[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12588]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    CLEMMONS ROTARY CLUB CREATES INNOVATIVE PUBLIC OUTREACH PROGRAM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to praise the critical community 
service being performed by the Rotary Club of Clemmons, North Carolina.
  The Clemmons Rotary Club launched a unique initiative this year to 
boost awareness of organ and tissue donor programs in North Carolina. 
They have spruced up the sides of about a dozen semi-truck trailers 
with huge public service ads, calling attention to the constant need 
for organ donors in North Carolina. Each truck highlights organ donor 
programs in North Carolina and directs potential donors to visit 
www.DonateLifeNC.org.
  Currently, about 3,000 people in North Carolina are awaiting life-
saving organ transplants. The Clemmons Rotary's Billboards on Wheels 
program is going to improve the lives of these people in need of an 
organ transplant in North Carolina. In fact, this brilliant marketing 
idea is beginning to garner some national attention from other rotary 
clubs that would like to replicate this program in States other than 
North Carolina.
  The trend-setting people of the rotary club are model citizens who 
are working to make our world a healthier and more livable place. I 
hope that their good deeds inspire others to take up this great 
outreach idea and to help match donors with those in need.
  Mr. Speaker, today, I also want to call special attention to the 
innovation and hard work of the students involved in West Wilkes High 
School's electric vehicle program.
  Under the guidance and direction of Advisor Chris Tolbert, students 
in the West Wilkes electric vehicle program have completely rebuilt two 
vehicles--a Ford pickup and a Mazda Miata--into fully functional 
electric cars. This award-winning electric vehicle program is exactly 
the sort of program we need to help teach young people the skills and 
technology of the future.
  I applaud Mr. Tolbert and the students at West Wilkes for their 
forward-thinking mindset. These students have custom-built electric 
cars, cars without gas engines, from the ground up. This is a herculean 
accomplishment with more than 3,000 hours of hard work going into the 
design and building of the Mazda Miata alone.
  Fortunately, their hard work is paying dividends. Not only are they 
investing in a cleaner environment and in an economy that is less 
dependent on gas and oil, but they have brought home many awards and 
have captured national attention for their electric car innovations.
  Just last month, they won multiple awards at the SMARTT Challenge 
competition in Raleigh. The SMARTT electric vehicle challenge, which 
draws hundreds of students from across the southeast, stands for 
Students Making Advancements in Renewable Transportation Technology.
  The students and teachers at West Wilkes High School are on the 
cutting edge of hands-on instruction and learning, and I congratulate 
them for maintaining one of the best high school electric vehicle 
programs in the Nation. I hope they'll keep up the good work.
  This leads me into my next comments, Mr. Speaker. The Democrats are 
inventing false arguments again.
  ``Use it or lose it'' is already the law.
  For Federal onshore competitive oil and gas leases, an oil company 
must have a producing well by 10 years. This comes from section 17(e) 
of the Mineral Leasing Act, (source: 30 U.S.C. 226(e)). Prior to 1992, 
the lease term was 5 years. The Energy Policy Act of 1992, under a 
Democrat House, modified it to 10 years. For Federal offshore oil and 
gas leases, an oil company must produce energy between 5 and 10 years. 
This is from the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.
  So House Democrats do not even know what is existing law. What 
Democrats would have you believe is that a lease is a license to 
produce oil and gas. It is not. A lease is only the start of a process 
involving several steps the government requires an oil company to take 
before it may get permission to drill.
  Democrats are effectively arguing that we should pull leases away 
from oil companies before they even receive permission to drill. That's 
like saying we should flunk a first grader on his first day of school 
because he has not yet taken his final exam.
  Most of the drilling on Federal leases has been for natural gas. 
Natural gas production was up, way up last year, and so was demand. In 
fact, the industry is producing more gas under these leases, but they 
cannot keep up with demand because Democrats and their radical 
environmental allies will not allow the leasing of new areas. Ninety-
seven percent of Federal offshore areas are not leased. Ninety-four 
percent of Federal onshore areas are not leased.
  Again, I say, Mr. Speaker, the Democrats are inventing false 
arguments to keep us from increasing our supply of energy in this 
country.

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