[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 122 (Thursday, July 24, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H7148-H7155]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                ENERGY IN AMERICA, NOW AND IN THE FUTURE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Space). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 18, 2007, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Latta) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. LATTA. Mr. Speaker, the American people are demanding action. And 
that action is about what they know more about than this Congress does. 
The American people want us to act, because they're hurting at home, at 
the pump and at work.
  My district is the Fifth Congressional District in Ohio. I have, 
according to the National Manufacturers' Association, a district that 
is number nine in manufacturing jobs across the entire Congress. And I 
represent the number one agricultural district in the State of Ohio. My 
district also has a great distinction in that we have I-75 and the Ohio 
Turnpike intersecting in northern Wood County. And with that 
intersection, we have been told that we are within about 60 percent of 
the United States population in a good hard day's drive. So we rely a 
lot on transportation. We rely a lot when it comes to having to have 
energy. And without that energy, we're not going to be working. And 
without that energy, people are going to be saying that we're paying so 
much for gasoline. We have to pay so much for home heating oil this 
winter, more for natural gas, more for when it comes to having to pay 
for groceries. And not because it's the farmers' fault, because those 
farmers are out in those fields right now having to pay more for 
diesel. And the chemicals they put on their yard are petroleum based. 
The fertilizers are.
  So what we have to do is we have to get an energy policy. And we have 
to get it now. Our national security depends on having a strong 
economy. And not only do we need a strong economy, but we want to make 
sure that the folks back home are saving some dollars for their future 
to be able to make sure that their kids get a good college education 
that they can help them with. I have in my district a Whirlpool plant 
in Clyde, Ohio, which is the number one washing machine factory in the 
world where they produce over 5 million washing machines a year. Twenty 
percent of those washing machines are exported. That helps balance our 
trade. We have to make sure we're doing that.
  And right now, a lot of people are talking about what's happening 
with all the energy. Well, the United States consumes between 21 to 24 
percent of all the energy in the world. And with that, we were king of 
the hill for a long time. But the rest of the world is catching up. And 
they're catching up fast. Look at this chart. Look at 2010. Right now 
the United States is ahead of the combination of India and China.

[[Page H7149]]

In 2015, those countries are passing us. And when you look at the 
chart, in 2020, China alone is going to be consuming more energy than 
the United States. And when you look at the populations of those two 
countries and you look at the United States having about 300 million 
people and those countries having 1.3 and 1.1 billion individuals, 
respectively, they are going to be consuming more. They want to consume 
more because they're getting more of a middle class there. And that 
middle class is demanding more when it comes to the better things in 
life. And a lot of the folks, you will notice, in China are buying more 
and more automobiles. And with those automobiles, what are they doing? 
They're consuming energy, especially on the petroleum-based site.
  So we have to have a policy. The American people are demanding it 
right now. It has to happen. And it can't happen in this country if 
this country is importing 65 to 70 percent of its oil. Because with 
that, our balance of trade is out of whack. And how out of whack is it? 
If we just talk about our debt in this country being over $9 trillion, 
and with that, who is buying our paper? Well, we're having to rely more 
and more and more on foreign governments. In fact, $2.6 trillion is 
owned by foreign countries. And who is one of the largest holders of 
our paper? Well, it's China with over $500 billion. And it keeps going 
up every month.
  And that is not any way to have an oil policy, an energy policy or a 
fiscal policy, when we're having to rely on the rest of the world to 
take care of us. The United States has to take care of itself. And that 
is what we have to do. In fact, you know, we have to have a very 
balanced all-of-the-above type of a policy in this country because we 
have to have nuclear.
  We have to use clean coal technology. The United States has over 24 
percent of all the coal reserves in the world, 24 percent. It is 
estimated that in the world there is about 164 a year supply of coal. 
But the United States can get that going right now. But we're not doing 
it. When you look at what has happened over in China, they're investing 
in clean coal technology right now. India is the third largest consumer 
of coal. But in this country, because of this Democratic Congress, 
we're not using nuclear. We haven't sited a new plant since 1977. And 
we're not looking at clean coal technology. We've got to be doing it.

