[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11457]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                         CURRENT ENERGY PROBLEM

  (Mr. OSBORNE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. OSBORNE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to discuss our current energy 
problem. It has taken more than 20 years to develop; and obviously, 
there is no quick solution. But I guess the good news is that we have a 
plan, where before we had none. It provides for the conservation of 
energy, exploration and development of new energy sources; and it 
presents a plan for alternative fuels.
  I would like to just briefly mention the Gasoline Access and 
Stability Act, which has recently been introduced and I think can be 
part of the solution. This has been sponsored by the House leadership 
and the entire Nebraska delegation has signed on. This act reduces 45 
blends of gasoline to 3.
  Currently, our refineries have to shut down totally when a new blend 
is introduced, and they have to clear their pipes. This is very time 
consuming and expensive. This bill would require 2 percent oxygenated 
fuel in the summer and 2.7 percent oxygenated fuel in the winter. The 
benefits would reduce green house gas emissions by 25 to 30 percent, 
save motorists up to 12 cents per gallon of gasoline, protect consumers 
from price spikes, and certainly reduce our independence on foreign 
oil.

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