[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 18]
[House]
[Pages 26655-26656]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                HOME HEATING OIL PRICES RISING STEADILY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Gekas) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, home heating oil prices are rising steadily. 
An immensely cold winter is predicted to come to us in the next several 
days. Natural gas is becoming scarce. And out in the West we learn that 
in California there are warnings out to not light the Christmas trees. 
The people of California are being asked not to turn on their 
electricity for Christmas.
  The Secretary of Energy just recently tried to alleviate the severe 
electric shortage and power shortage of California and asked the other 
western States north of California and their utilities to furnish 
electricity elements to California.
  Senator Domenici yesterday dared us to look at what has happened in 
California without fear and without trepidation. He says there is a 
wave of rolling brownouts and blackouts coming from California across 
the country to us, brownouts and blackouts meaning energy shortages and 
measures that municipalities and homeowners must take to conserve 
electricity.
  This is unacceptable for our country, and it goes to the core of what 
we have been saying for 8 years now, that we have been traveling along 
the price of higher fuel and shortages of electricity on the backs of 
the lack of an energy policy in our country.
  That is why in the spring of this year I introduced a bill that would 
create a commission that would try to put together all the elements, 
all the resources that we have so that we can declare energy 
independence within 10 years, so that this commission can look at the 
ANWR reserves, the Alaska reserves, offshore drilling, natural gas, 
domestic drilling, coal reserves, solar energy, all the various 
resources that we have at our command if only we would use them to 
bring about energy independence in 10 years so no longer would we have 
to kneel at the throne of OPEC to ask them to produce more oil and to 
reduce prices. That is unheard of for our modern society.
  In that energy policy proposal that I made, the gentleman from Alaska 
(Mr. Young), who is an expert on ANWR and Alaskan oil and energy 
generally, was the prime cosponsor with me; and he, as chairman of his 
committee, accorded me a hearing on this matter. He agrees that we 
ought to put something in place.

[[Page 26656]]

  I am sure that the President of the United States soon to be sworn 
in, George Bush, will attend to this matter and his energy secretary is 
going to have this as a priority. I know that. But we in Congress have 
to help them along by establishing these long-term investigations into 
our resources.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young).
  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, first let me compliment the 
gentleman on his outstanding piece of legislation. It does bring to the 
forefront the lack of an energy policy, and his bill does set up a 
commission to say, we have to address all forms of energy so we have 
what I call the wheel of energy to provide the necessity for the center 
of the wheel to make it work.
  As the gentleman mentioned, with coal, 64 percent develops our 
electrical energy now. We need nuclear. We need gas. We need oil. And, 
yes, even some hydro, wind power, solar power, all collected in the 
need for the BTUs.
  We have requested, I have requested, an energy policy for the last 20 
years and been turned down by the past administration that has not 
sought to not seek an energy policy.
  So I want to compliment the gentleman for bringing this to the 
forefront. Because gas right now, natural gas, 1 year ago was $2 and 
today it is $9 on the market. So we do need this policy, and I want to 
compliment the gentleman for his resolution.
  Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments.
  There is another immediate dividend that I think will come from the 
establishment of the commission and forward movement on establishing an 
energy policy. I believe that OPEC, seeing what is happening, will 
automatically start to drop the prices.
  Unfortunately for us who want this energy policy, that may give us 
some sort of relief that we will not have the will to go on with 
determining our own fate in energy. But I am willing to take that 
chance. We have got to have an energy policy. We have to stand pat 
against OPEC and become energy independent as a Nation in 10 years.

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