  But along with that, we need to have the alternatives, the 
supplementals. And what those are, of course, are wind, solar, ethanol, 
biodiesel and hydrogen. Those are the things we have to look at in the 
future. And not too long ago, just this past weekend, Leader John 
Boehner invited ten of the freshmen, I being one, to be able to go with 
him to Colorado to see the renewable energy lab. And then from there we 
went up to ANWR in Alaska. It was important that we were there, because 
it really demonstrated something.
  The United States is working on trying to get away from fossil fuels 
and also other areas so that we can improve our balance in trade and 
also make sure that we don't have to be relying on oil all the time. I 
was fascinated because of all the things that we had out there. We were 
talking about wind, and we were talking about ethanol, hydrogen and 
solar. They are all occurring in my district, the Fifth Congressional 
District of Ohio.
  We already have a plant that is manufacturing solar panels. Most of 
the solar panels right now are being exported to Germany. But we have 
another plant that is going to be opening up. And they're going to be 
manufacturing solar panels. And one of the things we noticed, if you go 
back 20, 25 years ago, a lot of people didn't like the idea of solar 
panels because the problem with them is you either had to put them on 
the side of your house or on top of your house. And a lot of people 
didn't think that looked good. But when you saw the technology that 
they are coming up with right now in a private partnership with 
government and also private firms out there working together, one of 
the things you saw are the solar panels are now being integrated into 
the roof itself. They are being integrated into the shingles. So you 
have to look very, very hard to see that you actually have solar power 
on your roof.
  Also, when we were looking at some of the hydrogen and the plug-in 
cars, it's very, very interesting because we hear a lot of talk about 
what are we going to do about our fossil-fuel burning cars in this 
country? And they had two different cars out there that day. They had a 
plug-in, and they also had a hydrogen.
  Well, we've got a lot of development. And that is what this is. This 
is all research out there. Are we there yet to be able to mass produce 
these? I don't think so. Because in one case, with the hydrogen car 
that was sitting there, there was a small Mercedes. And I said, well, 
how much would this vehicle cost as it sits here today? And they said 
about $1 million. So we're a long way from getting that to where we 
need to have it.
  But the thing is, we've got to look at those alternatives for the 
future. Because oil in this country is going to be king for the next 20 
to 30 years. So we have to be prepared for the future. But we also have 
to meet our needs so we don't fall behind the rest of the world. 
Because there is no there is no time to fall behind.
  They had a plug-in car that you plug in from your electrical outlets. 
And you get that thing charged up. But the problem with that vehicle is 
you can only go about 60 miles before you have to recharge. But there 
was an interesting point. We talk about electric cars. And what people 
don't want to talk about sometimes is this. Once you have that vehicle 
and you have to plug it in, don't forget, you have got to have the 
power some place to be able to get that car generated again. So we have 
to make sure, in that case, that you have the nuclear and you have to 
have the coal out there to have what they call the base load capacity 
so we can make sure that can occur. A lot of people are going to be 
investing in some of these vehicles until you get more mileage. You not 
only have to get to work and back but you have to plug your car back 
in.
  So those were things that I was impressed with that they're working 
on. But the really interesting thing is the hydrogen. The issue with 
the hydrogen vehicle is where are you going to get the hydrogen to fuel 
this vehicle? Well, they're thinking about taking a wind turbine and, 
of course, usually with wind turbines you're putting it into the grid 
with the electricity. But if you can divert that and put it into a 
system where you can convert it to hydrogen. Then they are even 
thinking about taking that idea, what do you do with the hydrogen? How 
about having a hydrogen fueling station that you can fill up these 
hydrogen cars with? That is a really, really unique thing out there 
that they have. But I think it's very, very important that we remember 
that we're going to have to be doing these things.
  I have an ethanol plant in my district about 35 or 40 miles from my 
home. They're producing about 60 million gallons of ethanol a year 
there. But it's mainly corn based. What they're looking at out there is 
what else can we use? They're thinking about using switchgrass. They 
are looking at using not the product of the corn itself, but the stalks 
for different types of cellulosic type of material that they can put in 
there. So by doing that, they're looking at different ways that they 
can produce ethanol. And they're looking at, well, how can we get these 
across the country? Maybe if we can have 20 to 30 million gallons of 
these types of facilities around, and you have to have about 400 to 
help fuel a lot of the cars out there that are E-85. So things are 
happening out there that I think are very, very exciting. But we have 
to make sure that we're doing everything at the same time to make sure 
we have the power to get to the next level.
  The interesting part of this trip was going up into ANWR in Alaska. 
And a lot of people say, ``well, what is ANWR?'' It's the Arctic Refuge 
up there in the northeast part of the country in the far part of the 
State. It is huge. You're talking about an area the size of South 
Carolina, 19 million acres. Of that, 17.5 acres are always going to be 
permanently set aside.

                              {time}  2115

  So you are only talking about 1.5 million acres that Congress 28 
years ago said that is the area that you will only be able to explore 
and drill for oil in. But when we are talking about that 1.5 million 
acres, that acreage, they are

[[Page H7150]]

