[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 152 (Wednesday, September 24, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9356-S9357]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 ENERGY

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I was pleased to see a report that the 
continuing resolution that will keep the Government running while 
Congress adjourns during the election period and beyond, that the 
continuing resolution proposed by the Democratic leadership in the 
House will actually eliminate a moratorium or a ban on drilling and 
exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf, which is, of course, the 
submerged Federal lands off our coastlines which are reported to have, 
by all of the experts, huge volumes of oil and gas. This actually 
represents a tremendous development in the Congress.
  For a long time now we have been saying we need to develop more of 
America's natural resources, American energy at home, so we would be 
less dependent on imported oil and gas from the Middle East. Until this 
point, those entreaties, those pleadings, those requests had fallen on 
deaf ears, it seemed. But I congratulate the Democratic leadership in 
the House. This could go down as a bipartisan success of which we 
should be proud.
  I remind our colleagues this is only part of the equation. We have 
said we need to find more American energy so we would be less dependent 
on imported oil from the Middle East. Where might we find that? It has 
been documented that deep sea exploration in the Outer Continental 
Shelf, the submerged lands off our coastlines, could produce as much as 
14.3 billion barrels of oil. That is a lot. The western oil shale--
which I am unclear whether the continuing resolution will deal with, 
but which has currently received a ban on development and exploration 
of western oil shale--is projected to have the equivalent of 800 
billion barrels of oil. That is even more than the Outer Continental 
Shelf. Then there is, of course, the Arctic Coastal Plain which is 
estimated to have 10.4 billion barrels of oil, for a total estimate of 
824.7 billion barrels of oil right in the good old U.S. of A. This 
would eliminate all oil imports, once it was on line and was being 
produced, for more than 198 years. These are fantastic numbers and time 
periods. I know it is hard to conceive, but even if these numbers are 
not exactly right, what it demonstrates is that we have a lot of great 
oil and gas reserves in America. And all of the money that T. Boone 
Pickens, through his advertising campaign to raise the visibility of 
this issue, all the money which he has documented, which we are sending 
overseas to buy oil and gas, we could actually reduce that dramatically 
by producing more at home.

[[Page S9357]]

  We have said, of course, it is only part of the equation. While we 
need to find more, we also need to use less.
  Yesterday we also did the third leg of the stool. We voted to extend 
the various tax credits and subsidies that would encourage development 
of alternative sources of energy. In Texas, we are known as an energy 
State. I bet most people would be surprised to know that in addition to 
oil and gas, we are the No. 1 electricity producer in the Nation from 
wind energy. Obviously, those alternative sources of energy are very 
important.
  I caution my colleagues to the fact that no matter how much we act to 
eliminate the moratorium on the ban on offshore exploration, we still 
haven't done enough to open western oil shale. We still haven't done 
anything to open exploration and production in the Arctic Coastal 
Plain. I know while this 824 billion figure seems like a lot, it is 
estimated, once on line, it would produce about 3 billion barrels of 
oil a day, reducing our dependency. Just as the President's elimination 
of the executive ban on offshore exploration is a hopeful sign and 
elimination of the Federal moratorium on exploration and production in 
the Outer Continental Shelf is likewise a hopeful sign, it is a 
necessary but not a sufficient answer to the problem. That is because 
significant oil and gas reserves that exist in America, where producers 
and leaseholders already have a right to explore and produce that oil 
and gas and where they have invested more than $2 billion into these 
projects, because of lawsuits, opponents have blocked drilling in a way 
that, unfortunately, is going to take years and years and years to 
resolve.
  There are many examples of litigation thwarting approved drilling 
projects on existing leases. The area I am talking about specifically 
is, the Federal Government has leased land and approved drilling in the 
Beaufort Sea off the coast of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. 
Too often, long-term planning and heavy investments of human and 
financial resources necessary to develop and produce these reserves are 
frustrated, and future investment discouraged, when projects that have 
been extensively reviewed and approved by the responsible Federal 
agencies are shut down and effectively thwarted by frivolous 
litigation.
  It is undisputed that oil and gas can be extracted from below the 
surface in a cleaner and more environmentally sensitive way than ever 
before. This is something that is vividly demonstrated by the fact that 
if you land or take off from an airplane at DFW Airport in the 
metroplex of Texas, the Dallas-Fort Worth area, you can actually land 
at the DFW Airport and you will see a number of drilling rigs on the 
DFW Airport property. What they are drilling through there is something 
called the Barnett Shale, a prolific producer of natural gas right 
there in a highly populated area. It is being done in an 
environmentally responsible way, a way that is safe to the human 
occupants of that area and a way that, because of modern drilling 
technology, you can use a single well bore and basically go in all 
directions by thousands of feet and produce a lot more natural gas than 
you could have using old drilling technology. So just like when it 
comes to coming up with better sources of alternative energy, 
technology has produced a more efficient, more environmentally 
responsible way of drilling for oil and gas right here in the United 
States.

