[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 1635]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




ECONOMIC HEALTH AND NATIONAL SECURITY TIED TO STABILITY OF OUR DOMESTIC 
                           PETROLEUM INDUSTRY

  (Mr. WATKINS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WATKINS. Madam Speaker, I rise to address the House this morning 
to bring the attention to a grave matter, an economic crisis in the oil 
patch of this great Nation. I like for my colleagues to realize if 
there is not changes made within the next four months to five months, 
we will lose over 50 percent of our production for marginal wells in 
the United States of America. Marginal wells produce about 1.3 million 
barrels a day. How much is that? That is equivalent to what we import 
from the Arab countries.
  But we are about to turn that market over to other foreign sources 
and put us more dependent, and rest assured, between now and July the 
4th, when we have Independence Day, we will be more dependent on 
foreign governments than ever before in the history of our country. I 
do not think that is what we want.
  Madam Speaker, I call on the Speaker to set up an energy task force, 
a crisis task force. Also we must have hearings this month, move on 
this, and also we must establish a national energy policy before our 
national security is totally at risk.

                          ____________________