[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Page 9869]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                 ENERGY

  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, yesterday the House of Representatives 
passed the bipartisan American-Made Energy and Good Jobs Act. This bill 
directs the Secretary of the Interior to establish and implement a 
leasing program to enable the exploration, development, and production 
of Alaska's oil and gas resources in the Arctic Coastal Plain.
  I come today to commend our House colleagues for taking this action. 
Opening the Coastal Plain to development will help stabilize energy 
prices, spur economic growth, and enhance our national security. The 
Coastal Plain is believed to be the second largest oilfield ever 
discovered in North America, capable of producing at least 1 million 
barrels of oil per day. The National Defense Council estimates the 
development of the resources in our Coastal Plain will create between 
700,000 and 1 million American jobs.
  A majority in both Houses of this Congress and 70 percent of all 
Americans support exploration and development of Alaska's Coastal 
Plain. Our Senate colleagues should join those in the House and act to 
authorize development of these domestic resources.
  Going forward, the United States must increase domestic production to 
secure our energy independence. Our Nation is in the midst of an energy 
crisis. In 2003, gasoline cost $1.56 per gallon. This week, prices at 
the pump are averaging $2.88 per gallon in my State and in some places 
over $4 a gallon.
  In the 1990s, natural gas prices in the lower 48, as we call it, 
averaged $2.50 per thousand cubic feet. Today, natural gas costs 
approximately $6 per thousand cubic feet, more than twice as much. This 
situation will only grow more serious. It is estimated that our LNG 
imports will increase by 500 percent in the near future. We also now 
face increased competition for that LNG from foreign nations.
  In the last 14 years, India's oil consumption has doubled. China was 
the second largest oil importer in the world in 2004. According to the 
Energy Information Administration, by 2025, the world energy 
consumption will increase by 57 percent.
  Americans cannot conserve our way out of this problem, and we cannot 
suspend the law of supply and demand. If we continue to lock up our 
lands, this country will not have the energy needed to keep up with the 
global economy. Conservation and alternative fuels are part of the 
overall solution, but to end this crisis, we must also increase our 
domestic production of oil and gas resources.
  In 2004, Congress provided the financial incentives to move forward 
with the Alaska natural gas pipeline. This pipeline, constructed to 
move 35 trillion cubic feet of gas known to be in the Prudhoe Bay area, 
when completed, will deliver about 4 billion cubic feet of natural gas 
per day to the American market.
  I now have serious concerns about the process for this pipeline being 
constructed. Federal officials told me that it would take 44 months 
once the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission receives an application 
to proceed with it. Congress can shorten this timeframe by declaring a 
state of emergency, and we have to realize that it is a national 
emergency with regard to our future gas supply. Congress cannot 
intervene, however, until the State of Alaska has taken action on this 
gas pipeline. The pipeline is to move gas from State lands, lands which 
the State of Alaska is the owner of, and the Alaska Natural Gas 
Pipeline Act of 2004 stipulated that if an application was not received 
by the Federal Government by 2006 for the construction of this 
pipeline, the Department of Energy could study the feasibility of a 
pipeline to be built and owned by the Federal Government. This study is 
now underway.
  While Federal ownership is not the preferred course of action, given 
our Nation's current energy crisis and the emergency we face, this 
Nation must ensure that this project moves forward as quickly as 
possible.
  Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal published an interview 
with Lord John Browne, the chief executive officer of the British 
Petroleum Company. Lord Browne told the paper: ``The growth for us in 
Alaska is gas.'' He was talking about, of course, the BP Company.
  He said: ``Oil will continue, but gas will flip over and replace oil 
as the economic driver.'' He is talking about the enormous potential of 
gas in the Alaska economy. And he added that: ``Once our pipeline is 
approved, we can look forward to 50 years''--we can look forward to 50 
years--``of increased gas supplies.''
  Now, our State and the Federal Government have to act quickly so that 
we can begin to lay the foundation for this next 50 years of increased 
domestically produced natural gas.
  Alaska's energy resources are needed now. Our State's potential is 
staggering. Trillions--I am told 32,000 trillion--of cubic feet of gas 
hydrates lie beneath the permafrost under the North Slope lands of 
Alaska. We have half the Nation's coastline. It holds some of the 
world's greatest prospects for ocean and tidal energy. Two-thirds of 
the Continental Shelf of the United States is off our State. In 
addition to that, we hope someday we will join the producers of 
ethanol. Ethanol can be made from wood chips. Our State forests contain 
millions of acres--millions of acres--of trees that are available for 
harvest, including particularly the Birch trees which I am told is a 
good source of material for this type of fuel to make ethanol.
  Alaskans are pioneers, but we are also realists. It will take decades 
before our Nation can fully commercialize alternative energy sources. 
Solving our country's energy crisis will require conservation. It will 
require development of alternative fuels, but it also requires domestic 
production of our domestic oil and gas resources. Those who advocate 
only one or two of these approaches are misleading the American public. 
There is an urgent need for us to develop our domestic resources now, 
and there is an urgent need for us to develop alternative fuels and to 
conserve. We must do all of that, Mr. President.
  Federal action is required and State action is required immediately 
if we are to develop this gas pipeline. This gas pipeline project must 
go forward, and authorization of the development of our resources in 
our Coastal Plain and the ANWR proposal is absolutely necessary. I urge 
the Senate to join the House in authorizing the development which was 
authorized by the Congress in 1980. For over 25 years we have had a 
majority in the Senate which approves the development and exploration 
and development of oil and gas resources of the Arctic plain. It is 
only a filibuster that has stopped us. America needs these resources to 
meet the increased demand for our energy and to provide for relief from 
our continued increased dependence upon foreign sources for energy. I 
urge the Senate to join our colleagues in the House and authorize 
development of our Coastal Plain. I also urge my own State of Alaska to 
move quickly to approve the application for the natural gas pipeline so 
it can move forward also.
  I thank the Chair, and I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.

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