[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 14]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 20379]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                 ALTERNATIVES TO OIL SHOULD BE PURSUED

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                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 2, 2000

  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, this Member commends to his colleagues the 
following editorial from the September 24, 2000, Lincoln Journal Star. 
The editorial expresses concern about some of the proposals which have 
been offered to address rising oil costs. As the editorial emphasizes, 
the U.S. should encourage alternatives to oil such as wind energy and 
other renewable sources. Clearly, ethanol provides an attractive 
alternative which helps the rural economy while helping to meet energy 
needs.

            [From the Lincoln Journal Star, Sept. 24, 2000]

                    Oil Prices Generating Bad Ideas

       More than a quarter century has passed since Americans 
     waited in lines to buy high priced gasoline.
       There was plenty to time to find new energy efficiencies 
     and develop diversified energy resources. Now we're paying 
     the price for letting things slide.
       You'd think the view of the future should have been a 
     little better from those high seats in gas-guzzling SUV's.
       Gas prices have spiked to their highest level in the past 
     10 years. A barrel of crude has tripled in price to almost 
     $40 in the past two years. American concern might not have 
     reached the emotional levels in Europe, where truckers 
     blocked roads in protest, but it won't take much for panic to 
     spread.
       Before oil price hysteria takes away good judgment, a few 
     bad ideas need to be spiked.
       Too bad it's already too late to block Vice President Al 
     Gore's proposal to dip into the Strategic Oil Reserve. That 
     should have been recognized immediately as a blatant 
     political ploy to smooth things over until after the 
     election. Even Clinton's own Treasury Secretary Lawrence 
     Summers said using the petroleum reserve would be ``a major 
     and substantial policy mistake.''
       As Sen. Chuck Hagel noted in a speech on energy this week, 
     the 570 million gallons in the reserve were set aside for 
     acute disruptions in the oil supply caused by war or other 
     national emergencies.
       An election is not a national emergency. Things could get 
     worse quickly. Already Iraq's Saddam Hussein has starting 
     making threatening noises. His hand is on the spigot of 2.3 
     million barrels of oil a day in the International market.
       The motivation to protect fixed-income Americans from 
     surging prices for home heating is understandable, but relief 
     from high winter heating bills should be provided under 
     existing programs to provide assistance based on need. 
     Tapping the petroleum reserve provides price relief to well-
     to-do Americans who should be able to absorb the price hikes 
     on their own.
       Another short-sighted idea pushed in the United States 
     since prices began rising is to drop taxes on gasoline. The 
     problem with that approach is that it would remove the 
     primary source of funding for highway construction. What good 
     is cheaper gas if the roads are falling apart?
       Still another bad idea (endorsed by Hagel, we note with 
     dismay) is to permit oil development in the coastal plains of 
     the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. That development, for only an 
     estimated 16 billion barrels of oil, would disrupt caribou 
     calving grounds and migratory patterns that have existed for 
     centuries.
       A better approach to high oil prices than jeopardizing 
     fragile environmental areas is to encourage alternatives to 
     fossil fuels. Already available in the market, for example, 
     are BMWs that run on hydrogen. Even in Lincoln consumers can 
     purchase hybrid autos from Honda and Toyota that run on both 
     gasoline and electricity.
       Just this week Gov. Mike Johanns pointed out that Nebraska 
     ranks sixth in the nation in terms of wind energy resources. 
     ``We are the Saudi Arabia of wind,'' Johanns boasted. The 
     cost of producing electricity by wind turbine has dropped 
     from 40 cents a kilowatt-hour in 1979 to 4 to 5 per kilowatt-
     hour.
       Retired Iowa farmer Chuck Goodman will earn more than 
     $8,000 this year for the turbines he has on an acre of land. 
     This harvest season, he said, that same acre would earn him 
     only $100 to $200.
       Development of a coherent national energy policy is long 
     overdue, as Hagel pointed out in several venues last week. 
     It's important, however, that perspective not be limited to 
     the current obsession with oil prices. Government 
     interference to force cheaper prices is not the answer. The 
     best long-term government response is to work within the 
     framework of the free market to encourage development of new 
     energy sources.

     

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