[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 12499]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      INTODUCTION OF THE RESPONSIBLE OWNERSHIP OF PUBLIC LANDS ACT

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                         HON. EDWARD J. MARKEY

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 12, 2008

  Mr. MARKEY. Madam Speaker, today I am introducing the Responsible 
Ownership of Public Lands Act with Representatives Emanuel, Rahall and 
Hinchey. At a time when our constituents are paying more than $4 per 
gallon at the pump, oil companies are sitting on millions of acres of 
land that they hold the drilling rights to but are not producing on. 
They need to either use it or lose it.
  There's a myth that Republicans and Big Oil are perpetuating: that 
oil companies don't have access to enough places to drill for oil, that 
we need to allow drilling off our beaches on the East and West coast 
and in our most pristine places such as the Arctic National Wildlife 
Refuge. However, this argument is nothing more than a drilling decoy.
  The reality is that roughly 80 percent of offshore oil and gas 
reserves are located in areas where drilling is already allowed. 
Moreover, oil and gas companies right now own the drilling rights to 68 
million acres offshore and onshore that they are not even using. These 
oil companies, who are raking in record profits, are not producing oil 
or gas on the vast majority of public land under their control. 
Offshore, Big Oil is producing on only about 23 percent of the land 
they hold, while onshore, companies are producing on roughly 27 percent 
of the acres to which they hold the drilling rights. Apparently Big Oil 
is more interested in pumping up prices and pumping up their own 
profits rather than pumping more oil.
  Indeed, while Exxon Mobil has increased spending on exploration and 
drilling by $3 billion over the last five years, it has increased 
spending on schemes to prop up the price of its stock by nearly $26 
billion per year during that same time period. Meanwhile, Exxon spent 
only $10 million investing in developing renewable technologies last 
year.
  The Responsible Ownership of Public Lands Act would assess an 
escalating fee over time on land energy companies have leased but are 
not using for production. This fee would be a mere $5 per acre per year 
for the first three years of non-production but then increase to $25 
per acre for the fourth year and $50 per acre in the fifth year and any 
subsequent years, providing a strong incentive for the oil companies to 
stop hoarding these leases and start using them.
  The revenue raised from these fees will go towards developing 
renewable energy and investing in energy efficiency that will reduce 
our dependence on oil and reduce energy prices for American Consumers. 
The revenue will also be used to fund the Low Income Home Energy 
Assistance Program and the Weatherization Assistance Program, which 
helps permanently reduce energy bills for low income families by making 
their homes more energy efficient.
  With oil companies continuing to sit on these millions of acres as 
the price of gas skyrockets, it is time to tell Big Oil to start 
producing or start paying. Big Oil is trying to play Uncle Sam for 
Uncle Sucker and we're not going to allow it.

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