[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6982]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  AN ALL-OF-THE-ABOVE ENERGY STRATEGY

  (Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, President Obama has often 
claimed that we have 2 percent of the world's proven oil reserves, 
which is nothing but an excuse for inaction when developing American-
made energy. As The Washington Post's fact-checkers noted, the 
President's claim is ``true, but false.'' False because ``proven oil 
reserves'' is only one category of oil, a fraction of the overall oil 
in the ground. ``Proven reserves'' refers to amounts of oil where 
seismic studies have identified available resources.
  Due to the long Presidential and congressional bans on Outer 
Continental Shelf development, the inventory of resources has not been 
tracked in over 30 years. The U.S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of 
Ocean Energy Management estimate the U.S. has a 16 percent share of the 
world's undiscovered, technically recoverable, conventional oil 
resources. The Middle East also has a 16 percent share.
  Rather than saying what we can't do, the President should be doing 
more to facilitate the safe discovery and development of U.S. 
resources.
  Mr. Speaker, the President says he supports ``an all-of-the-above 
strategy for the 21st century that develops every source of American-
made energy.'' The question now is whether he is willing to prove it.

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