only talking about looking at 2,000 acres. What is 2,000 acres? It is a 
little over 3 square miles. Of an area the size of South Carolina, 3 
square miles. They believe there is 10.3 billion barrels of oil there 
that is capable of being taken out.
  At this stage I would like to ask my colleague, the gentlewoman from 
Minnesota (Mrs. Bachmann) to make some comments about ANWR and probably 
about Colorado.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. Thank you, Congressman Latta. I appreciate your 
yielding to me for some comments.
  We had a thrill to go on this trip this past weekend. It was the 
American energy tour. Leader John Boehner led that tour. We were so 
grateful that we were extended an invitation to join him. 
Representative Latta was there, and I was there representing the people 
from the Sixth District. So here we are, knowing we have very little 
time left before Congress takes a break in August when we are back in 
our districts, and we will be there for 5 weeks through Labor Day, we 
are here right now with a chance to talk to the American people. But 
more importantly, we have a chance to be here on the floor tonight and 
solve this energy issue.
  One thing that we learned on this energy tour is that the problem is 
not a lack of natural resources that are available here in the United 
States, it isn't a lack of energy in the United States. The lack of 
energy is the inertia in the United States Congress, the Democrat-
controlled United States Congress. That's where we lack energy.
  The one thing that we found on this tour is that the problem is 
Congress. The problem isn't lack of resources. The problem isn't 
degradation to our environment. The problem is the fact that Congress 
has literally locked up and made illegal access to American energy.
  Congressman Latta referenced the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge area 
up in Alaska. I would like to speak about that, but before that, I 
would like to talk about the areas that are off-limits. I mentioned 
that Congress is the problem, and Congress can be the answer. Congress 
has made it virtually illegal to access American energy. Where? Well, 
the first place is up in Alaska where Congressman Latta and I were, 
with fellow freshmen, and that is where there are over 10 billion 
barrels of oil.
  I spoke with somebody who just read the recently released geological 
study which stated that there are over 90 billion barrels of oil in the 
Arctic region, and over 10 billion of which are in ANWR. This is a big 
story.
  Let me go back now to the ANWR map. As Congressman Latta said, ANWR 
is all of 19 million acres and is the size of South Carolina. The size 
of the area that would be drilled upon is 2,000 acres of that 19 
million acres. In other words, if you think of a football field, think 
of putting a little postage stamp on a football field. That is the size 
of the area that would be drilled upon.
  Here is the Brooks Range up in northern Alaska. Here is the Arctic 
Ocean. You can't get any farther north than this. The area that we were 
in, the 1002 area where we are looking at drilling, and also President 
Carter set aside this area specifically for the purpose of drilling, 
this area is in direct proximity to the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline System. 
This is one of the modern marvels of human engineering. It really 
should be one of the seven wonders of the world. It is over 800 miles 
of pipeline. This is America's energy lifeline.
  Do you know that the largest energy field in the United States is the 
Prudhoe Bay oil field that was discovered? We have had a living 
laboratory over the last 31 years. We have had a demonstration project 
for 31 years in Prudhoe Bay showing you in an environmentally safe and 
clean way, you can not only drill for oil but also transport oil and 
get it down to the lower 48.
  One thing that Congressman Latta and I learned when we were there is 
that 31 years ago when drilling began, the flow was 2.1 million barrels 
a day that traveled through this pipeline. Today that oil flow is down 
to 700,000 barrels a day. And the reason for that is because no more 
oil fields have been opened for exploration.
  Well, what happens when we get down to 300,000 barrels a day flowing 
through this pipeline? The pipeline stops. It doesn't work any more, 
and we are not able to get it back up online. It hurts that pipeline 
and we can't use it.
  This wonderful gift of a pipeline will be actually gone. You want to 
talk about use it or lose it, that's the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. We have 
to use it.
  Here is the great story, and here is the great answer, Mr. Speaker. 
The fact is in the 1002 area, the 2,000 acres in ANWR where we believe 
there is over 10 billion barrels of oil, this is just 74 miles away 
from the pipeline. It's the exact same terrain, completely frozen 
ground. Nine months of the year it is under snow and ice, 3 months of 
the year complete darkness. All we do is we build 74 miles of pipeline, 
and we have access to over 10 billion barrels of oil. Overnight we 
increase American reserves by over 50 percent. That's an answer, 
Congressman Latta.
  Mr. LATTA. I think it is important to point out what has happened 
with wildlife in that area over the time that that pipeline was 
constructed and the drilling began.
  One of the caribou herds that we were told about actually has gone up 
six to sevenfold in numbers. It was also interesting the day when we 
got there, at Mile Marker Zero of the pipeline, that was the first 
place we saw wildlife on the whole trip. We had three caribou about 45 
yards away walking toward us toward the pipeline.
  I think when we were up in the air surveying the area, not only of 
Prudhoe Bay but going over to the NPR-A area and then over to ANWR, the 
most wildlife we saw were in the area where the pipeline was, and the 
one large caribou herd.
  I think all of us want to make sure that we have environmentally 
sound drilling and exploration. People have to know when we are up 
there and those companies are out there looking for oil and getting 
ready, they are only out there on that tundra during the time it is 
frozen. There are no roads. There are no roads. There is one solitary 
road heading north, but nothing else. Once you are up there and out 
there exploring, they have to do it quickly. They have to find it, and 
then come back the next year because they have to wait year after year 
to get in and out.
  But the oil is right there. The pipeline is less than 75 miles away 
from that 10.3 billion barrels of oil. They have also been able, the 
way they drill, as you mentioned being environmentally friendly, the 
whole idea of having the smallest footprint that you would have to have 
to drill, when you are looking at that footprint, we are talking about 
how large of an area is it that you used to have until today, and 
having to have your drill set up.
  I happen to have some of the statistics here. In 1970, the drill site 
had to be 20 acres to be able to cover 502 acres. From 1999 to the 
present, they only need 6 acres to cover an area of 32,000 acres. That 
is pretty exciting. One site that they are looking at, it is going to 
cost $1.5 billion to get that going. And what that $1.5 billion is 
going to be able to do is they are going to be able to laterally drill 
down and go out 8 miles without having to set foot anywhere to get to 
that oil.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. That is what is absolutely amazing that we saw, is 
that no roads are built to get into ANWR to do the drilling. The roads 
that do go to put in the oil rig are ice roads. Those roads go in the 
dark of winter when it is freezing. Bulldozers build ice roads out to 
where the rig is going to be set. The oil rig is set, and as 
Congressman Latta said, what formerly used to take 20 acres of a pad 
site to put a drill down, now because of technological advances has 
been reduced down to 6 acres of land. But if you look at underneath the 
earth with the directional drilling that is able to be accomplished 
now, literally we can go out 8 miles.
  It is absolutely phenomenal what we are able to accomplish now, what 
the oil industry is able to accomplish now, to be able to give us 
American energy independence. Let's not forget what we are talking 
about, American energy independence.
  We are looking at $4 a gallon gasoline right now.
  This is incredible. This Chamber should be filled with Members of 
Congress. Unfortunately, and I don't know what the camera shows, but 
the Chamber is completely empty. Except for you and I, Congressman 
Latta, we are

[[Page H7151]]

