[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 55 (Thursday, April 14, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E721-E722]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            GASOLINE PRICES

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. LOU BARLETTA

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 14, 2011

  Mr. BARLETTA. Mr. Speaker, I'm angry.
  This week, I drove down to Washington from my hometown of Hazleton--a 
commute I make each week. As I filled up my tank, I got angry.
  At home right now, gas prices average about $3.80 a gallon. That's 
almost a dollar a gallon more than just six months ago.
  In some parts of my district, gas is now at $4 a gallon.
  Mr. Speaker, I am angry. People back home are angry, and this 
Congress should be angry.
  For too long, Washington has been ignoring our nation's need for 
liquid fuel.
  Let's be completely honest: We need liquid fuel, and we will always 
need liquid fuel--in my lifetime, in my children's lifetimes, in my 
grandson's lifetime.
  So why isn't Washington doing anything to address that need?
  Alternative energy is fine. Solar power, wind power, even nuclear 
power--those are all well and good, but they're not going to move our 
nation's cars. They're not going to move our nation's trucks and 
trains. They're not going to keep our planes in the air.
  Why does every energy plan we have seem to downplay our need for 
liquid fuel--liquid fuel that can be and should be produced here at 
home?
  Instead, we rely on foreign sources for our liquid fuel. The United 
States may be the richest, most powerful nation in the world, but we 
ask other countries to provide the resources we need to power our 
factories, drive our vehicles, heat our homes, and live our lives.
  And when there is a problem virtually anywhere in the world, we pay 
for it here at the pump. We pay for it when we buy milk, bread and 
eggs. We pay for it when we pick up our kids at school. We pay for it 
when a police car patrols our neighborhoods. We pay for it when we go 
on vacation.
  So much of our economy is tied to the rise and fall of gas prices. 
And every single sign we see--the unrest in the Middle East, the 
economic tiger in the Far East, the coming seasonal spike in energy 
prices as Americans head into the summer vacation season--compels us to 
act.
  And what is Washington doing? Nothing.
  And that's what makes me--and the American people--so angry about 
this problem.
  It's not that we don't have the resources. We do. From the Arctic to 
the Gulf of Mexico, we have plenty of liquid fuel here in the United 
States. We also have plenty of other natural resources that can be used 
to free up liquid fuel to move our cars, trucks, trains, and planes.
  For example, in my home state of Pennsylvania, we have up to 500 
trillion cubic feet of natural gas available in the Marcellus shale. In 
northeastern Pennsylvania, we're sitting on more natural gas than Saudi 
Arabia has oil! What's more, there's research that indicates there is 
another, deeper layer of different shale that can yield even more 
natural gas in the future.
  It's not that we don't have the innovators. We do. In and near my 
district, we have brilliant people figuring out ways to extract natural 
gas from Marcellus shale, and make our abundant coal cleaner, and turn 
that hard coal into liquid fuel.
  So what's the problem?
  To me, the answer is simple: Washington.
  At a time when gas prices are crushing our economy, we must use all 
the ways we can to provide people with some relief.
  Instead, we tie up liquid fuel producers in red tape.
  We need to cut that tape. We need to tap in to our nation's vast 
natural liquid fuel resources. And we must encourage innovation for new 
liquid fuel sources.

[[Page E722]]

  Every day I come here, we talk about continuing resolutions and 
budgets and taxes and creating jobs.
  But absolutely nothing we can do right now will stimulate our economy 
as much as putting more gasoline, diesel, home heating oil, aviation 
fuel, and other liquid fuel into the market.
  What in the world is Washington waiting for?

                          ____________________