[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 68 (Tuesday, May 5, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1064-E1065]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      INTRODUCTION OF ``THE ENERGY INDEPENDENCE NOW ACT OF 2009''

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. DAN BURTON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 5, 2009

  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce a 
bill titled, ``The Energy Independence Now Act of 2009.''
  Few things affect American consumers like high energy prices. During 
the summer of 2008 with the price of oil hovering near $150 a barrel, 
Americans faced record prices at the gas pump--in many cases well over 
$4.00 per gallon. These high prices contributed to a downturn in 
economic growth, an increase in inflation and forced many American 
families to make difficult financial choices. According to the latest 
figures from the Energy Information Administration, gasoline prices are 
down to around $2 per gallon and the price of oil is close to $50 per 
barrel. Though the price of gasoline has decreased significantly, many 
are still concerned that it will rise again and quite possibly because 
of the disproportionate amount of oil that we import from regimes that 
are unfriendly to us.

[[Page E1065]]

  The old adage goes that those who do not learn from history are 
doomed to repeat it. Apart from creating the Strategic Petroleum 
Reserves after the oil embargoes of the 1970s, the United States did 
painfully little to make sure that oil could never again be used as a 
weapon against us. If anything, we put ourselves further under the 
thumb of foreign oil. In 1972, we imported approximately 28 percent of 
the oil we consume from foreign countries; today the United States 
imports 62 percent of its oil from other nations. While half of that 
amount comes from our friends in Mexico and Canada, the other half of 
our imported oil travels from unstable, undemocratic or unfriendly 
regimes. That means that every time I fill up my gas tank--whether the 
price is $2 a gallon or $4 a gallon--at least half of my money goes 
into the economies of Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Nigeria, and Angola. And 
while the tactics of oil manipulation may change--price spikes versus 
an outright embargo--the results are eerily the same.
  That is why I am introducing this bill, to continue to move our 
country forward on the path toward breaking America's dependence on 
foreign sources of oil while at the same time investing in a renewable 
energy future. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle are looking 
to pass a costly cap-and-trade program that will only serve to increase 
the price of energy for the American consumer and devastate energy 
companies in my home State of Indiana. Now is not the time to burden 
families with higher energy costs, when many of them are already 
struggling to find and keep jobs, pay for college and provide for their 
families.
  I believe that in the long-run we need to get off oil and that 
requires more investment in alternative energy and energy conservation 
technologies. My bill addressed this through provisions that would 
increase alternative energy sources and diversify the energy grid with 
currently available alternative energy technologies. As a nation, we 
waste far too much energy with inefficient engines and machines. That 
is why my bill would provide tax incentives for companies to produce 
fuel efficient vehicles. In fact, it provides a $500 tax credit for 
individuals who purchase hybrid cars made by American-based companies.
  However, while we are discovering new, clean and cost-effective ways 
to increase the American energy supply, we must recognize that oil will 
remain a part of our energy mix for some time. The good news about this 
is that we have plenty of it. The Department of the Interior, DOI, 
conducted a comprehensive inventory of oil and natural gas resources 
located off our coastlines within the last several years, and according 
to the Department's figures there is an estimated 8.5 billion barrels 
of known oil reserves and 29.3 trillion cubic feet, tcf, of known 
natural gas reserves along our coastlines; with 82 percent of the oil 
and 95 percent of the gas located in the Gulf of Mexico, GOM. However, 
even more importantly, the Department of the Interior estimates that 
there are untapped resources of about 86 billion barrels, 51 percent in 
the Gulf of Mexico, and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, 55 
percent in the Gulf of Mexico, out there. My bill would open up these 
areas to access these resources. Domestic production of these resources 
would provide much-needed real energy jobs without any cost to the 
taxpayer.
  In addition, my bill opens up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, 
ANWR, which holds the single largest deposit of oil in the entire 
United States. Its 10.4 billion barrels of oil is more than double the 
proven reserves of the entire State of Texas and almost half of the 
total proven reserves in the U.S., 22 billion barrels. Had President 
Clinton not vetoed ANWR energy production in 1995, the United States 
could be getting nearly 1.5 million barrels of oil per day from the 
arctic right now.
  In addition, the U.S. has been called the Saudi Arabia of oil shale. 
It has been estimated that oil shale deposits in Colorado, Utah, and 
Wyoming hold the equivalent of as little as 1.8 trillion barrels of oil 
and potentially as much as 8 trillion barrels of oil. In comparison, 
Saudi Arabia reportedly holds proved reserves of 267 billion barrels. 
Unfortunately, oil-shale is rough equivalent to diesel fuel and a 
number of Clean Air Act regulations--such as low-sulfur diesel--and 
federal motor fuel taxes--which favor gasoline over diesel fuels--have 
created a strong financial disincentive regarding the production and 
use of oil-shale fuels. Many of these deposits are on public land 
making it more bureaucratically complicated to exploit this resource. 
My bill would provide a financial incentive for companies to invest in 
and produce more oil from oil shale.
  Getting more domestic oil on the market is only half the solution. We 
haven't built a new refinery in this country in more than 25 years 
because the approval process for new refinery construction is estimated 
to require up to 800 different permits. While existing refineries have 
undergone significant expansion over the years, even as others have 
been shuttered, our aging refinery infrastructure leaves little margin 
for error. If we begin to produce more domestic crude oil we would need 
to turn it into home heating oil, gasoline, or diesel through the 
refining process. The ability to refine oil must keep pace with the 
demand for gasoline and diesel. My bill would create an expedited 
process for the construction of new refining capacity by streamlining 
the permitting process and opening up closed military bases for 
construction.
  Clearly, developing new oil fields and refineries will take some 
time. In the interim my bill also helped promote the production of non-
food sources for biofuels. It also opens up Federal land for the 
production of biofuel crops in order to provide relief from high food 
prices that have resulted from ethanol production.
  Madam Speaker, I believe in conservation, I believe in energy 
efficiency, and I believe in diversifying our energy supply by using 
wind, solar, coal-to-liquid technologies, ethanol and other renewable 
energy sources. But the fact of the matter is that oil and natural gas 
are still going to be a part of our energy mix for a long time to come 
and we must be able to access our own resources rather than becoming 
more dependent on unstable parts of the world.
  I would like to urge my colleagues to join me in co-sponsoring this 
important legislation to help America get on the road towards energy 
independence and to create real jobs at no cost to the taxpayer.

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