[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 20704]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                         OIL DRILLING IN ALASKA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to refute some of the 
comments that were made previously on this floor by Members of this 
House that know little about what they talk about, and that is energy 
and energy policy.
  I noticed the gentleman from New York was talking about the fragile 
environment in Alaska. He showed a picture, very frankly, that is not 
the area which would be drilled in Alaska that George W. Bush suggested 
last night. He showed a picture that is far south. This is the area of 
Prudhoe Bay, 74 miles away from the 1002 place where we would drill.
  If you notice the caribou here are around the oil rigs. In fact, our 
caribou herd has increased tenfold from where it was prior to the 
exploration in Prudhoe Bay, which provided to this Nation of ours every 
bottom barrel that has been delivered of the 16 billion barrels of oil. 
That is 16 billion barrels of oil that you would not have to import 
from the OPEC countries.
  You have to keep in mind, Mr. and Mrs. America, that we are now so 
totally dependent on oil, approximately 57 percent this year, that if 
there is not a policy change, it will be 60 percent by the year 2005.
  I watched the debate last night, and everybody else watched the 
debate, and I would suggest respectfully that George W. Bush's idea 
about energy production is vital to you. As you are sitting watching 
this, if you are a senior citizen and worrying about heating oil 
prices, right now we are importing, keep in mind, about a million 
barrels a day from Saddam Hussein. The area which we would like to 
explore, which is 74 miles away from the pipeline, 74 miles, has the 
potential, has the potential, of 39 billion barrels of oil. We could 
increase the production, going through the present pipeline, about a 
million barrels a day, equal to what we are importing from Saddam 
Hussein. We would not be dependent upon the OPEC countries. But that is 
just a small part. Alaska is just a small part.
  This administration, the Vice President and the President himself 
have closed 34 refineries since 1992 in the United States of America. 
The Vice President asked us to use our reserve to lower the prices, 
which it will not do so. But as we do take that oil, if he is 
successful in his attempt, the oil will have to be shipped and refined 
in Venezuela and then shipped back to the United States because they 
have discouraged the building of new refineries.
  The refineries themselves we have in place are running around 95 
percent, which is unhealthy for the refineries because it is hard to 
maintain them at that level.

                              {time}  1530

  We must consider the production and the refining capability, and this 
Nation with this administration has not done.
  I am going to suggest respectfully that there is no energy policy. I 
have said it once and I will say it again. The only energy policy this 
administration has had is to be on knee pads begging OPEC to produce 
more oil.
  That is not America. It is for us to set a policy, it is for the next 
President to set a policy to make sure that we are no longer dependent 
upon the OPEC countries.
  Coal, massive amounts across the Nation and Alaska being discouraged. 
Nuclear is not being utilized. It is being shut down. Natural gas, the 
demand has gotten so high now gas has gone from $2.15 a million to, in 
fact, $5.40 today. Now, that to me is wrong.
  If we can find, which we know we have when we are given the 
opportunities and areas are open, we can become at least 50 percent 
dependent upon ourselves. And my colleagues out there think businesses 
can be run with 57 percent of their companies owned by someone else, if 
they think they can do what they want to do when 57 percent is owned by 
someone else, they are sadly mistaken and know little about business or 
the economy.
  And that is where the United States is today, 57 percent today, 60 
percent by the year 2005 unless there is a change in the energy policy.
  My State, yes, is an energy-producing State. Thank God for that. It 
was on this floor in the House right here in 1973 that we passed the 
pipeline bill that delivered to this Nation 16 billion barrels of oil 
spent in our country, not spent overseas, in our country. And to show 
my colleagues the results, the caribou herd is stronger, the 
environment is safer. And very frankly, this Nation needed it badly in 
1973 because of the embargo; and it needs it today.
  I ask America to wake up about energy. Think about where we are going 
to be if we do not change that policy. George W. Bush mentioned it last 
night in the debate. We must have an energy policy today that increases 
the development and the production and the ability to refine our energy 
policy.

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