the only Members of Congress, as well as the Speaker. No offense 
extended to the Speaker. There is no more important issue right now for 
the American people.
  When we are at $4 a gallon gas, and when we have the capability of 
being at $2 a gallon gas, it is criminal to not allow the American 
people to be there.
  How do I know it is possible? We know from the seismic studies that 
have been done that there are over 10.5 billion barrels in the ANWR 
region in very close proximity to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.
  Also, I sit on the Committee on Financial Services. Last week Ben 
Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman said to us regarding gas prices, 
he said that a 1 percent increase in supply could lower prices by as 
much as 10 percent.
  Now what was the figure that we were told when drilling first started 
out in Prudhoe Bay, it was 2.1 million barrels per day. We are down to 
700,000 barrels a day. We are able to increase another 1.4 million 
barrels a day. That's the capacity that we could increase, well over a 
1 percent increase.
  So instead of seeing prices fall by as much as 10 percent, we could 
be looking at a price fall by as much as 20 percent. Perhaps, 
Congressman Latta, what we should do is talk about the timeline. There 
have been a lot of fallacies stated, false information stating that 
there are 68 million acres of land that is being leased that is idle 
that the oil companies are currently not using under use-it-or-lose-it 
policies. That is a fact that we found out on this fact-finding 
mission, the fact that that is a completely false statement. It is an 
urban legend.
  There is not one acre of land, Mr. Speaker, that has been leased that 
is currently not in the production or exploration stage because 
Congress again is at fault here. It is not companies, it is not 
consumers that are consuming too much oil, it is Congress. Congress 
created 10 years of an artificial delay period in the permitting, and 
they created in that 10-year period 11 different points of entries when 
nuisance lawsuits can be filed to stop the production of oil.
  Do you remember the length of time that one lawsuit languished in the 
9th Circuit Court of Appeals?
  Mr. LATTA. I believe the pipeline they said was stopped for at least 
2 years during the construction of the pipeline. So all of these things 
take time. That is one of the big things, and there are some urban 
legends out there about how long some of these things can take.
  Some people say it takes 10 years. Well, if we all remember, it was 
in 1995 that President Clinton vetoed the legislation on this drilling. 
If we hadn't had that happen, we would have oil coming down that 
pipeline from ANWR today. And then we would be able to say to the rest 
of the world, look what is happening. And one of the things when we 
talk about oil and prices around the world, President Bush just this 
past week, I believe it was, said you know what, I am going to lift the 
ban on the executive side, but Congress also has to act.

                              {time}  2130

  Because the world says hey, wait, is the United States getting 
serious about this, are they getting serious about really wanting to 
produce their own oil, getting away from that 65, 70 percent that they 
are importing right now and say, you know what, maybe the United States 
is going to get serious, maybe they are going to start looking at that 
Outer Continental Shelf. Maybe they are going to start looking at more 
with drilling in Alaska. It's important to note that we met with the 
Governor of Alaska.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. That's right.
  Mr. LATTA. It's important to know that she wants to keep her State 
pristine and beautiful for the future generations of Alaskans. My 
wife's one sister does live in Alaska, and you want to make sure you 
keep that State gorgeous. But the Governor of Alaska said we have got 
to drill, we must drill. Not only does she believe it, but 80 percent 
of the Alaskans believe it.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. Also the native Alaskans as well, the native Alaskans 
that live up in the little villages. There is one little village up in 
ANWR that has less than 300 people. The native Alaskans that live in 
that village that are subsistence people. They live off of whale, they 
eat the caribou that they hunt, they want the drilling to start as 
well.
  Why? Because they want to become greedy and wealthy? No, because they 
have seen, to their neighbors just to the immediate west of them in the 
Prudhoe Bay region, that this drilling that has occurred has been done 
in an environmentally safe and sensitive way. In fact, so much so, 
remember when we were going along up in Prudhoe Bay, we saw trucks, and 
we asked, what is that little plastic, it looks like a little plastic 
Barbie doll swimming pool that's underneath the trucks.
  And we were told so strict are the environmental regulations in 
Alaska, the strictest environmental regulations in the entire country, 
they are so strict, that if a truck travels from point A to point B, as 
soon as the truck stops, the driver has to get out and take what's 
called a duck pond or a diaper. He slips this underneath the truck so 
in case even 1 drop of oil comes out of a crank case, they are so 
careful, that they don't want even one drop of oil to touch the tundra. 
That's how careful they are.
  You don't see industrial waste. You don't see pools of oil. You don't 
see refuse lying about. You don't see excessive humans walking around 
with the pipelines. You see a very tiny footprint, and that's in the 
old area of oil drilling. With a new area of oil drilling, it is very 
difficult to even spot from the air a new pipeline, because a rig comes 
up out of the ground and a green house is literally, a little tiny 
casing, is put over that pipeline. There is very, very little impact on 
that region.
  As Congressman Latta stated accurately, we did not see wildlife. We 
were 2 hours in the air flying over the National Petroleum Reserve, 
flying over Prudhoe Bay and then flying over the ANWR region. In that 
2-hour time span, we did not see wildlife over in the ANWR area. We 
were straining to find Dall sheep, straining to see musk ox, straining 
to see caribou, looking for wildlife. Where did we see the wildlife? 
Just as Congressman Latta said, we saw it at mile marker zero, where 
the most activity was.
  You know, it's interesting, caribou must be a lot like people. They 
like to be where the action is. We like to be where the action is. The 
caribou wanted to be where the action was. It was a great story.
  Mr. LATTA. Remember we got off at Endicott at the drilling station 
there. Do you remember what we were told immediately, what was the 
warning?
  Mrs. BACHMANN. The polar bear. We were told polar bears like to be 
around the buildings. For one thing they like to eat people. They are 
very aggressive creatures. We were told they had spotted a polar bear 
that had gone underneath the buildings, because the buildings don't 
have a regular foundation the way that houses do in the lower 48, 
because, again, it's all permafrost. It is consistently frozen land up 
there.
  As a matter of fact, I am a hardy Minnesotan girl. Even as a hardy 
Minnesotan, this is the warmest time of the year. I took my down parka 
with me with Gore-Tex, and I was grateful that I had forgotten my 
mittens that I stuffed in my parka last winter.
  I put my mittens on, I had my woolly parka on. I had my socks on, and 
I was happy to have it. This was the warmest time of the year.
  You couldn't find a more perfect piece of territory to drill upon. To 
think that we have this gift in a very compact area next to the 
pipeline that's already built, and we can so quickly, if we would fast 
track all the permitting process, we could literally, within 3 years, 
have the oil pumping and in the pipeline down here in the lower 48, and 
we would increase American energy reserves by 50 percent. That's a deal 
that I don't know why we would turn it down.
  Mr. LATTA. You are absolutely correct. We have got to act now. On the 
environmental side, I have hunted my entire life. I have been outdoors 
my entire life. One of the things, when I was in the Ohio legislature, 
I carried a lot of the bills from the Division of Wildlife. I helped 
create the bald eagle license plate. I believe in making sure that we 
preserve our natural heritage. We want to make sure in Ohio that the 
eagle is on a comeback, from only having four nests in 1979 to having 
about 185 nests this year.

