[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 138 (Tuesday, September 29, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9896-S9898]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            ENERGY SECURITY THROUGH TRANSPARENCY ACT OF 2009

  Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I take this time to bring to the 
attention of my colleagues legislation that has been introduced by 
Senator Lugar,

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the Energy Security Through Transparency Act of 2009. I have joined 
Senator Lugar as a cosponsor, as have Senator Schumer, Senator Wicker, 
and Senator Feingold.
  Let me first tell you the problem this legislation is attempting to 
deal with; that is, there are these mineral-wealthy countries, 
countries that have oil, countries that have gas, countries that have 
valuable resources and minerals, and sometimes it is called a curse 
because in many of these countries there is horrible poverty, there are 
conflicts, open war, and very poor governance. The reason, in most 
cases, is corruption.
  Quite frankly, there are individuals and groups and sometimes leaders 
within these poor nations that have wealthy resources who make their 
own individual deals with companies that extract these minerals and use 
them for their own purpose rather than sharing it, as they should, or 
using it, as they should, for the people of the nation in which these 
resources are located.
  This is happening in so many countries in the world. It is in the 
interest of the United States to change the way these nations deal with 
their resources, their wealth. It is in our interest for many reasons. 
There are American businesses that would like to do business in these 
countries. They would like to help the economy of America by having 
business relationships with countries that have oil and gas and 
countries that have other mineral wealth. The problem is, they cannot 
do that because they cannot participate in corruption. It is against 
our laws for American companies to be coconspirators in corruption in 
another country, as it should be against our laws. It is also not very 
stable for them to do business in a country that is corrupt, that does 
not have the rule of law, that does not have the protections necessary 
to make sure their business relationships will be honored.
  So for all those reasons, it is important for us to clean up the way 
these nations deal with their mineral wealth. It is also in our 
interests as far as energy security. I hope we will get into this 
debate in this Congress on the floor of this body: how we can become 
energy secure in America. But part of that is having a much more open 
relationship with those countries that have mineral wealth so we know 
the arrangements, so we know how the gas and oil and other minerals are 
entering into the international marketplace, so we can have an open 
policy in America to deal with our energy. It is important for this 
country, as I pointed out, for our economics, it is important for our 
national security to get this done. I might add, it is also going to be 
important for our environment, and we are going to have that debate, I 
hope, later this year in this body.
  The international community has understood this. As a result of 
recognizing this problem, the international community came together 
with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, known as EITI. 
I mention this because this international effort is to try to bring 
transparency in what a company pays for mineral rights in a country. So 
if you are a company, and you are paying a royalty to a nation for 
extracting its minerals, you need to disclose that so the citizens of 
that country have the basic critical information necessary to 
effectively monitor government stewardship of their natural resources.
  That is basically what the EITI initiative is. It is all about 
transparency so companies and governance can be held accountable. I 
would think we all agree on that. I am proud of the role the United 
States Helsinki Commission has played on this issue. I have had the 
honor of chairing that Commission, and we have made the EITI initiative 
a major priority of our Commission's work because we know if we can get 
the mineral wealth to the people of that nation, so many of the issues 
we are charged to deal with on human rights, on the environment, on the 
economy, and on security can be dealt with, if we could just get that 
mineral wealth to the people of that nation. That is the reason why the 
Commission has had a very high priority in getting more participation 
by countries around the world in the Extractive Industries Transparency 
Initiative.
  That brings me to the Energy Security Through Transparency Act of 
2009 that Senator Lugar has introduced and on which I have joined him 
as a cosponsor. It would suggest that the United States should be an 
implementing country of the EITI, that we should subject ourselves to 
those provisions, that we should lead by example by showing the United 
States of America believes there should be transparency in all the 
contracts we enter into resulting in extraction of mineral wealth from 
America. That would require the proper disclosure of payments from 
companies that use public lands for mineral extractions. That is the 
right thing to do. We should have been doing this all along. The public 
should know what is being paid by companies to take their wealth. This 
is Americans' wealth. It does not belong to any one of us. There should 
be transparency in it. It is the right thing to do.
  Another part of this legislation would require companies that are 
listed on the U.S. Stock Exchange that are regulated by the Securities 
and Exchange Commission to disclose their payments to other countries 
for extraction of mineral wealth. In other words, we use the leverage 
of participating in the U.S. Stock Exchange--to be a listed security 
that Americans invest in--they have the right to know what that company 
is paying to other countries to extract mineral wealth. That at least 
gives us part of the disclosure necessary to find out what a country, 
which is so poor in the way it treats its people, is doing with the 
moneys that are being paid for the extraction of their national wealth. 
That would go a long way to helping us get transparency.
  This legislation would urge the President to work with our partners 
in the G8 and G20 to promote similar efforts by the industrial nations 
of the world so we can get more credibility on the EITI, where passage 
of the EITI, joining the EITI becomes a matter of respectability for a 
nation internationally to make sure the contracts that are entered into 
with that government are shown to the people of that nation.
  The bottom line is, the Energy Security Through Transparency Act of 
2009 is asking the United States to take a leadership position in 
fighting corruption. Unfortunately, in too many of the developing 
countries of the world there is corruption. You have to deal with that 
corruption if you are going to be able to develop the type of 
relationships where that nation can deal with the poverty of its own 
people and work with us on our international priorities.
  It helps developing countries. We give significant resources to date 
for humanitarian efforts in these nations. These nations should use 
their own wealth. This is a humanitarian issue. This is a human rights 
issue. It also provides economic opportunities for the people of that 
nation as well as the international community so they can participate 
in an open way to help that nation solve its economic problems.
  It helps us with energy security globally. We cannot afford to waste 
the world's resources, as we look internationally at problems of energy 
security and global climate change. And it certainly helps in removing 
conflicts in many parts of the world. It is in our national security 
interests to make the world safer because it is usually the United 
States that is called upon first to deal with these conflicts.
  For all these reasons, I urge my colleagues to take a look at the 
Energy Security Through Transparency Act of 2009, and to join us in 
moving this legislation forward because I believe it does present great 
hope for America to lead the world in helping these nations take 
advantage of their wealth in furthering U.S. international goals.
  With that, Madam President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence 
of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak in 
morning business for such time as I may consume.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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