[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 85 (Tuesday, June 14, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3748-S3749]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 ENERGY

  Mr. HOEVEN. Madam President, I rise this morning to talk about 
America's energy future. The reality is we need a diversified energy 
future. What I mean by that is we need to develop all of our energy 
resources. In my home State of North Dakota, we are doing just that. We 
have coal, and we are developing clean coal technologies. We have oil 
and gas. We have hydro. We have biofuels--ethanol and biodiesel. We 
have solar. We have wind. We have biomass. We are working aggressively 
to develop all of them, both traditional sources of energy and our 
renewable sources of energy.
  Ten years ago, in 2000 when I started as Governor of North Dakota, we 
set a course to develop a comprehensive energy plan to develop all of 
our energy resources, both traditional and renewable, and to do it in 
tandem, by encouraging private investment that would spur the 
development of new technologies--new technologies to develop 
traditional sources of energy and renewable sources of energy, and 
create new and exciting synergistic partnerships that would both 
diversify our energy mix, help us produce more energy most cost 
effectively, create good-quality jobs and improve environmental 
stewardship.
  That is exactly what is happening. That is exactly what is happening 
in our State. That is exactly what we need to do as a nation. Let me 
give you some examples from our State. Oil and gas. Oil and gas 
development has taken off in North Dakota. We are now the fourth 
largest oil-producing State in the Union. We recently passed States 
such as Oklahoma and Louisiana, producing more oil, and we are 
producing it from new formations such as the Bakken Shale and the Three 
Forks, and we are doing it with new technologies: directional and 
horizontal drilling. We figured out how to use those technologies such 
as directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing in new ways that 
produce more energy but do it with good environmental stewardship. For 
example, in the case of hydraulic fracturing, we recycle the water. We 
go down 2 miles underground, we drill directionally underground for 
miles. So it is a small footprint. One well now produces what maybe 10 
or 12 wells used to produce. The water we use to force the oil to the 
surface we send back down; we recycle it--we use it again--and 
ultimately we put it back down the hole where we drew it from in the 
first place when it came up with much of the oil that is produced.
  In the case of coal, we take lignite coal and we produce synthetic 
natural gas. We put it in pipelines and we send it to other parts of 
the country, just like the gas you pull out of the ground. At the same 
time, in one of our plants, we are capturing CO2, the carbon 
dioxide. We are capturing it, we are compressing it, we are putting it 
in pipelines, and we are sending it off to the oilfields for second or 
tertiary oil recovery.
  Those are some of the new developments we are undertaking in 
traditional sources of energy. But as we do that with things such as 
oil and gas and coal, we are also developing the renewables. For 
example, wind. Our State is now the ninth largest wind energy State of 
all 50. We are continuing to move up the ranks, and that includes 
investing billions of dollars to make it happen. Again, that is more 
energy for our country, from more diversified sources, creating good 
jobs in the process.
  Think how important that is. Think how important it is to create good 
jobs at a time when we have more than 9 percent unemployment, 15-plus 
million people out of work, an economy that we need to get going and 
growing. Energy development represents an incredible opportunity to 
make that happen. But when we talk about energy development, we need 
all of the different sources of energy. Each has strengths and each has 
weaknesses. That is why we need the mix.
  In our State we also produce biofuels: ethanol and biodiesel. Clearly 
the discussion today is how do we best create that environment to 
continue the development, the production, and the growth of ethanol in 
a way that is cost effective, that serves the taxpayers of the country, 
but continues to develop that vital industry for our country at a time 
when we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, when we need more 
domestically produced energy, when we need quality jobs, when we need a 
growing economy.
  We can do it. We can do it with the right kind of energy policy--with 
the right kind of energy policy--and that is what we are talking about 
today. Think about ethanol. It helps reduce our dependence on foreign 
oil. For every gallon of ethanol we use as part of the fuel mix, that 
is 1 less gallon of gasoline we are bringing in from the Middle East, 
and by increasing supply we help reduce the cost of gasoline at the 
pump for our consumers.
  In addition to that, we are creating good-paying American jobs. In 
2010, the ethanol industry employed 400,000 workers in good jobs 
throughout the United States--400,000 jobs. It provided an important 
market for American farmers throughout our country. It displaced the 
need for 445 million barrels of foreign oil. Let me repeat that. It 
displaced the need for 445 million barrels of foreign oil. It reduced 
the price of gasoline at the pump by 80 cents a gallon for the American 
consumer.