[[Page H7152]]

  I am a firm believer of making sure. Not only did we hear about the 
polar bear when we got there, but when we were leaving, they said oh, 
we have got another report, we have got a brown bear out in the 
compound.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. I didn't hear about that. Somebody should have told me 
about that.
  Mr. LATTA. Yes, the bears were out. I think it's also important that 
people keep remembering there is a lot of misinformation, there is a 
lot of misinformation that comes with photographs.
  You know, because just if you look at this, you talk about 1002 here 
on the far end of the chart here of the Arctic National Wildlife 
Refuge. That's that 1.5 million acres. We are only talking about 3 
square miles way to the west, and that's all it is.
  The other thing is, you know, I see photographs sometimes showing the 
refuge with trees, and the mountains having different types of trees on 
it.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. Thank you for clarifying that, Congressman.
  Mr. LATTA. That might be on the south slope of the Brooks Range. But 
I tell you when we flew along that Brooks Range, and I took 
photographs, all I saw were granite mountains.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. Oh, there were no trees up there. I worked for my 
uncle up in Alaska when I was in college. I was in the Aleutian chain, 
which is in the southern part of Alaska. There were no trees there.
  We were here north of the Arctic circle. We touched other little toes 
up here actually in the Arctic Ocean. There are no trees up there, the 
mountain ranges that you see, as Congressman Latta said, the Brooks 
Range, it is, it was all granite. There were no trees.
  But the area we were in was the coastal plain, the perfect area for 
drilling. So we have the National Petroleum Reserve, Prudhoe Bay, the 
Arctic refuge, this has been a gift for our country.
  Remember, we cannot forget that this is a key to making America 
energy independent, not dependent upon OPEC for oil, not dependent on 
Huge Chavez for oil. We don't want to continue to send all of our 
American dollars and wealth overseas to make dictators happy and rich.
  What do we need? What could we do? We could keep that money here.
  Do you remember when we talked about jobs? I know your area in Ohio 
has suffered terribly from job loss. There is job loss in the State of 
Michigan. Many areas of the country right now are suffering with job 
loss.
  Do you know what we heard up here in Prudhoe Bay where the oil 
drilling is occurring, that workers make over six figures, over 
$100,000 a year. No one actually lives in Prudhoe Bay, they come in for 
2 weeks at a time, and then they leave and they go home for 2 weeks at 
a time. They have health care benefits. They make over $100,000 a year. 
They work 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off.
  We were told that if we would open up this ANWR region for drilling, 
and if we would also be looking at Colorado to open that area up, we 
would be looking at over 750,000 jobs, American jobs, where the 
American economy would be stimulated, Americans could be making over 
$100,000 a year.
  Why in the world, why in the world would anyone possibly not want to 
open up for the American people, not only energy reserves that could 
bring the price of energy down to less than $2 of a gallon of gas, but 
also to provide jobs. Wouldn't people in Ohio, in the great State of 
Ohio, want jobs at over $100,000?
  Mr. LATTA. You are absolutely correct. You know, it's mind boggling.
  As the gentlelady from Minnesota said, you know, there is so much 
that can occur up there. But you know the one thing that's being left 
out of the debate sometimes is well we are hearing you have got the 
National Petroleum Reserve over here, use it. Well, there is one thing 
about it, you have to have larger footprints over there. You have to 
have more exploring, because what we have gotten in ANWR, we know there 
is that.
  We know there is that 10.3 billion, probably more. Because as you 
know when they first started in the Prudhoe Bay area they thought it 
would be 9 billion. It could actually, by the time it is all over, be 
13 to 15 barrels.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. Be 15, they have now taken out 12 billion.
  Mr. LATTA. So it could hit that. We can get that out.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. That doesn't include the natural gas. Remember that 
was the other part of the equation.
  Mr. LATTA. What's the Governor of Alaska saying about that natural 
gas?
  Mrs. BACHMANN. Well the Governor of Alaska says let's tap into that 
natural gas. We have the oil pipeline that's currently under way. But 
you can't put natural gas into a crude oil pipeline. They need to build 
a natural-gas pipeline that would run fairly parallel.
  Every day, I believe it's well over 1 billion cubic feet of natural 
gas is extracted from the earth when the oil comes up. The great thing 
that the companies have been able to do is to take that natural gas and 
pump it back into the earth. The compression, I believe, from the 
natural gas, has forced more oil up. That's part of the reason why we 
have seen so much more yield from the Prudhoe Bay.
  Without that advance in technology, we wouldn't have the tremendous 
abundance that we have had. This is really sobering news. Again, 
remember, when Prudhoe Bay was first opened up 31 years ago, it was the 
largest oil field in the United States. Oil fields don't get larger, 
they only deplete. After 31 years, it is still the largest oil field in 
the United States.
  Knowing that, we have adjacent to this field the Arctic refuge, or 
the ANWR region 1002 which, again, president Jimmy Carter set aside 
specifically for the purpose of drilling for this oil and getting it 
back down for the American people, the American economy, and America's 
national security. Because whoever controls fuel controls your freedom.
  If Hugo Chavez and Middle East dictators and OPEC control America's 
fuel, then Hugo Chavez and OPEC dictators control America's freedom. I 
know that you don't want to have dictators controlling America's 
freedom. I don't. I don't want that for the people of Minnesota.
  Mr. LATTA. I also know in this country we are using over 20 million 
barrels of oil a day. What would that do to have another million plus 
be put in that pipeline per day to help the economy down in the lower 
40? Look what it would do for the economy in Alaska. They get that 
check up in Alaska, I know my sister-in-law's family gets that check 
for every person living in Alaska, what they get for that royalty up 
there.
  But when you look at the map again, as the gentlelady from Minnesota 
said, we are talking about an area, only about 75 miles, to be able to 
tap in from area 1002 to that pipeline and get it in, you are going to 
have to go much farther into that area of the NPRA to get over there 
and find it. Again, they don't know if that's going to be in smaller 
pockets, that means they will have to do exploration.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. A much larger footprint over here, a much larger 
environmental impact. The one thing we do know, the southern part of 
the petroleum reserve, there is about 2 percent of oil down there. 
About 2 percent of the area in the Southern part of the National 
Petroleum Reserve holds oil.
  So, again, the lie that we hear from other quarters state that, well, 
we just have land that's idle, that the oil companies aren't exploring 
on. Well, would you explore somewhere where there is no oil? I mean, 
just think of that.
  Where do young boys go to look for chicks? They go where the chicks 
are. You know, you go where you can have your best yield. Oil companies 
go where they can find their best yield.
  Mr. LATTA. Again, we know where the 10.3 billion barrels are right 
now. Again, we don't want to disturb that area any more than you have 
to. They would have to be driving all over that area to do the 
exploration.
  Why do it right now? Why? Because we have got the ANWR area. As you 
just said, back 28 years ago, Congress set that land aside, that top 
part of that 1.5 million acres. You know it boggles my mind. We are 
fighting over 3 square miles of land.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. A postage stamp on a football field. That's what we 
are talking about.
  Mr. LATTA. Three square miles in the State of South Carolina, you 
couldn't even find it if you had to, if you are looking at the size 
difference. It's incredible that we have that problem going on there.

