[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 84 (Monday, June 7, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4600-S4601]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           OILSPILL RESPONSE

  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I rise to speak on what I call an 
oilspill response for grownups. The tragic gulf oilspill has produced 
overreaction, demagoguery, and bad policy. I would cite ``Obama's 
Katrina, end offshore drilling, produce 20 percent of our electricity 
from windmills'' as three examples of overreaction, demagoguery, and 
bad policy. None of these options helps clean up and move forward a 
country using 25 percent of the world's energy, as the United States 
does year-in and year-out.

  If we Americans want both clean energy and a high standard of living, 
then here are 10 steps for thoughtful grownups:
  No. 1, figure out what went wrong and make it unlikely to happen 
again. We do not stop flying after a terrible airplane crash, and we 
are not going to stop drilling offshore after this terrible spill. 
Thirty percent of U.S. oil production and 25 percent of our natural gas 
production come from thousands of active wells in the Gulf of Mexico. 
Without it, gasoline prices would skyrocket, and we would depend more 
on tankers from the Middle East with worse safety records than American 
offshore drillers.
  No. 2, learn a safety lesson from the U.S. nuclear industry. That 
lesson is accountability. For 60 years, reactors

[[Page S4601]]

on U.S. Navy ships have operated without killing one sailor. Why? The 
career of a ship's commander can be ended by one mistake. Incidentally, 
the number of deaths from nuclear accidents at U.S. commercial reactors 
is also zero.
  No. 3, what was the President's cleanup plan and where were the 
people and equipment to implement it? In 1990, after the Exxon Valdez 
spill, a new law passed by Congress required that the President 
``ensure'' the cleanup of a spill and have the people and equipment to 
do it. That is what the law has said since 1990. President Obama 
effectively delegated this job to the spiller, BP. Is that the 
President's only real option today? If so, what should future 
Presidents have on hand for backup if the spiller of oil cannot 
perform?
  No. 4, put back on the table more onshore resources for oil and 
natural gas. Drilling in a few thousand acres along the edge of the 19 
million-acre Alaska National Wildlife Refuge and at other onshore 
locations would produce vast oil supplies. A spill on land could be 
contained much more easily than 1 mile deep in water.
  No. 5, electrify half our cars and trucks. This is an ambitious goal, 
but it is the single best way to reduce U.S. oil consumption. 
Electrifying half our cars and trucks could cut our oil consumption by 
about one-third, to about 13 million barrels of petroleum product a 
day. A Brookings Institution study says we can electrify half our cars 
and trucks without building one single new powerplant if we plug in our 
cars at night. Last week, Senator Dorgan, Senator Merkley, and I 
introduced legislation to jump-start America's effort to electrify half 
our cars and trucks. This is a subject about which Republicans and 
Democrats in the Senate agree.
  No. 6, invest in energy research and development. This is another 
subject about which Republicans and Democrats in the Senate agree. A 
cost-competitive 500-mile battery would virtually guarantee eventual 
electrification of half our cars and trucks. While we are at it, 
reducing the cost of solar power by a factor of 4 would be a good 
response to a clean energy challenge, as would finding a way for 
utilities to actually make money from the CO2 their coal 
plants produce.
  No. 7, stop pretending wind power has anything to do with reducing 
America's dependence on oil. Windmills generate electricity, not 
transportation fuel. Wind has become the energy pet rock of the 21st 
century, as well as a taxpayer ripoff. According to the Energy 
Information Administration, wind produces only 1.3 percent of U.S. 
electricity but receives Federal taxpayer subsidies 25 times as much 
per megawatt hour as subsidies for all other forms of electricity 
production combined. Wind can be a useful energy supplement, but it has 
nothing to do with ending our dependence on oil.
  No. 8, if we need more green electricity, build nuclear plants. This 
is another subject upon which Republicans and Democrats agree. The 100 
commercial nuclear plants we already have produce 70 percent of our 
pollution-free, carbon-free electricity. Yet the United States has not 
broken ground on a new reactor in 30 years, while China starts one 
every 3 months and France is 80 percent nuclear. We would not put our 
nuclear navy in mothballs if we were going to war. We should not put 
our nuclear plants in mothballs if we want low-cost, reliable green 
energy.
  Finally, Nos. 9 and 10.
  No. 9, focus on conservation. In the region where I live, the 
Tennessee Valley Authority could close four of its dirtiest coal plants 
if we residents of the TVA region reduced our per capita use of 
electricity just to the national average.
  No. 10, make sure liability limits are appropriate for spill damage. 
The Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, funded by a per-barrel fee on 
industry, should be adjusted to pay for cleanup and to compensate those 
hurt by spills. An industry insurance program like that of the nuclear 
industry is also an attractive model to consider.
  So I offer this afternoon these 10 grownup steps--grownup steps 
forward that could help turn a tragic event into a stronger America.
  I thank the Acting President pro tempore and yield the floor.
  I 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. NELSON of Florida. Mr. 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. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, are we in morning business?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Yes.

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