[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 147 (Tuesday, September 16, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8811-S8813]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 ENERGY

  Mr. BOND. Mr. President, we have heard a very powerful Presidential 
campaign speech by my good friend the majority leader. He asked what 
has brought us to this point. What has brought us to the point that 
farmers are suffering, families are suffering, truckdrivers are 
suffering--all of us are suffering from the high prices of energy.
  It should be no secret to anybody who knows what is going on around 
here that for the last 20 years, my colleagues on the other side of the 
aisle have instituted a policy of ``don't drill, don't refine, don't 
develop nuclear power.'' Our gas and oil prices have gone through the 
roof because we have artificially constrained the amount of energy we 
can produce.
  What we are asking for and the American people are asking for every 
time I go home is some common sense. Impose our good, strong 
environmental regulations. We have the strongest environmental 
regulations of any nation on the Earth on producing oil and gas. We can 
pay high sums of ransom to foreign powers, such as Hugo Chavez in 
Venezuela or Vladimir Putin in Russia or Ahmadinejad in Iran, and get 
oil and gas that has not been produced with the same environmental 
protections we have.
  Today, the price of oil is only $92 per barrel. A gallon of gas on 
Friday, before Hurricane Ike, averaged only $3.65. It has come down 
some now with the unwinding of the Lehman investments in long-term 
energy futures. But the problem is still there. We have not solved the 
problem. We have taken some steps that I believe will give the market 
some encouragement. But if you think oil at only $92 per barrel is good 
enough, if you think gas falling to $3.65 a gallon is good enough, then 
you must be one of these people who support the Pelosi plan, the Gang 
of 10 proposal. You must be one of those people who think we can get 
away with giving just a little bit of opening of our tremendous oil 
reserves and gas reserves.
  What I can tell you is that the price of oil falling only a little 
bit is not good enough for the families of Missouri, the farmers, the 
small businesses in Missouri, the truckers, all of the people who have 
been hit hard by the high price of gas. The price for a gallon of 
gasoline falling only a little bit is not good enough for my workers 
and families in Missouri or the workers and families in the United 
States. That is why opening a little bit of new oil production is not 
good enough for our farmers and workers. Missouri's families and 
farmers, workers and small businesses, like the entire Nation, deserve 
as much relief as we can responsibly give them from the high gas 
prices, and we need to do it now.
  The suffering of our families in today's tough times is certainly not 
over yet. The mortgage crisis brought on by speculation in the housing 
finance market is still ravaging our neighborhoods. High food prices 
are still ravaging household budgets. High health care budgets are 
ravaging lifetime savings. High education costs are still crimping our 
retirement funds. Missouri farmers are still struggling with the high 
fuel costs they pay to run their farm equipment. Dairy producers are 
struggling with the surcharges they pay to ship their milk to markets. 
Our food processors in Missouri and across the Nation are struggling 
with high transportation costs to obtain their raw goods. Grocers in 
Missouri and across the Nation are still struggling with high shipping 
costs. That is the high cost of the price of food--the off-farm fuel 
costs that go to transportation, driving, and other procedures. And 
Missouri truckers are suffering from high diesel costs. Missouri 
airline workers are losing their jobs because of high jet fuel costs. 
So why would anyone think that just a little price relief is OK? Why 
would anyone think we just have to lower gas prices a little bit? Our 
families don't just deserve a little relief; our families deserve as 
much gas price relief as we can give them. Our truckers don't deserve 
just a little relief; they deserve as much diesel relief as we can give 
them. Our farmers don't deserve just a little relief; our farmers 
deserve as much fuel price relief as we can give them. That is why we 
should not open just a little bit of offshore oil production. We should 
open as much new offshore oil production as we can, have it produced in 
an environmentally responsible manner to drive oil and gas prices as 
far down as we possibly can to provide as much relief to families and 
workers as we can.
  The proposal we will consider from the Gang of 10 will not open as 
much new offshore oil as we can, so it will not drive down oil and gas 
prices as much as we can. It plans to open a handful of sites in 
southeast Florida to offshore production, but it leaves closed to the 
American people east coast and Northeast States. It leaves the entire 
Pacific coast of America closed. Seventy percent of America's offshore 
areas, off lower 48 States, would still be closed to the American 
people and the energy they need under the Gang of 10 plan. Eighty-five 
percent of offshore areas are currently off limits. So how is opening 
only 15 percent more in offshore production going to provide relief to 
the American people?