[[Page H7153]]

  Mrs. BACHMANN. The other key point that we don't want to fail to 
remember is that when we went on our American energy tour, the purpose 
was to talk to the American people about our all-of-the-above strategy, 
the fact that we believe in conservation. We need more conservation of 
energy in this country, and Congressman Latta had talked about the 
wonderful new designs at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory where 
buildings can be designed to literally use zero energy.
  I know it's hard to believe, but if you reorient the building, and if 
you use solar panels, there are amazing things that can be done now 
where buildings can actually get to the point of using zero energy. 
These are all techniques and great new breakthrough technologies that 
America can use to become energy independent.
  Conservation is real. We can embrace conservation. We can also 
embrace renewable energy. The breakthroughs right now that are 
happening with wind energy are overwhelming.
  We also saw all of testing that is being done with solar energy. I 
was particularly intrigued by shingles that are on houses now, shingles 
that are actually solar collectors.

                              {time}  2145

  All of this work is being done at the National Renewable Energy 
Laboratory. So renewables is one of the legs of our three-legged stool. 
Conservation is one of the legs on our three-legged stool. But we do 
not, a stool won't stand up without that third leg. Right now the third 
leg that is the most key that we need to focus on, we have to focus on 
all three at the same time, an abundance of increase in American energy 
supply. And we have got it. We have oil in the Outer Continental Shelf, 
over 88 billion barrels. We have over 10 billion barrels in the ANWR 
region. We have about 2 trillion barrels worth of oil in the oil shale 
region, and we have nuclear.
  Mr. LATTA. And across the country where we can't get to right now we 
have over 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. And that really is liquid gold.
  Mr. LATTA. And when you look at what we need and when people this 
winter are going to say, look at my energy bills. I have people telling 
me in my district right now that they are already, that people are not 
buying and filling up their tank this year already. They are ordering 
only half a tank because the cost is going to be the same as have 
gotten it at the full tank price last year. So people are going, how 
are we going to pay for this?
  Mrs. BACHMANN. And, Congressman Latta, we all know that school is 
going on come up. Kids don't like to talk about the fact that school is 
going to come because it is still July. But there was an article last 
week in Minnesota, I believe it was in the St. Paul Pioneer Press 
newspaper, and it said this. It said that parents are looking at 
ratcheting back, not buying backpacks, not buying back to school 
clothes, not buying new protractors, pencils, because they just feel 
that they can't afford it, and, in fact, can't afford it.
  Now there is something wrong, Mr. Speaker, when the American people 
feel so squeezed that they don't feel they can buy their child a new 
backpack. This isn't funny anymore. This is a very serious issue.
  And I will tell you what, in the State of Minnesota, you don't have 
an option not to turn your furnace on come October. You just don't have 
that option.
  Mr. LATTA. Well, I guarantee you in northwest Ohio Congresswoman that 
you have got to turn that furnace on because there are some winters it 
gets down real cold. It might not be quite as cold as in Minnesota, but 
I will guarantee we have had some 10 to 20 below days, and it is cold.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. When people open up their Excel energy bill--Excel 
serves both Minnesota and Colorado--when people open up their Excel 
bill and they see that the price of their electricity or natural gas 
has doubled or maybe tripled, I cannot imagine the ramifications to the 
economy.
  Mr. LATTA. What happens for all those companies that have converted 
their coal over to natural gas?
  Mrs. BACHMANN. And that is the new wave. Company after company has 
been forced to do that.
  Mr. LATTA. And think about California. What are those people going to 
be facing? Every time they are going to be turning on a switch at their 
house they are going to be finding out they are going to be paying more 
and more and more because that natural gas is going up and up and up. 
But when you have, as you said, 420 trillion cubic feet in those areas 
that we are not allowed to go into now, or as you mention, that 86 
billion barrels of oil in areas we can't go in, or as you mention, that 
oil shale, you know, all these things are out there, and as I mentioned 
a little bit earlier, we have the world's largest coal supply that we 
could gasify. You could use it into a liquid. You could run automobiles 
off of it. But what are we doing? Absolutely nothing. And so I think 
that you are absolutely right.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. Why is it, Congressman Latta, we are the only country 
in the world that has made it illegal to access the answer to our 
problem, our own U.S. American energy supplies? Every day of the week 
we hear buy American, buy American. We are here saying buy American, 
buy American energy reserves. We have got them everywhere. Why aren't 
we buying American energy reserves?
  But you know what really makes me mad? Congressman Latta, when I hear 
people say that Democrats don't have an energy plan. That makes me mad, 
because they have an energy plan and it is loud and clear and they 
stated it themselves just a week ago. Do you remember what it was?
  Mr. LATTA. You are going show that out that direction because I can 
remember it quite well.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. Can you see it, Congressman Latta?
  Mr. LATTA. I certainly can.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. What does it say?
  Mr. LATTA. It says Democrat energy plan, drive small cars and wait 
for the wind.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. Now, is that going to work in northwestern Ohio?
  Mr. LATTA. Well, I will tell you what. When I have got people driving 
50 miles one way to work. We don't have Metros. We don't have trains. 
We don't have taxis. They can chauffeur you around most of my district 
and we have got to have an automobile. So a person in my district now 
is saying, you know what? If I have got to drive 500 miles back and 
forth all week long, can I afford to go to work? And then the companies 
then say, what happens if these people are going to say, well I can't 
show up to work anymore, and then they don't have that good qualified 
worker anymore. Then the company says we have got to go someplace else.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. We have colleges in my State now that are revamping 
their schedules to cut off one more day of class time for kids. And we 
have local public schools, K through 12, that have decided they are 
going to cut off a school day because they need to reduce the energy 
consumption for school districts. Can you imagine that? The parents 
that have enough of a burden with their own energy prices that are 
going up, now they may have little children that will be sitting at 
home all day. Mom has to go to work, Dad has to go to work.
  These kids are going to be sitting home all day. Think of that. Think 
of the implication when this is a problem that has been created by 
Congress. And it is all inertia here. Again, lack of energy in the 
United States Congress because unfortunately, the Democratic-controlled 
Congress has decided we are all supposed to put wind sails on top of 
our small cars and somehow that is going to get us to where we need to 
go for American energy independence.
  Not the people of the Sixth District of Minnesota, no way, no how. 
Because they are smarter than that there. The people in the Sixth 
District of Minnesota are pretty bright people, and they realize that 
we are a ``can do'' country, and it is time we do some ``can doing'' 
around in place and increase American energy reserves.
  Mr. LATTA. And I think it is absolutely correct, Congresswoman, that 
we have got to remember that we have to have that balanced energy plan. 
We have to have that base load. We have got to make sure that we have 
that base load, that we have nuclear, that we have that clean coal that 
we can run our factories. Because the big problem that people forget 
sometimes is

