[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 143 (Wednesday, September 10, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H8008]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2230
                             ENERGY POLICY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Hall) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HALL of New York. I must comment on the gentlelady's remarks that 
just preceded me and describe them as fiction. I'm sorry to have to say 
this because many things have happened in this body on a bipartisan 
basis, especially on the Veterans' Committee that I serve on, where we 
are in almost unanimous agreement on all issues. But on the issue of 
energy, our colleagues across the aisle keep going on dishonest tirades 
about our national energy crisis in order to distract from their record 
of oil company capitulation and failure to protect consumers.
  I guess they're operating under their party philosophy that if you 
repeat something often enough, you can make people forget that it's not 
true. I actually have more faith in the American people than that.
  They know that for most of this decade energy policy has been written 
in the White House by Big Oil and led to record dependence on imports 
and skyrocketing prices. They know that Republicans in this Congress 
have been pursuing a none-of-the-above strategy, blocking every attempt 
to move forward at real energy solutions. At every step, they have said 
no.
  They said no to responsible drilling in Alaska and making oil 
companies drill on the 68 million acres that are already open. They 
said no to increasing oil supply through the SPR, releasing oil from 
our Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is the only way to immediately 
bring down prices. They, our Republican colleagues, said no to reigning 
in market speculation to keep prices from skyrocketing. They said no to 
protecting the American driver from price gouging and oil company 
exploitation. And while they stood in the way, the American economy 
suffered and family budgets braced for high home heating costs.
  I think it's time to share the views of most of Americans when I say 
enough is enough. We need more energy and we need to enter a new era of 
energy technology instead of staying stuck in this ``drill first, ask 
questions later'' mindset that will not lower prices. According to our 
own Energy Information Agency, at the most, it's 1.8 cents lower after 
8 to 10 years, or possibly longer. It will not make us more energy 
secure, and it will not allow America to prosper, which is why I have 
joined with the rest of the majority to support drilling responsibly 
for more American oil. And that means, by the way, making sure that the 
American taxpayer and the Treasury get the money from our oil. Oil 
under Federal lands and offshore leases belongs to the American public, 
to our children and our grandchildren, and those royalties were given 
away by the previous Congress, which for 6 years had control of all 
branches of government, the White House, both Houses of Congress, and 
the court system. For 6 years they did nothing but give away our 
resources, our children's and our grandchildren's resources without 
asking for fair royalty payments by the oil companies.
  We have provided key tax incentives for renewables, like wind and 
solar and high efficiency. And I beg to differ with the gentlelady that 
spoke before me. These things are available today.
  West Point, in my district, is putting in wind energy on their 
hundreds of acres of campus. They are putting in a 5,000-gallon E85 
tank, which is actually a breakthrough, considering the fact that 
thousands of flex fuel vehicles have been sold in my State of New York, 
and there is hardly any place you can even buy flex fuel or E85.
  We are seeing students at high schools like Arlington High School in 
Dutchess County, New York, come to me and to the New York State Energy 
Research and Development Authority and ask for money for solar panels 
so that their high schools can be powered today by solar power.
  We have voted to break the chains of our dependence on Middle Eastern 
oil by using American innovation to create hundreds of thousands of 
green jobs that cannot be outsourced.
  When I was in Denver a couple of weeks ago, I learned that one of the 
biggest new solar photovoltaic installations in Colorado was being 
built, fortunately, with American jobs doing the installation but, 
unfortunately, with solar panels that are being built in China.
  We should not go from buying oil overseas to buying solar panels from 
overseas or buying wind turbines from overseas or buying geothermal 
systems from overseas. The country that put man on the Moon should lead 
the way in this technological innovation and develop this energy at 
home that's a broad, real energy policy. And it's time to pass that 
kind of complete really all-of-the-above plan now. It's time for action 
now.

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