515

  It is illogical and it would be unfactual to conclude that if 
revenues are up and more energy companies are seeking those leases, 
that they are seeking leases to lands that do not have oil nor gas. It 
is clearly illogical and unfactual.
  These energy companies are smart, competitive companies. They do not 
lease lands that they have not surveyed and that they do not have a 
great degree of certainty, based on the seismology, that in fact there 
is oil and gas there; otherwise, these record bids that the gentleman 
made reference to that just came back 2 months ago would not be record 
bids for dry holes.
  As a matter of fact, again, the Department of Interior that has been 
under the stewardship of our Republican leadership for the last 7\1/2\ 
years recently released a report, a report by Secretary Kempthorne, 
that indicates that only 38 percent of the oil and 16 percent of the 
natural gas today on public lands, whether they be onshore or offshore, 
are being excluded from leasing.
  The fact of the matter is is that we need the energy. We need to do 
everything we can to stabilize our gas prices. We need to reduce our 
dependency from energy offshore. This administration and the previous 
administration started that effort in 1999, but that alone will not 
reduce our dependency on foreign sources of energy; therefore, we have 
to work together in a bipartisan effort to use all of the various 
energy management tools that are in our energy toolbox if we are going 
to address this issue in the short term and the long term.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. NUNES. Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I had the opportunity over the weekend to meet with 
several legislators from Mexico. And a couple of the legislators asked 
me--they were very confused as to why the United States is asking 
Mexico to produce more oil because one of the legislators said, Well, 
don't you have more oil in your country than we do? And why don't you 
use your own oil in your own country? We will gladly sell it to you, 
especially at $140 a barrel, but we don't understand why your 
government doesn't allow for your own companies to drill for oil in 
your own country.
  Now, if the Mexican legislature has figured that out, you would think 
that our legislature and our Congress could figure that out.
  And so if we really want to end our reliance on foreign oil, it's 
very simple. There's two major ways to do it: You can drill for oil and 
gas in our own country on the 86 percent of the Federal lands that are 
off-limits to our use, that's one way; and the second way is to build 
nuclear power plants.
  If we don't get serious about those two options, Mr. Speaker, we're 
going to continue to pay higher prices for gas and oil, and we're also 
going to continue to pay higher prices for electricity.
  If we continue to make excuses, as people in this body have done for 
decades, decades this has been happening, we're going to continue to 
pay higher prices for fuel. I think it's time that we get serious about 
this in this Congress, we pass meaningful legislation that opens up our 
own areas for drilling for gas and oil so that we quit buying gas and 
oil from the likes of the Middle East, Venezuela, Nigeria, places that 
are, quite frankly, hostile in most cases towards our country, and we 
start to buy energy in our own country, drill for oil in our own 
country, create American-made energy, create American jobs. And then as 
we begin to put that revenue into solar and wind and future 
technologies that are going to allow for the next generation of energy 
to come on line, that, coupled with nuclear power, we can solve our 
Nation's energy problems.
  But if we continue to allow the Democrat majority to place blame on 
oil companies, place blame on OPEC, place blame on any everyone else 
but themselves, we're going to pay high prices at the pump.
  So I want to thank the gentleman, my good friend from California, for 
allowing us this opportunity to express our thoughts on this, the 
current energy situation, and on the wilderness areas that we're 
creating today in these bills.
  Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor the Ozark National 
Forest and offer my congratulations for a century of enriching the 
lives of all Americans.
  A proclamation from President Theodore Roosevelt on March 6, 1908, 
dedicated the Ozark National Forest as the first federally protected 
stand of hardwoods in the U.S. 917,944 acres of land was set aside by 
President Roosevelt for the forest that currently covers more than one 
million acres, most of which is in Northwest Arkansas.
  This great landscape is one prime example of why Arkansas is called 
the Natural State. The Ozark National Forest covers some of the 
region's most magnificent scenery. The Ozark National Forest is home to 
Mount Magazine, the tallest mountain in the state, as well as Blanchard 
Springs Caverns, a magnificent limestone cave system, and the only cave 
system featuring guided tours administered by the Forest Service.
  I'm grateful for the efforts of all Forest Service employees, 
volunteers and sportsmen who serve as stewards in the preservation and 
management of this great land.
  I thank my colleagues for passing this resolution to honor the 100th 
Anniversary of this great Arkansas treasure.
  Mr. NUNES. I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I would like to urge the support of the 
passage of House Resolution 1158.

[[Page H5059]]

  I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Costa) that the House suspend the rules 
and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 1158.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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