[[Page H7154]]

the wind is not always blowing all the time. And when the wind is not 
always blowing all the time, those turbines aren't going to be turning 
all the time.
  In my hometown where we have the only four wind turbines in the State 
of Ohio, the big problem could be, you know, when the wind stops, there 
is no power being generated. But you know when people think they drive 
about and I say, just out of curiosity, they will say oh, it is great 
that you have the wind turbines. And I think it is great that we have 
those wind turbines. But the thing that I ask them is how much power do 
you think that supplies to the City of Bowling Green if that power is 
going into the city's grid and not into just the general grid? And they 
say, oh they come up with these really high numbers. I say no; only 3 
percent from those four wind turbines. And they are big.
  So you have to have a lot. You know, the estimates are out there that 
you need 600 to 800 for a smaller coal generated plant. You need 1,250 
to 1,700 turbines, and that means people are going to have to say, if 
we are not going to go with the one direction and go with the turbines, 
we are going to have to be able to site these.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. And what are we supposed to do with the airline 
industry? Put solar panels on the outside of airplanes and hope for the 
best, hope that a cloud doesn't come, hope that the sun doesn't go 
down? We have got to figure out some way to fly airplanes.
  I had employees from Northwest Airlines in my office because 
Northwest has to layoff--it is a great airline in Minnesota. And, Mr. 
Speaker, these Northwest employees told me 2,500 employees will be laid 
off, 2,500 employees. Think of what that is going to mean for the 
economy in the State of Minnesota.
  And then look at the airline announcement with United Airlines, with 
American Airlines, with Delta Airlines. We are, the United States 
Congress is personally responsible, I believe. Because of the negligent 
policies that this Congress has made to make it illegal to access 
American energy, they are responsible for spiking up the cost of energy 
so much that Congress, the Democrat-controlled Congress is responsible 
for seeing these airline companies go belly up.
  2,500 employees losing their jobs in the State of Minnesota. Where is 
this going to end?
  If we don't increase American energy supply, if we won't build new 
refineries, if we won't find new natural gas to liquid, where are we 
going to go to fly our airplanes to keep our economy going?
  Mr. LATTA. Well, and the other question is, it is just not tourists 
that are on those airplanes. You have got a lot of people in business 
travel. And so that is going to hurt the American business community 
because people have got to get from Point A to Point B for business 
reasons, and if they can't do it, then what happens?
  Mrs. BACHMANN. Pretty soon, Mr. Latta, Members of Congress won't be 
able to come to Washington, D.C. Maybe that is the only relief the 
American people are going to get.
  Mr. LATTA. Well, that might be true. They might be much happier to 
keep us at home than send us down here.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. Perhaps that has something to do with Congress' 9 
percent approval rating.
  Mr. LATTA. That might be that problem too. But we have got a 
situation in this country. But my philosophy is this: You know, 
sometimes you have got to spell out what the problems are before you 
can solve them. And by saying, you know, these are the problems we 
have, this is how we can solve them. I think the American people would 
say let's do it. And when they get to that point, I think what we can 
begin to say is we have got to start expanding. We have got to make 
sure that we are doing everything we possibly can, across the board. 
You know, we are all for conservation. We are all for renewables.
  We are all for making sure that we have that base power that 
companies out there that use a lot of power, and when they turn those 
machines on in those factories, that they are going to run, that there 
won't be brownouts and blackouts. They have got to have that capacity 
to keep those things running. And some machines, they have got to keep 
running hours a day, all the time.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. Can you imagine a hospital, for instance? People that 
are in hospitals who require that 24-hour round the clock care, 
hospitals routinely have generators as back ups. But you know, 
generators have to run on something too. They need usually oil or they 
need some sort of a product that they run on.
  If we can't produce more energy and also, if the electric grid, this 
is another very serious issue that we have seen brownouts and blackouts 
that have occurred across the United States.
  We are not increasing transmission lines. We have taken--it is almost 
hard for me to believe how the United States Congress has taken a none 
of the above strategy. And the one thing that I saw on our American 
energy tour last weekend, Congressman Latta, is that the House 
Republicans had embraced an all of the above. We want all energy from 
wherever it comes from, we want to site new transmission lines, new 
pipelines, open up American energy production. We want all of the 
above. And all we have seen out of Congress is none of the above.
  Mr. LATTA. And again, the American people all know it. And when we 
have our tele-town halls, I think the other night when we did ours, we 
probably had 95 percent of all the calls dealt with one issue, energy. 
Energy, energy, because people are scared. They are worried about not 
