IV 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 11 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States, 

in collaboration with other international allies, should establish an energy 

project with the magnitude, creativity, and sense of urgency that was 

incorporated in the ‘‘Man on the Moon’’ project address the inevitable 

challenges of ‘‘Peak Oil’’. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 6, 2009 

Mr. BARTLETT submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 

the United States, in collaboration with other international allies, should establish an energy project with 

the magnitude, creativity, and sense of urgency that was 

incorporated in the ‘‘Man on the Moon’’ project address 

the inevitable challenges of ‘‘Peak Oil’’. 

Whereas the United States has only 2 percent of the world’s 

oil reserves; 

Whereas the United States produces 8 percent of the world’s 

oil and consumes 25 percent of the world’s oil, of which 

nearly 60 percent is imported from foreign countries; 

Whereas developing countries around the world are increasing 

their demand for oil consumption at rapid rates; for exVerDate Nov 24 2008 00:14 Jan 08, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR11.IH HR11

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•HRES 11 IH 

ample, the average consumption increase, by percentage, 

from 2003 to 2004 for the countries of Belarus, Kuwait, 

China, and Singapore was 15.9 percent; 

Whereas the United States consumed more than 937,000,000 

tonnes of oil in 2004, and that figure could rise in 2005 

given previous projection trends; 

Whereas, as fossil energy resources become depleted, new, 

highly efficient technologies will be required in order to 

sustainably tap replenishable resources; 

Whereas the Shell Oil scientist M. King Hubbert accurately 

predicted that United States domestic production would 

peak in 1970, and a growing number of petroleum experts believe that the peak in the world’s oil production 

(Peak Oil) is likely to occur in the next decade while demand continues to rise; 

Whereas North American natural gas production has also 

peaked; 

Whereas the United States is now the world’s largest importer of both petroleum and natural gas; 

Whereas the population of the United States is increasing by 

nearly 30,000,000 persons every decade; 

Whereas the energy density in one barrel of oil is the equivalent of eight people working full time for one year; 

Whereas affordable supplies of petroleum and natural gas are 

critical to national security and energy prosperity; and 

Whereas the United States has approximately 250 years of 

coal at current consumption rates, but if that consumption rate is increased by 2 percent per year, coal reserves 

are reduced to 75 years: Now, therefore, be it 


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•HRES 11 IH 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that— 

3 (1) in order to keep energy costs affordable, 

4 curb our environmental impact, and safeguard eco5 nomic prosperity, including our trade deficit, the 

6 United States must move rapidly to increase the 

7 productivity with which it uses fossil fuel, and to ac8 celerate the transition to renewable fuels and a sus9 tainable, clean energy economy; and 

10 (2) the United States, in collaboration with 

11 other international allies, should establish an energy 

12 project with the magnitude, creativity, and sense of 

13 urgency of the ‘‘Man on the Moon’’ project to de14 velop a comprehensive plan to address the challenges 

15 presented by Peak Oil. 

Æ 


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