[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 95 (Tuesday, June 10, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H5175]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THE DRILL-NOTHING CONGRESS

  (Ms. FOXX asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak about the drill-
nothing Congress. I wish I had thought of that phrase, but it's the 
headline in Investor's Business Daily, Monday, June 9.
  The average price for regular gas at $4 a gallon over the weekend. 
Gas prices have risen 75 percent since Nancy Pelosi took over. Where is 
the energy independence Democrats promised 2 years ago? That's the 
subheadline.
  Now I am going to quote from the article. In November, 2006, House 
Speaker-Elect Nancy Pelosi issued a press release touting the Democrats 
``common-sense plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices.'' She 
accused the oil companies of price gouging. The price of gasoline, when 
the Democrats took control of Congress, was around $2.25 per gallon. 
The average price of regular gas crept over the $4 per gallon barrier 
over the weekend, as measured by AAA and the Oil Price Information 
Service.
  This represents a more than 75 percent increase in the retail price 
of a gallon of gasoline on Pelosi's watch. Call it the Pelosi premium 
we are all now paying.
  Madam Speaker, I submit for the Record the rest of the June 9, 2008, 
article of Investor's Business Daily.
       A Gallup poll released in May showed that 57% of the 
     American people wanted the U.S. to drill in coastal and 
     wilderness areas. The percentage of Americans who bought 
     Pelosi's line about price gouging fell from 34% in May 2007 
     to 20% in May 2008. It could be a winning issue for the 
     Republicans and John McCain.
       More than 15 billion barrels of oil have been sent down the 
     Alaskan pipeline from Prudhoe Bay, some 60 miles to the west 
     of ANWR, over the past three decades, much more than the six 
     months' supply expected in the beginning by those who 
     predicted a similar environmental disaster there.
       The local caribou and other critters have thrived. Yet, 
     Pelosi and the Democrats want to keep ANWR's estimated 10.6 
     billion barrels of oil off the market and out of our gas 
     tanks.
       Buried in a Department of Interior Appropriations bill 
     passed in December 2007 was an amendment proposed by Rep. 
     Mark Udall, D-Colo., passed by a 219-215 vote in June, that 
     prevented the establishment of regulations for leasing lands 
     to drill for oil shale.
       The Western U.S. is estimated to have reserves of a 
     trillion barrels (yes, that's the real number) trapped in 
     porous shale rock, an amount three times the oil reserves of 
     Saudi Arabia. On May 15, 2008, the Senate Appropriations 
     Committee in a 15-14 party line vote rejected an amendment by 
     Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., to allow oil shale drilling and 
     overturn the Udall moratorium.
       The U.S. Congress has voted consistently to keep 85% of 
     America's offshore oil and gas off-limits, while China and 
     Cuba drill 60 miles from Key West, Fla. The U.S. Minerals 
     Management Service says that the restricted areas contain 86 
     billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural 
     gas.
       There are 3,200 oil rigs off the coast of Louisiana. During 
     Katrina, not a single drop was spilled. More than 7 billion 
     barrels have been pumped from these wells over the past 
     quarter-century, yet only one thousandth of one percent has 
     been spilled.
       A study by Louisiana's Sea Grant college shows that there's 
     50 times more marine life around oil platforms that act as 
     artificial reefs than in the surrounding mud bottoms. Some 
     85% of Louisiana fishing trips involve fishing around these 
     offshore rigs.
       The Flower Garden coral reefs lie off the Louisiana-Texas 
     border. They are surrounded by oil platforms that have been 
     pumping for 50 years.
       According to federal biologist G.P. Schmahl, ``The Flower 
     Gardens are much healthier, more pristine than anything in 
     the Florida Keys. It was a surprise to me. And I think it's a 
     surprise to most people.''
       We would suggest that John McCain revisit his reservations 
     about ANWR and run against the drill-nothing Congress. Energy 
     development and the environment are not mutually exclusive.
       In fact, we would suggest that the first joint town hall 
     meeting with Barack Obama proposed by McCain be held on one 
     of those offshore Louisiana rigs.

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