[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19200]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             ENERGY POLICY

  (Mr. BROWN of South Carolina asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BROWN of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, the energy crisis that we 
are facing in America today is affecting every segment of our society, 
and my constituents in coastal South Carolina are getting more 
concerned every day that with what goes on that we do not have a 
solution to bring a more domestic supply of energy on line.
  My constituency sees Russia holding Europe as an ``energy hostage,'' 
and they do not want to allow foreign and sometimes unfriendly nations 
to have the ability to hold the United States as an energy hostage in 
the future.
  Right now, Russia supplies 50 percent of Europe's natural gas, and by 
the year 2020, Russia will supply 75 percent of Europe's natural gas. 
Right now America is 70 percent dependent on foreign energy. So much of 
American energy is being produced in prime hurricane zones that are 
susceptible to natural disasters every year.
  Mr. Speaker, we should view our energy resources as a natural asset, 
not as an environmental liability. The energy crisis that we are 
currently in cannot be solved by having us being dependent on foreign 
and sometimes unfriendly nations.
  We all must learn a valuable lesson from what's currently going on 
between Russia and Europe and seize this opportunity to vote on all-of-
the-above.

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