  On the other side, the Speaker's plan does not provide relief to the 
American people either. It opens certain areas of the east and west 
coasts of America but does so only outside the 50 miles from shore.
  There is a funny little statistic that maybe people would be 
interested in, and that is that most of the oil off the Pacific west 
coast is less than 25 miles off the shore. More of it is within 50 
miles off the shore. So no more than 3 to 5 percent of the oil off 
California and the west coast would be opened. It leaves closed to the 
American people the eastern half of the Gulf of Mexico where almost of 
all the new oil in the east coast lies.
  So the Pelosi plan may well be described as opening everywhere that 
oil is not and leaving closed and off limits to the needs of the 
American people everywhere the oil is. The plan will do almost nothing 
to bring the American people gas price relief.
  Let me talk about the Gulf of Mexico. We wish everyone--Texas, 
Louisiana, across that part of the country--Godspeed in their recovery. 
We prayed for you during the storm. We now pray for you as you put your 
lives back together. But we are also putting the Nation's oil 
infrastructure back together.
  Hurricane Alley, as the western Gulf of Mexico is often known, is 
also the port of entry for 64 percent of our imported oil and most of 
our refineries. Rolling right down Hurricane Alley, Hurricane Ike has 
shut down 63 percent of our oil rigs, idled 73 percent of our gas 
output, closed 8 refineries, and stopped 96 percent of gulf oil output. 
Mother Nature can only tell us we asked for it by concentrating so much 
oil production in the western gulf, by concentrating so much oil 
refining in the western gulf, by forcing so much oil importation 
through the western gulf.
  We have only ourselves to blame when we keep other parts of our ocean 
closed to production. We only have ourselves to blame when we keep the 
other parts of our shores closed to refining. We have only ourselves to 
blame when prices spike 17 cents in a weekend, as they did over this 
weekend. We have only ourselves to blame if we continue the Democratic 
policies of ``don't drill, don't refine, don't use nuclear resources.'' 
And if we vote for proposals that still keep most all of our shores off 
limits, we will have only ourselves to blame for not providing American 
families, workers, and small businesses the relief they need. We will 
have only ourselves to blame if we do not provide American families the 
relief they deserve.
  I urge our colleagues to consider American families when we vote to 
give them as much energy, gas, oil relief as we can--not just a little 
bit more relief but a lot more relief, finding not just a little bit of 
oil production but as much new oil production as

[[Page S8812]]

we can. Our American workers, American farmers, American small 
businesses--all of us in our American economy deserve no less. We must 
produce what we have, and we must do it now.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Colorado.
  Mr. ALLARD. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Missouri for his 
comments this morning. I, too, wish to make some comments about our 
energy problems we are having in this country.
  Before the August recess, I and many of my Republican colleagues came 
to the floor of this great body to make the case for a sound national 
energy policy that would make a difference to the millions of Americans 
struggling with high energy prices.
  We just heard the majority leader mention energy as a critical 
problem in America. But, unfortunately, instead of dealing with this 
issue, it was set aside by the majority party in favor of a recess, and 
like the recess enjoyed by millions of American schoolkids, this recess 
was an opportunity for the majority party to run away from the hard 
work waiting for them on their desks on energy.
  When or if we move to the energy debate again, I am hopeful we will 
be able to accomplish something. This is especially important because 
this will likely be the last opportunity for many months to offer 
relief to millions of Americans struggling with high fuel prices. It is 
relief to commuters, school carpoolers, it is relief for farmers, it is 
relief for small businesses, grocery shoppers, and all across the 
spectrum of American life where higher prices mean budget problems.
  The price of oil has dropped from its summer high, and that is good, 
but the fundamental truth remains: America does not control its energy 
sources. Americans rely on overseas energy, and we pay billions and 
billions for it. We see those dollars go to countries that sponsor 
terrorism, which creates additional problems for the security of this 
country.
  Our precarious position comes to everyone's realization when we deal 
with an interruption in energy. My esteemed colleague from Missouri 
just finished talking about the impact of Hurricane Ike and how it has 
had an effect, and that is when Americans realize how precarious our 
energy supplies are in this country.
  For weeks now, dating back to before the August recess, Republicans 
have been pushing and prodding the Democrats in an effort to address 
this growing crisis. I suspect that during the August recess Democrats 
got an earful from their constituents on energy. The citizens of this 
country told them to release areas off the coast for domestic 
exploration. They told them to open sections of ANWR to tap millions of 
barrels of our own vital oil and natural gas supplies. I heard those 
same concerns raised when I was back in my State during the summer.

