[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 64 (Wednesday, May 11, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H3164-H3165]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  HARVESTING AMERICAN ENERGY RESOURCES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. Woodall) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WOODALL. Madam Speaker, I am glad to be able to take the floor 
after the Member from Pennsylvania (Mr. Altmire) talking about energy 
because it's something that's on everybody's mind today. He is talking

[[Page H3165]]

about nuclear energy, and he concluded with the remarks, What can we do 
to find American-made energy solutions? What can we do to find American 
energy independence? What can we do to provide good-paying American 
jobs? Folks, those things are all intertwined. There is not a product 
that we produce in this country that does not have an energy component 
to it. We have to have that access to energy in order to have access to 
jobs. That's why I'm so proud that in the tail end of last week and the 
beginning of this week, that's what we're focused on here on the House 
floor. What can we do to find those domestic energy solutions?
  There aren't going to be as many folks here, Madam Speaker, as I look 
around the gallery, who might have been alive in the 1970s. Madam 
Speaker, I think you and I were here then. We remember some of those 
gas lines. Would you believe that we bring less American oil to market 
today than we did in 1970? Would you believe it's almost half?
  We have been blessed in this country with domestic energy resources 
the likes of which no other country on the planet can claim. And yet we 
seem to be doing everything that we can to keep those resources in the 
ground and, instead, send precious American dollars overseas, often to 
folks who don't like us and would like to see our demise.
  Folks, energy independence isn't just a tag line. It's not just about 
$4 prices at the pump. It's about national security. It's about, what 
is our vision for the future of this country? Is it a vision of 
dependency upon our enemies overseas? Or is it a vision of independence 
where we're bringing American resources out of the ground with American 
workers, creating American capital?
  It's not just, Drill, drill, drill. I'm a big believer in drill here, 
drill now. But that's not because we're not sensitive to what's 
happening in a changing energy environment across this planet. Would 
you believe, for example, that in this country, we use less energy per 
capita today, fewer Btus today, than we did just 5 years ago, than we 
did 10 years ago, than we did 20 years ago, than we did 30 years ago. 
To say that we need energy independence, to say that national security 
depends on getting our resources out of the ground is not to say that 
conservation isn't a part of the model as well. It is. We're doing it, 
we're doing it successfully, and we should continue to do it, but we 
have to get our resources out of the ground.
  Would you believe that as a percentage of the energy that we use in 
this country, that petroleum is in decline? Each and every year, we use 
less oil per capita than we used the year before, but that doesn't mean 
that we don't still need to get American oil out of the ground. In 
fact, we are importing more oil today than we did just 10 years ago, 
than we did just 20 years ago. We have the resources here. We know of 
more oil that's in the ground in America today than we have ever known 
of before, and yet we choose to send our dollars overseas to import 
that energy instead.
  There are three bills we're working on here, Madam Speaker, and you 
know them well. H.R. 1229, the Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work 
Act. Can you believe, Madam Speaker, that in a time of record-high gas 
prices that we have the second-largest shallow water drilling operation 
in the country going out of business for lack of work? For lack of 
work. Oil prices are headed back towards historic highs, and American 
drillers are going out of business for lack of work. And it's not just 
the company, Madam Speaker; it is each and every one of the American 
men and women who work on those drill rigs who are out of work because 
we can't get permits issued out of Washington, D.C. Putting the Gulf of 
Mexico Back to Work Act.
  H.R. 1231, Reversing President Obama's Offshore Moratorium Act. We 
have these resources. We have this national security need. We have men 
and women who want to go to work to solve that need, and we won't let 
the permits out of Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C. has not been the 
solution here. Washington, D.C. has been the problem.
  Folks, if what you want to say is, We're going to pass a bill on this 
floor that's going to ban automobiles, and we just won't use any more 
gasoline, fair enough. If what you want to say is, We're going to pass 
a bill on this floor that's going to ban plastic and say, we're just 
not going to produce any more, fair enough. If you are going to pass a 
bill that says, We're not going to produce any more fertilizer in this 
country, who needs it, fair enough. But until you do--and I would vote 
``no'' on each one of those proposals--but until you do, we need 
American oil, and we need to get it out of the ground, and we need to 
get it out of the ground now.
  Madam Speaker, I am tremendously grateful for the leadership you have 
shown in bringing these bills to the floor, and I thank you for the 
time.

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