[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 8404-8405]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             ENERGY PRICES

  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I wish to speak about energy prices 
because this is a national crisis; it is a matter this Congress needs 
to deal with.
  Prices are at record highs. According to AAA, the average price of 
regular unleaded gasoline this morning was $3.71 a gallon. For an 
average family with two cars, that could well mean $70 to $100 a month 
extra money out of their budget to get the same number of gallons they 
bought 2 or 3 years ago. This is particularly troubling since 60 
percent of the oil we import comes from abroad, and a big portion of 
that money the American family pays is going to foreign governments 
hostile to the United States, in some instances. And, it is just not 
healthy. In my view, it also cannot be disputed that this wealth 
transfer is a major factor in the economic slowdown we are experiencing 
today.
  The question we in Congress have to ask is, What are we going to do 
about it? I believe there is a simple answer with many complex parts. 
The simple answer is, let's get busy doing what works, what we know 
will work. Certainly, let's not do things that make the situation 
worse, that is going to drive up the price of energy even more, and 
that is being proposed in this Senate. It is time to take a long road 
back to a sound energy policy that can and will bring down the price of 
gasoline. Permanently? I don't know. We see economies around the world 
growing, nations such as China that have about one automobile for every 
20 people, and we average two automobiles per family in the United 
States. They are coming into that. They are going to continue to grow, 
have more cars. South America is growing. Other areas of the world are 
growing. They are utilizing more energy. They have bigger houses and 
they have more automobiles and the supply is not going to be able to 
continue to increase.
  I want to talk about the reality today and the fact that I believe 
energy prices are higher than they need to be, and there are some 
things we can do to improve them.
  Congress has done some things. We increased fuel efficiency. Last 
year we passed, and the President signed into law, the Energy 
Independence and Security Act. Among its provisions, this measure 
raises the CAFE standards, the automobile mileage standards, to 35 
miles per gallon for an automobile manufacturer's entire fleet by 2020. 
That is moving. We think we can do that. I supported it. I believe we 
can get to that goal. I am confident we can.
  Prior to this step of going to 35 miles per gallon, CAFE standards 
were just 27.5 miles per gallon for automobiles and 22 miles for light 
trucks and SUVs. So raising the standard to 35 miles overall will 
certainly reduce oil demand by ensuring that we travel further per 
gallon of gas, we get more benefit from each gallon of gas.
  I hope Americans, looking at the prices and looking at our national 
interest and not being so dependent on foreign oil, will seek ways in 
their own families to save money for themselves and help America by 
reducing unnecessary utilization of energy. Yet reducing demand through 
increased efficiency is not the only solution. Our population is 
growing, and other factors are at work. We are not going to be able to 
conserve our way out of this problem. We use more energy as the 
population grows and as people make more money. In order to produce 
this additional energy, more must be done to increase clean American 
production of energy. We can do that. The United States has significant 
reserves of oil at home, and this Congress has the ability to allow 
these reserves to be produced.
  According to the Department of Interior and the U.S. Geological 
Survey, approximately 119 billion barrels of oil exist on and offshore 
in the United States. Remember, we produce 40 percent of the energy we 
utilize today for automobiles. That is liquid energy, and we can 
produce more of it. It will have an impact on the global price if we 
increase in the months to come the amount of oil we produce at home.
  Developing traditional energy sources of oil is not the only way to 
increase the supply and reduce the cost of gasoline. The United States 
has an immense supply of unconventional oil called oil shale. The 
Congressional Research Service--that is our independent research 
service in Congress--estimates this country's oil shale reserves to be 
the equivalent--hold your hat--the equivalent of approximately 2 
trillion barrels of oil--trillion barrels. We utilize about 5 billion a 
year. That is eight times the amount of Saudi Arabia's oil reserves. 
And we also have an abundant supply of coal which can be converted into 
gasoline using technology currently proven in South Africa.
  This is a step we need to work on and to take. We realize we have to 
do clean coal, we have to do clean technology in the oil shale area, 
and we have to understand that it will probably create more 
CO2 than just producing a barrel of oil from Saudi Arabia 
and burning it in our automobiles because it has to be heated. But in 
the short term, we are very unwise, as we transition away from oil, if 
we do not consider coal to oil and shale to oil, both of which, I am 
told, can be brought in for around $50 a