  Mr. President, the American people have spoken, and it is high time 
the Democratic Congress started to listen. We must open the Outer 
Continental Shelf for exploration. Unfortunately, Congress has enacted 
appropriations riders prohibiting the Department of the Interior from 
conducting activities related to production of oil and natural gas on 
much of the Outer Continental Shelf every year since 1982. The current 
congressional moratorium under which we are operating places nearly 86 
percent of America's Outer Continental Shelf lands off-limits for 
exploration. No other country does that. Fortunately, the current 
moratorium is set to expire at the end of this current fiscal year; 
that is, September 30 of this year. In July, President Bush lifted the 
executive moratorium leaving only the congressional appropriations 
Outer Continental Shelf moratorium standing in the way of increased 
U.S. energy production. I encourage our Democratic friends to allow the 
moratorium to lapse. With the high cost of fuel, we must allow American 
companies to seek out new sources of energy off our coastal regions.
  In conjunction with offshore exploration, we must open vital areas of 
Alaska and the West. Recently, in my home State of Colorado, the Roan 
Plateau was finally opened to the bidding process, and I am pleased the 
Bureau of Land Management was able to move forward with the Roan 
Plateau lease sale. This sale was important for the people of Colorado 
because it will generate millions of dollars of revenue for our State. 
But more importantly, Mr. President, the Roan Plateau development is 
one of the most environmentally conscious plans ever created, 
representing almost a decade of collaboration between local, State, and 
Federal officials. Also, more importantly, is what the Roan Plateau 
lease sale means for people around the Nation. The development of the 
oil and gas resources on the Roan Plateau will help secure the midrange 
future energy needs of our Nation.
  The development of the Roan Plateau will be conducted in a staged 
approach in order to minimize wildlife habitat fragmentation, 
disturbances, and to encourage innovation in reclaiming many of our 
disturbed areas. The Roan Plateau is an example of how we can strike a 
balance between energy development and environmental protections.
  While additional production of traditional oil sources is vital, we 
in Congress must continue to provide incentives for implementation of 
renewable energy and for the infrastructure necessary to support them. 
Our fossil fuels have become a bridge to better technology and much of 
what lies in the area of renewable energy. This is a necessary step in 
balancing our domestic energy portfolio, increasing our Nation's energy 
security, and advancing our economic prosperity.
  The American people deserve an energy policy that calls for funding 
more domestic energy sources, including oil, natural gas, clean coal, 
nuclear, as well as renewable resources and new energy efficiency 
technologies while not forgetting the conservation aspect of our energy 
problem and doing everything we possibly can to conserve our precious 
energy supplies. By investing in renewable energy research and 
development today, we will actually be saving money in future energy 
costs.
  Energy runs the world in which we live, so without affordable, 
accessible sources of energy we open ourselves to dangers we simply 
should not allow to happen. I believe renewable energy and energy-
efficient technologies help offset fuel imports, create numerous 
employment opportunities, develop our domestic economy, and enhance and 
create export opportunities. In addition, renewable energy and energy-
efficient technologies provide clean, inexhaustible energy for millions 
of consumers.
  But renewable energy alone is not enough. We still need additional 
sources of domestic energy. Mr. President, I disagree with my own 
Governor from the State of Colorado and the points he was making at the 
majority leader's energy conference in Nevada, where he stated that 
renewable energy was the main reason we were having many job 
opportunities and why our economy was doing well in Colorado. There is 
no doubt that the renewable energy effort in Colorado has created more 
jobs. It has created some diversity in our economy, and that is good. 
But it is the oil and gas industry that has provided the revenues for 
the State of Colorado and will continue to do it for some time. If we 
push too hard and too quickly to go to renewable energies before that 
industry has matured, we will create additional economic problems not 
only for the State of Colorado but for this country.
  It is fascinating when one looks at the retirement portfolio for the 
employees of the State of Colorado. A large percentage of that revenue 
and that portfolio is coming from oil and gas companies. It is helping 
provide for the future retirement of employees who have worked for the 
State of Colorado. So although renewable energy is beginning to play a 
larger and more important role in the State of Colorado, it is not 
ready to replace the huge amount of revenue oil and gas is producing 
for my State.
  One of the most promising sources of domestic energy in the Nation is 
found in my State of Colorado, and that is oil shale. This shale could 
easily yield 800 billion barrels of oil, which is more than the entire 
proven reserves of Saudi Arabia. Now, the estimates on the oil shale in 
Colorado and Utah and Wyoming are estimated up to 2 trillion, but 800 
billion seems as though it is the minimum amount that most people 
believe we can bring to the surface with the new technologies we have 
in oil shale, which, by the way, is environmentally favorable.

[[Page S8813]]

  Unfortunately, we can't even begin to move toward assessing this 
unparalleled resource because Democratic obstructionism has effectively 
put this resource out of reach. Any Member of Congress who refuses to 
consider comprehensive solutions that include reducing energy 
consumption while increasing domestic supplies is ignoring the needs of 
this country.
  I am very hopeful that within the next few weeks we will be able to 
find a commonsense approach to our energy crisis that addresses the 
basic economic law of supply and demand. It is simple: If we increase 
our supply while reducing demand, energy prices will go down. We 
shouldn't forget that we live in a supply-and-demand economy.
  So, Mr. President, I urge the majority leader, and I urge the 
majority party to quickly get us on the issue of energy and onto 
reasonable commonsense solutions to move us forward. This country is 
dependent on our doing the right thing on energy because it is such an 
essential part of our economy. It builds into all levels of 
manufacturing, it builds into each individual American's life, and it 
is a driving factor when we talk about the inflation that is happening 
right now in our economy.
  So, Mr. President, let's move forward. Let's do something about the 
energy crisis we have in this country, and let's not let the current 
election year environment in this country disrupt our effort to try to 
do what is best in making sure we have a safe and secure country and a 
secure economy.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I ask unanimous consent that 
the remainder of the Republican time be reserved.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  The Senator from Washington.

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