[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 83 (Friday, May 28, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1003-E1004]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2011

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. PHIL GINGREY

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 27, 2010

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 5136) to 
     authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2011 for military 
     activities of the Department of Defense, to prescribe 
     military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for 
     other purposes:

  Mr. GINGREY of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the 
Polis/Langevin/Cohen amendment that has been included in the En Bloc 
amendment No. 4. Unfortunately--despite what proponents of this 
amendment are saying--I do not believe that this amendment does 
anything to alleviate the draconian problems of section 526 of the 
Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.
  Even if this amendment passes, Americans will still not be able to 
increase the supply of fuels from alternative sources derived from 
resources available in the United States. Oil shale will remain trapped 
in rock, and we will not be able to use clean carbon captured coal-to-
liquid for fuel.
  The amendment intends to create an exception under section 526 for 
generally available fuel not predominately produced from a 
nonconventional petroleum source, and all federal agencies--including 
DoD--will still be able to purchase Canadian fuels with traces of oil 
sands that may create more of a carbon footprint than completely 
conventional fuel. However, I am concerned that ``predominantly from a 
nonconventional source'' is not defined in this amendment. This 
stipulation could expose gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel produced from 
crude oil--with significant components of oil sands--to the prohibition 
in section 526.
  Mr. Chairman, even under the provisions of this amendment, DoD--as 
well as every other federal agency--won't be able to utilize any of the 
sources of fuel that may be totally derived from clean domestic 
alternatives we have readily available.
  This is precisely why I offered an amendment to the Rules committee 
on this bill; to provide a waiver to the Secretary of Defense to be 
freed from the handcuffs of section 526. I support a full repeal of 
section 526 because the cost of refined product for DoD has increased 
by over 500 percent in the last ten years when volume only increased by 
30 percent. I offered my amendment--that was rejected by House 
Democrats--as a middle ground to not stifle domestic energy innovation 
and to save taxpayer dollars.
  Mr. Chairman, I fear that this amendment does nothing to rectify the 
underlying problem with section 526 that prevents the Federal 
Government from utilizing domestic resources to reduce fuel costs, so I 
must oppose this amendment and ask all my colleagues to do the same.

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