[[Page 8405]]

barrel, less than half the world price. We simply have to consider that 
as we go forward.
  According to the Congressional Research Service, the U.S. Government, 
the people of the United States, spent $237 billion on imported oil in 
2007. It is estimated this year, 2008, we will spend $412 billion on 
imported oil, and the price seems to continue to go up. Indeed, 12 
months from today, it may well be over $500 billion for imported oil. 
This is money that could be churned in our economy paying American 
workers good wages.
  Yet Congress has consistently blocked the development of this 
Nation's oil resources. I have been here for 12 years. I know how it 
went down. I have been part of the debate over ANWR and gulf offshore 
drilling. We finally, 2 years ago, were able to open some areas in the 
Gulf of Mexico. But we have huge reserves of oil and gas off our coasts 
throughout America, and we need to do a better job of allowing that to 
be available so we don't have to buy so much from abroad.
  Biofuels can play an important role in keeping the cost of energy 
down. Despite the claims of detractors, ethanol and biodiesel do reduce 
our dependence on foreign oil to a significant degree. They keep money 
at home because this energy is generated here and, as I indicated with 
Senator Harkin, it creates jobs in Iowa, in Alabama, and keeps that 
wealth at home.
  The American people may ask: Why aren't we producing American energy 
if it can reduce the price of gas? And I think improved efficiency and 
conservation, combined with an increase of supply, can have more of an 
impact in breaking this boom of oil prices than a lot of people think. 
It does not have to be unprecedented reserves of oil coming on the 
market in a short period of time, but a lot of this is speculation, a 
lot of this is a shortage of supply, and if the demand drops down 
because people conserve and we can get the supply up a measurable 
degree and get above that demand with our supply, the ability of these 
foreign nations and oil companies and speculators to manipulate the 
price falls completely. The reason they are successful in seeing prices 
surge is because we have too tight a margin between demand and supply.
  The opposition to producing more oil and gas at home has been 
hypocritical, frankly. While opponents of American energy--the same 
ones who complain the loudest about high energy costs--they also object 
to producing more gas and oil in the United States, but they do not 
object to producing it, apparently, in places such as Saudi Arabia or 
Venezuela. It is all right to import it and buy it from them. And while 
they object to production--and by a narrow margin we were able to open 
the gulf this summer, finally, some--but while they object to 
production offshore in so many areas of our country and in Alaska, 
citing environmental concerns that I don't think are realistic and I 
think are exaggerated, they show no regard, I suggest, for the 
production of oil offshore in places such as Nigeria or Indonesia or 
production in the Caspian Sea or the Persian Gulf or the North Sea or 
off Venezuela and in a lake in Venezuela.
  Indeed, we have a great record of environmental stewardship, far 
superior than most of these countries. Our oil companies would operate 
their production under the strictest environmental rules in the world.
  Even during Hurricane Katrina, not too far from my hometown of 
Mobile, AL, out in the gulf, not one of the oil platforms leaked. Their 
safety systems worked as they were designed to, safely shutting off the 
wells below the surface. Most of them are back up and running today. 
Producing American energy creates funding for environmental projects 
throughout America, throughout Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and 
Texas. These are the four States that have agreed to offshore 
production. Our States are able to obtain environmental moneys as a 
part of that agreement we approved 2 years ago. In Alabama, this 
funding has been used for wetlands preservation, restoration, and 
educational purposes. Instead of sending our wealth to foreign 
countries to build palaces for rich sheiks, and hotels that have few 
occupants that are some of the finest in the world, and skyscrapers, we 
are using funds from American offshore production to fully fund the 
Land and Water Conservation Fund and to complete other much needed 
environmental projects.
  Tomorrow, this Senate will vote on the American Energy Production Act 
of Senator Pete Domenici. This measure--and I cosponsored it, and 
others have--is a step in the right direction. It is not the complete 
solution, but it is something we can do now.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The time of the Senator has 
expired.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have 1 
additional minute to wrap up.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. SESSIONS. This is a step in the right direction. It would suspend 
filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, invest money in establishing 
new batteries that will allow us to move to more fuel-efficient 
electric automobiles--plug-ins, hybrids--utilizing nuclear power. It 
will produce more offshore and in Alaska and help reduce that $400 to 
$500 billion wealth transfer that is occurring in our country today and 
that is impacting adversely our national economy and impacting 
adversely the family budget.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from New Mexico is 
recognized.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I believe there is 30 minutes reserved 
for me to speak. I ask that when I have 2 minutes remaining, the Chair 
advise me of that, please.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Chair will do so.

                          ____________________