[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12812-12813]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  RESPONSIBLY RESPONDING TO GAS PRICES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Arizona (Ms. Giffords) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. GIFFORDS. Madam Speaker, rapidly rising gas prices are a serious 
concern in my home district of southern Arizona. It's a serious concern 
across the Nation, but I think it's important that we recognize that 
today's prices are the result of policies that have been put in place 
for many years and, in fact, for many decades. There are responsible 
actions that we can take now to address the problem. Drilling in the 
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, also known as ANWR, is not one of 
them. In recent weeks, some of my colleagues have called for opening up 
the areas off of coastlines and in ANWR to drilling.

[[Page 12813]]

  Current Federal law prevents drilling in these specific areas. Claims 
that opening these areas would increase drilling, would increase 
supplies, would bring down the prices have been made all across the 
House here. They would have us believe that there is nowhere else to 
drill in the United States except in the areas that are currently off 
limits to drilling. They claim that we need to increase domestic 
supply, and if we want to do that, our only option is to open up these 
incredibly sensitive environmental areas.
  This information, Madam Speaker, is blatantly wrong. The oil industry 
has not tapped all of its drilling options. It holds leases for 
drilling on lands that have not yet been utilized. In the last 4 years, 
the Bureau of Land Management has issued over 28,000 permits to drill 
on public land. However, at the same time, they have only opened up or 
have actually drilled on fewer than 19,000. So that means that 
companies are effectively stockpiling 10,000 drilling permits not 
currently being used to increase domestic oil production for our 
Nation.
  Of the over 47 million acres of onshore Federal lands currently 
leased by oil and gas companies, only about 13 million acres are 
currently in production. Now, the trend offshore is similar where 44 
million acres are currently leased but where only 10.5 million acres 
are actually currently in production. Counting onshore and offshore 
leases, oil and gas companies hold drilling rights to almost 68 million 
acres of Federal land and waters that the oil companies are not 
drilling on.
  Based on today's production rates on Federal lands and waters, we can 
estimate the result if oil and gas companies were to tap all 68 million 
leased but currently unused acres. Our country could produce an 
additional 4.8 million barrels of oil and 44.7 billion cubic feet of 
natural gas every single day. That would nearly double the total U.S. 
oil production and increase natural gas production by 75 percent. It 
would also cut U.S. oil imports by more than a third.
  Finally, that amount is more than six times the estimated maximum 
daily production from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Six times. 
Calling for drilling in ANWR, I believe, is an attempt to hide years of 
poor energy policies that showed more support and more sympathy for the 
big oil and gas companies than for hardworking Americans.

                              {time}  1815

  We do have serious energy challenges in our country, and I agree that 
increasing domestic supply should be part of the solution. We do not, 
however, have to drill in some of the most pristine and environmentally 
sensitive areas in America to solve this challenge.
  We have millions of acres of resources available to us right now, and 
we must insist that they get used. That's why I am joining with many of 
my colleagues to promote practical policies to solve the gas crisis.
  Two responsible and reasonable bills that have been introduced offer 
some solutions. The first is H.R. 6251, the Responsible Federal Oil and 
Gas Lease Act. It's a bill that would force the oil and gas companies 
to either produce on their Federal leases or give them up.
  The second bill is H.R. 6256, the Responsible Ownership of Public 
Lands Act. This is a bill which will help lower gas prices by 
compelling the oil companies to begin producing oil and gas on public 
lands that they are currently holding but not using. It will also use 
an escalating fee on land that oil companies have leased but are not 
using for production. Both of these bills would provide some strong 
incentives for the oil companies to stop stockpiling these leases and 
begin using them.
  We would also help reduce the demand of oil and gas by investing in a 
new energy economy, revenue raised by these fees will be invested in 
renewable energy and energy efficiency programs to help reduce our 
dependency on oil. So while we continue to develop renewable energy 
solutions like solar energy, we have to continue to power our economy 
today.
  That means yes, we will need gas, we will need oil, but we will need 
them at an affordable price. We must require that the oil and gas 
companies use the Federal resources that have already been given to 
them. By increasing domestic production on leases they already hold, 
they can lower prices at the pump.
  That's why I support H.R. 6251, H.R. 6256, and I urge my colleagues 
on both sides of the aisle to join me in backing these intelligent 
proposals.

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