[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 11970]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         DOMESTIC OIL DRILLING

  (Mr. HALL of New York asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HALL of New York. Madam Speaker, over the weekend, gas reached 
the $4 national average for the first time in our Nation's history. The 
majority in Congress has worked to combat these prices by advancing new 
energy solutions and efforts to protect consumers. The standard refrain 
from the oil companies and their allies is, ``We need to drill for more 
oil here at home.'' I would ask them, ``Who is stopping you?''
  The oil company myth is that we need to open up the Arctic refuge and 
give the oil company a free hand to go wherever and whenever they want 
to chase oil. The reality, however, is that about 75 percent of the oil 
in the United States is on land that is already open for production, 
but less than one-third of that land is actually being used by the oil 
companies.
  They are literally sitting on 10,000 permits and millions of acres of 
leased land that would let them start pulling more oil out of the 
ground here at home. So I say to the oil company advocates, start 
drilling for more domestic supply. Start drilling on the lands that are 
already open, and stop posturing while American drivers are in pain at 
the pump.

                          ____________________