[[Page S3749]]

  In addition to all of that, the ethanol industry paid $11 billion in 
Federal taxes in 2010. I want to emphasize that point. In 2010, the 
ethanol industry paid $11 billion in Federal tax. So it is an important 
industry to our country and we need it to continue.
  The point of the discussion today, though, is how best to do that. So 
for this discussion today, how do we create the right environment to 
stimulate private investment so we have that growing economy, we have 
more jobs, we have more energy, but we also generate more tax revenues 
with less government spending so we both grow our way out of this debt 
and deficit, we get this economy going, we create a better energy 
future for these young people and young people all over our great 
country.
  That is why I have sponsored legislation, along with Senator Thune 
and Senator Klobuchar, that will reform the ethanol tax credit. It will 
provide deficit reduction and set us on the right path for alternative 
fuel development in our country for the long run. The legislation is 
called the Ethanol Tax Reform and Deficit Reduction Plan.
  It is the right way to transition from the current VEETC, the 
volumetric ethanol excise tax credit, rather than the amendment today 
to simply do away with VEETC. This is the right transition for us to 
make from the VEETC to creating the right environment to stimulate 
investment and energy growth in biofuels for the future. The ethanol 
tax reform and deficit reduction plan provides $1 billion in deficit 
reduction right away--provides $1 billion in deficit reduction. But it 
also provides the right transition for ethanol by providing the right 
kind of energy policy. Specifically, we provide incentives for things 
such as blender pumps that offer consumers choice. We provide the right 
kind of incentives for research, development, and deployment of second-
generation ethanol, specifically cellulosic ethanol, so that instead of 
making ethanol from food products, we make it from stover and wheat 
straw and other sources.
  By combining blender pumps, flex fuel vehicles, and commonsense 
regulation on the part of the EPA that encourages higher fuel blends, 
we create the business environment that will foster growth in the 
ethanol industry.
  What does that mean? That means, No. 1, we avoid the ongoing cost of 
subsidies such as the VEETC. Second, we set the ethanol industry up for 
long-term growth. Third, we gain jobs. We gain jobs at a time when we 
badly need them. We produce more energy, which reduces our dependence 
on foreign oil, and we gain tax revenues. We gain tax revenues to help 
reduce our deficit.
  So we not only spend less directly, helping to reduce the deficit, we 
grow our economy, and that growing economy builds on the $11 billion 
that the industry is already paying in Federal taxes, and we grow that 
base while we are growing our jobs. That is the right way to move 
forward, to move out of our deficit situation in this economy, to get 
our economy going and also to produce more energy.
  This is a market-based approach that will give customers more choice 
and also reduce their fuel costs. For example, you go into the station, 
there is a blender pump there. You have a flex fuel vehicle. You can 
dial up whatever blend you choose, anywhere from 0 percent biofuels all 
the way up to 85 percent, whatever works best for you, whatever works 
best for your pocketbook, whatever works best for your vehicle.
  We have blender pumps in my State. We have an incentive for blender 
pumps in my State. As a result, we have more blender pumps than any 
other State in the country. The reality is today, if you buy fuel in 
North Dakota, almost all of the fuel you buy will have ethanol in it 
and you do not even realize it. Why? Because at a 90-10 percent blend, 
every vehicle can use it, and it is the lowest price gasoline at the 
pump, so dealers want to sell it. Consumers buy it. They simply buy it 
because they pick the lowest priced fuel at the pump. It is a 90-10 
blend.
  That is where we are going with this, a market-based approach. That 
is how it can work for the benefit of our economy, for the benefit of 
our energy future, for the benefit of reducing spending, and for the 
benefit of growing our tax revenues. That is the choice we have today. 
That is the right way to approach job creation and energy development 
in our country. We are reducing spending. We are improving and creating 
an environment for private sector investment that will help us build a 
probusiness climate for energy and economic growth in our country.
  I urge my fellow Senators to make that progrowth choice.
  I yield the floor.

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