only about turning on the switches at home, but they have got to pay 
for it.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. Young people are scared. Old people are scared. Young 
married people are scared. Everybody knows.
  Mr. LATTA. I hate to admit it. I can remember when I started driving, 
gas was around 32 or 35 cents a gallon.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. Congressman Latta, what was gas when you and I took 
office? For me it was $2 and change. What has happened? Seventy-six 
percent increase just in the last year and a half. What happened?
  The signal was sent to the American people that absolutely nothing 
will be done. In fact, unfortunately, Speaker Pelosi said herself she 
has no intention to allow a vote to drill, no intention. Their 
intention is pretty clear. They are not going to drill.
  That is not what I heard from the Republican conference. I heard the 
Republican conference say all of the above. Not only do we want to 
drill, we want wind, we want solar, we want bio fuels, we want 
renewables, we want to have a conservation. We want it all because 
America needs it all.
  Mr. LATTA. I think that we have got a lot to do in this country. You 
know, I was very glad when I was able to be on that mission to Colorado 
and up to ANWR because I think that it really shows us what we can do. 
We can go out and talk about it. We can talk about making sure that we 
are using those renewables, that we can go out there and talk about 
what would have the smallest footprint out there to preserve that 
beautiful tundra up there. But again, I think the people, don't be a 
lot of these photographs sometimes. You have got to see the actual 
photos of what this area looks like. And not that the tundra isn't 
attractive, but it is not some of the things that it is portrayed to 
be.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. Well, you can't live on it. That is one thing that was 
clear to us. You can't have a lot of human habitation.
  Mr. LATTA. You can't walk across it without sinking through. So my 
view is that we want to do, as you said, and I said a little earlier, 
it is all of the above. We want to make sure that we have got a great 
energy policy, and energy that will get us past the oil. But it is 
going to take time. And you probably remember, you were standing right 
there when those discussions were being had, that we are not that close 
yet to get to those new renewables that are out there. It is going to 
take time.
  But during that time, when 80 percent of all of the goods that are 
delivered in the State of Ohio are delivered by truck, when you look at 
everything that we rely on for oil, we have got to have it. But if we 
put ourselves out of business before then, what good is it going do 
down the road to get us to the renewables because we have already lost.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. What good is it going to do, Congressman Latta, if 
people don't have jobs? Because company after company, this is no joke.

[[Page H7155]]

Companies are facing very severe complications on their bottom line 
because they can't afford the energy. They can't do it. And buying a 
carbon credit isn't going to solve this. We have got to have more real 
energy to power the real needs America needs to have. We never would 
have had the American prosperity that we enjoy today without 
affordable, accessible, reliable energy. Energy is a good thing. Oil, 
gas, coal, these aren't evils. These have been building blocks that 
have given us this greater country that the world has ever known. To 
take away these energy building blocks is to take away freedom and to 
take away prosperity, to take away the greatness of our Nation.

                              {time}  2200

  We need this not just for our generation. We need this for the next 
generation--for my five kids, for your kids. This is very important. 
What kind of a country are we going to hand off to our kids? Sorry. 
We're turning the lights off. You're on your own.
  Mr. LATTA. Absolutely. That's what we're going to do, and that's why 
we're going to keep working. We're going to make sure that the American 
people hear what we believe has to be done. What I'm hearing from my 
constituents in the Fifth Congressional District of Ohio is why aren't 
we drilling, and why aren't we exploring. What happened to nuclear? 
What happened to coal?
  So these are the issues out there that folks in my district are 
concerned about. They've figured it out.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. You're right.
  Mr. LATTA. They've figured it out.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. You're right.
  Mr. LATTA. But I just want to thank you very much this evening, the 
gentlewoman from Minnesota, for being here tonight, because I know of 
your passion on this whole subject.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. Well, Congressman Latta, thank you for being the 
leader here. Thank you for your leadership.
  Mr. LATTA. I think it's important that the American people know that 
we're out there, that there is a solution to this problem. So I just 
want to thank you very much for all of your help.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. Thank you for standing up for the little guy, 
Congressman Latta. That is what your voice has been tonight, that of 
the little guy who wonders: Does anybody hear me? Does anyone see I'm 
suffering? Congressman Latta, you've done that tonight. Thank you for 
your leadership.
  Mr. LATTA. Well, thank you very much.

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