  But to get back to my point, even if we lift this ban--all of these 
bans--unless we do something about the limitless litigation that 
prevents drilling from ever starting, we might as well have done 
nothing because this effectively shuts down drilling and production of 
American energy as much as any moratorium could. Unless we reform this 
litigation system, any repeal of a drilling ban does nothing to help 
consumers at the pump.
  So I urge my colleagues to work with me and all of us who are 
interested in trying to find a solution to this tremendous dependency 
on foreign oil. Lifting the moratorium is an important step. I 
congratulate the Democratic leadership coming together with Republicans 
who have been calling for this for many months now. But no one should 
be fooled--and this would be the most cynical of all--if Congress 
pretended to actually be solving a problem when we know that this 
frivolous litigation effectively bans development of America's natural 
resources. This would be the most cynical move of all if we did nothing 
about that second part, about the frivolous litigation, because already 
I think people across America look at Congress as appearing to do 
things, perhaps superficially appearing to be responsive to their 
concerns, but in the end roadblocks continue to exist which impede, if 
not block, any realistic reform or progress on the particular subject.
  So this is something I hope we will not give up on. I think today if, 
in fact, we do pass a continuing resolution that eliminates the 
moratorium on Outer Continental Shelf exploration development, it will 
be a great day. It is a necessary--again, a necessary--but insufficient 
way of addressing the ultimate dependency on imported oil.
  We know high energy prices affect our economy. As a matter of fact, 
even though prices have dipped some, the fact is, today, according to 
USA Today, the average price of gasoline is $3.72 a gallon in America. 
It had gone as high as $4.11 a gallon and has come down a little bit, 
but it is hard to remember just a year ago a gallon of gasoline sold 
for an average of $2.80 a gallon. In other words, it is up about 92 
cents a gallon over a year ago, even though it has come down a little 
bit.
  The underlying problem that is putting so much pressure on gasoline 
and oil prices is, of course, the law of supply and demand and the fact 
that growing economies such as India and China are using more and more 
energy, which means we are competing globally for the same oil, which, 
of course, unless we produce more, the law of supply and demand tells 
us the price will continue to go up.
  So we should not be fooled into thinking we have solved the problem 
by eliminating only the moratorium on the Outer Continental Shelf--and 
there is more that remains to be done with the western oil shale and 
the Arctic Coastal Plain--we should not fool ourselves into thinking we 
have solved the problem, even if we were to lift those moratoria, 
unless we address this frivolous litigation that has had a way of 
bogging down this development in areas already leased and where 
leaseholders and producers have already invested billions of dollars. 
We need to do something about that.
  So I hope we will return--if not this week--and my hope would be we 
could do this at the same time. There are a number of proposals. 
Congressman Shadegg over in the House of Representatives has done good 
work in this area. Senator Ted Stevens from Alaska has some very good 
and interesting proposals. I have heard Senator Kit Bond of Missouri 
talking about some ideas he has. I have a proposal we have been working 
on that we think will address the delays in this frivolous litigation, 
while preserving to those who were genuinely harmed the right to 
recover compensation if, in fact, there is damage as a result of some 
misconduct on the part of the individuals who are producing or 
exploring for energy in America.
  So far so good. I think we ought to acknowledge the progress that is 
being made after all of these months. But we are not there yet. I hope 
we will see continued cooperation as we actually help to bring down the 
price at the pump and reduce America's dependency on imported oil in a 
way that endangers our national security and threatens our economy at a 
time when our economy is quite fragile indeed.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for an additional 5 
minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. CORNYN. I thank the Chair.

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