[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 532-533]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     RECOGNIZING THE SAFE COALITION

  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, early in 2007 I met with a distinguished 
group of American business leaders and retired military officers who 
had formed an organization called Securing America's Future Energy, 
SAFE, Coalition for the purpose of improving our country's energy 
security.
  This organization was comprised of a high level group of business and 
retired military leaders led by Federal Express CEO Fred Smith, and 
retired Marine GEN P.X. Kelley. They understood that our country's 
continued dependence on foreign oil coming from troubled parts of the 
world holds our entire economy hostage to events that are outside of 
our control. They knew that our energy security relates to both 
economic security and our national security and they wanted to do 
something about it.
  Their organization worked to develop a specific, aggressive plan that 
would reduce our dependence on foreign oil and reduce the intensity of 
oil use.
  Specifically, the plan called for an increase in vehicle efficiency 
through more aggressive CAFE standards. It also called for additional 
energy production here at home, both renewable and fossil energy, a 
much greater emphasis on conservation, and new and innovative ways to 
make more efficient use of our energy.
  Following our meeting I decided to take the lead in sponsoring 
legislation to implement the bulk of the SAFE Coalition's plan because 
I believed it was the best combination of approaches to begin solving 
our problem of excessive dependence on foreign oil.
  By the end of 2007 I am pleased to say that a substantial portion of 
that legislation which was recommended by the SAFE Coalition is now 
law. For the first time in over 34 years, Congress finally increased 
CAFE standards that require a 10-mile-per-gallon increase over 10 
years. It applies to both automobiles and trucks and does it in a way 
that does not penalize large vehicles. But it requires all vehicles to 
meet greater efficiency standards.

[[Page 533]]

  The Congress also included major new goals with respect to a robust 
renewable fuel standard of 36 billion gallons a year. All of those 
provisions were recommendations of the SAFE Coalition and 
recommendations in the legislation that I introduced in the Congress.
  The recommendations on additional production of energy was advanced 
with the recent passage legislation to open a portion of the Gulf of 
Mexico, known as Lease 181, to additional production of oil and natural 
gas.
  There is still more to be done to reduce our oil intensity and to 
allow us to become less dependent on foreign sources of oil. But I was 
proud to have been a member of the Energy Committee in the Senate that 
has advanced an energy bill with real and constructive solutions that 
will improve America's energy future.
  And I was also pleased to work with Fred Smith, P.X. Kelley, and many 
other American leaders who wanted to do the right thing for this 
country and whose efforts as a part of the SAFE Coalition, I believe, 
had measurable and substantial impact on the progress that we made this 
year.
  In a climate of so much partisanship, and at a time when it is so 
difficult to get things done, I am proud that all of us, working 
together, did something that represents a real investment in America's 
future.

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