[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 4401]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    SUPPORT H.R. 837 TO REDUCE AMERICAN DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN ENERGY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Beauprez). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. OSBORNE. Mr. Speaker, many of us have noticed that fuel prices 
are approaching $2 per gallon. We have doubled petroleum imports from 
Iraq in the last couple of months. This has been due largely to the 
Venezuelan crisis. We are currently averaging 6 billion barrels a year 
of imported fuel from Iraq. As anyone might suppose, we may eventually 
lose that supply. Nearly 60 percent of all oil is from foreign sources, 
and this should grow to roughly 70 percent by the year 2020.
  Recently the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Peterson) and I have 
introduced H.R. 837 which would, partially at least, address this 
problem.
  H.R. 837 amends section 211 of the Clean Air Act. It requires the use 
of at least 2.3 billion gallons of renewable fuels during the year 
2004, and that would increase to 5 billion gallons by the year 2012.
  Renewable fuels are fuels produced from grain, sewage, feedlot waste, 
or other decaying organic materials. Ethanol and biodiesel are the two 
primary sources of renewable fuels.
  Ethanol contains 34 percent more energy than is required to produce 
it. This combats the myth that many people think it takes more energy 
to produce ethanol than ethanol actually produces. That is not true.
  Ethanol improves octane level in fuels. It improves air quality and 
allows us to meet EPA clean air requirements. And, possibly as 
important as anything, it replaces the additive MTBE, which has been 
proven to pollute groundwater and is being phased out throughout the 
Nation. Of course, our legislation requires MTBE to be phased out over 
the next 4 years. Ethanol results in by-products of animal feed and 
biodegradable plastics, which certainly adds value to the agricultural 
community.
  This legislation, H.R. 837, would replace nearly all of the oil that 
we currently import from Iraq by the year 2012, which is roughly 6 
billion gallons per year. It would also reduce foreign oil purchases by 
$34 billion a year. Currently, roughly 25 percent of the trade 
imbalance that we have is caused by the purchase of foreign petroleum. 
So this is an important thing.
  Also this legislation would create 200,000 new jobs in the United 
States, it would increase farm income by roughly $6 billion annually 
and lessen our dependence on farm program payments. Ethanol currently 
comprises 1 percent of U.S. fuel supply. H.R. 837 would increase the 
use of ethanol to at least 3 percent by the year 2012. Currently, by 
contrast, Brazil has 22 percent of its fuel supply from ethanol.
  Most automobiles can burn ethanol fuel at an 85 percent level. 
Currently there are over 200 State and Federal automobile fleets that 
use a biodiesel blend of 20 percent. So a 3 percent usage of ethanol is 
just the tip of the iceberg. We certainly can go much further with this 
particular technology.
  Ethanol production is expanding rapidly. We had 12 new plants come 
into production last year. We have 10 new plants under construction 
this year, and many plants that are expanding. Eighty percent of 
California's reformulated gasoline contains ethanol at the present 
time. Many people thought at one time that the ethanol production was 
not such that California could be satisfied, so supply is really not a 
problem at the present time.
  Mr. Speaker, this legislation provides flexibility in compliance with 
oxygenated fuel standards at the State and local level. This is not a 
mandate that is going to restrict anybody unnecessarily. This should 
cut refinery costs when compared to current fuel regulations.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 837, because it 
decreases dependence on foreign oil while improving air quality, 
lessening groundwater pollution, improving farm income and providing 
hundreds of thousands of jobs for American citizens.

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