[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 8 (Wednesday, January 14, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H299-H300]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 ENERGY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as the only New Yorker on the 
Energy Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and I 
believe so strongly that our dependence on foreign oil is one of the 
greatest challenges that our Nation has ever faced. It threatens our 
national security, it threatens our economy, and it threatens our 
environment. Oil prices have recently drifted downward, but we cannot 
afford to let that lull us into a false sense of complacency.
  I am the founder and co-Chair of the Oil and National Security 
Caucus, which is designed to raise awareness of the economic and 
security implications of America's growing dependence on foreign oil. 
The Caucus consists of Members of both parties united by the common 
goal of developing and promoting practical bipartisan ways to progress 
toward energy independence.
  America's mission is clear: We must work to reduce our dependence on 
foreign oil, we must grow our economy by protecting existing jobs and 
creating new ones, and we must build a clean energy future that 
benefits all citizens.
  I will also seek the development and implementation of an oil savings 
plan. The United States consumes 25 percent of the world's oil, yet 
possesses only 3 percent of the world's oil reserves. We imported 30 
percent of our oil just a few decades ago. Today, we import more than 
60 percent.
  I introduced a plan in 2005 with Congressman Kingston as part of our 
Fuel Choices for American Security Act, and again in 2007 as part of 
our Dependence Reduction Through Innovation in Vehicles and Energy, 
which is called the DRIVE Act, to require oil savings of 2.5 million 
barrels per day by 2015, and increasing annually to 5 million barrels 
per day by 2025. In 2009, this year, I will introduce and work again to 
enact similar legislation to help break our addiction to foreign oil. I 
will also encourage the production of flex fuel vehicles by seeking 
passage of the Open Fuel Standards Act, which I am the leading sponsor 
of.
  The United States transportation sector is 97 percent reliant on oil, 
and

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it accounts for two-thirds of our Nation's overall oil consumption.
  Every year, 17 million new cars are sold in the U.S., and for the 
most part these cars only run on gasoline. To remedy that, I introduced 
the Open Fuel Standards Act last year with three of my colleagues, Reps 
Jack Kingston, Steve Israel and Bob Inglis--and you can tell it's 
bipartisan again. The Open Fuel Standards Act would require 50 percent 
of new cars sold in the United States by 2012 and 80 percent by 2015 to 
be flex fuel vehicles, meaning they can run on ethanol, methanol and 
gasoline, similar to what all cars have in Brazil nowadays, and it 
would only cost about $90 or $100 per car to do this. We should be 
doing it now.
  To help supply America with alcohol-based fuels for flex fuel 
vehicles, I plan to facilitate the importation of ethanol by 
introducing the Imported Ethanol Facilitation Act, which was introduced 
by Representative--now Senator--Udall.
  We also need to make a serious push to electrify the transportation 
sector for American consumers and to create new green jobs while doing 
it. Very little of our electricity is generated from oil, so using 
electricity as a transportation fuel enables the full spectrum of 
electricity sources to compete with petroleum; that includes wind, 
solar, geothermal, hydro, nuclear, and coal, among others.
  I fully support our Governor, Governor Paterson's ``45 by 15'' 
program, whereby New York will meet 45 percent of its electricity needs 
by 2015 through improved energy efficiency and clean renewable energy. 
This program will help drive economic revitalization and help protect 
our environment.
  As Congress deliberates an economic recovery bill, I believe that now 
is the time to jump-start investment in electric transportation. The 
production of electric vehicles in the United States will involve huge 
numbers of green manufacturing jobs. Plug-in hybrid cars is something 
we should consider. There are many, many things that we can do, and 
when we do the economic stimulus package, we should keep this in mind.
  As we move towards greater use of various types of electric vehicles, 
there will be increased demand for the advanced batteries that will 
power those vehicles. We must ensure that we can meet the demand for 
production of these batteries here in the United States.
  We must also fund the Green Jobs Workforce Investment Fund authorized 
under Title 10 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. I 
will make a continued effort to secure funding, as well as additional 
funding for related policies, to help American manufacturers produce 
advanced lithium ion batteries, hybrid electrical systems, and other 
components and software designs.
  So let me say, in conclusion, that I am committed to breaking our 
dependence on foreign oil and doing so in a way that grows our economy 
and builds a clean energy future for all Americans. I will continue to 
press these matters in the next weeks ahead, and I believe in our 
economic stimulus package we should keep this in mind.

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