Date: 2008-07-08
Speaker: HERSETH SANDLIN (democrat)
Chamber: H

I thank the gentleman for yielding. and I thank him for his leadership on the Energy and Commerce Committee and in other capacities and with the Blue Dog Coalition on energy issues. And in citing our energy principles that the Blue Dogs stand by. we have a number of those that have been" addressed already this evening. but fuel diversity is certainly one that I think deserves emphasis. The representative from the State of South Dakota. an atlarge district. a very rural district. as many of the Blue Dogs represent rural districts. the impact of these high gas and oil prices are having a disproportionate effect in many respects on my constituents who have to drive great distances to work. who have to drive great distances to get children to school. who have to put nitrogen fertilizer on crops. and who haveto use great amounts of diesel and gasoline to plant and harvest those crops to maintain a safe. abundant cheap food supply. So much has been made in recent weeks of high commodity prices. We just recently passed the farm bill. Overrode the Presidents veto twice to pass a farm bill that preserves the safety net. And as people point to those high commodity prices and think that farmers and ranchers have never had it better. one thing that I would hope that my colleagues. Madam Speaker. would keep in mind is that nitrogen fertilizer. which depends on natural gas. is an essential ingredient. and the high cost of gas and diesel are the input costs that are dramatically higher than theyve ever been. that cuts into any profits. dramatically. that farmers and ranchers may be experiencing now that theyre finally getting decent commodity prices that are saving taxpayers dollars because those are higher than the target prices and loan rates that weve set into law. And therefore we arent making countercyclical payments and loan deficiency payments to farmers across the country because they have another buyer for that grain rather than just one buyer putting it on the export market at a lot less than the cost of production. That other buyer is the local ethanol plant. And as my colleague from Georgia pointed out. we know that were just maybe less than 2. 3 years away from the technology available to make commercially available not just corn ethanol and the dramatic increases weve seen in .the improvements and the production process to make the efficiencies in the production process even better. but cellulosic ethanol. Cellulosic ethanol that can be developed in every region of the country given biomass sources. given other nonfood and feed crops that can be grown in every region of the country. And its the importance of those technologies that can only be facilitated by the financing and some of the loan guarantees that weve recently passed. but the financing and the private market that are essential. Which is why I strongly argue that. Madam Speaker. that its not corn ethanol that should be blamed for high food prices. it is the high cost of energy. which is the focus of our discussion here tonight. and the transportation and the production and the marketing of the food to Americans across the country. We need corn ethanol as a. bridge to cellulosic ethanol. And that is where the financing will follow. thats where the capital will follow to get us to secondgeneration ethanol production. And we also have to look at other sources that currently arent available. For example. woody biomass off the national forests which. in my opinion. should be. able to be used for cellulosic ethanol production. It not only reduces the wildfire hazard based on the hazardous fuels that are lining the bottoms of our forests. but it is a proven technology for a use for cellulosic ethanol. If we dont use it. it sits there and rots and releases methane into the atmosphere. which is worse than carbon. or it burns and releases carbon into the atmosphere. 0i 2030 So the bottom lineand I think this is back to the Blue Dog principle of diversity of fuelswe shouldnt be so quick to take energy sources available domestically off the table. We shouldnt be reluctant to reevaluate longheld positions on a particular energy source in light of new technologies that can help us extract resources in an environmentally sound way. new technologies that can facilitate wind energy development. biofuels development. a whole host of other technologies on the electricity side. whether its clean burning coal. hydroelectric power. solar power. and of course. in the transportation side. with vehicle technology and engine technology for flexfuel vehicles and hybrid vehicles. Already this Congress weve taken a number of important steps. not the least of which is the renewable fuel standard that we passed in December that. by many analyses. shows that is moderating the price of gasoline at 15 percent less than it would be otherwise without that increased biofuels production. So biofuels production is saving consumers money at the pump. But obviously. we know that consumers are suffering with $4 gasoline. higher in some areas. We know that there are ways that we need to get at speculation that may exist in the marketplace for oil and other commodities. that we have the weak dollar that my colleague from Utah pointed out at the top of the hour that is affecting the increased costs per barrel of oil. We. in addition to the renewable fuel standard. passed CAFE standards that go to the heart of conservation energy efficiency and the additional technologies that we know exist to help maximize those efforts. We have passed legislation to ensure that the President no longer adds oil to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. and we know that that Strategic Petroleum Reserve is yet another tool that we need to consider using as we move forward to give some relief to consumers at the pump. We passed a bill that looks at the issue of how many leases are currently outstanding and how many millions of acres perhaps where there is natural gas and oil where we can facilitate production of those sources on public lands. But we also know. as I stated. that we cant be taking energy sources off the table. and we have to be looking at where else. whether its in the deepwater gulf or other parts of the Outer Continental Shelf. elsewhere on public lands. where it can make sense both economically and from an environmental perspective to be able to extract those resources. particularly natural gas. which does not pose the same types of environmental problems in drilling on the OCS. Although I think that technology. again. has brought us to a point that can minimize those types of spills. The oil shales that we know exist in a number of States. whether its in Utah. Wyoming. Colorado. and of course. the other States. working with our trading partners and allies to our north in Canada as it relates to a natural gas pipeline. as it relates to oil pipelines that are being sited and under construction across South Dakota. to be able to get more oil into the Midwest where we oftentimes are at a disadvantage in being at the end of the line. So I think that its important tonight that we focus on not only what weve already done but what more we are prepared to do to enhance the diversity of fuels. to enhance the diversity of options both in the transportation sector and the electricity sector to make us less dependent on foreign oil. to create jobs. to enhance technologies that create the jobs for the future. for the young men and women that are looking into careers in science and environmental engineering and mechanical engineering and a whole host of opportunities it affords to every region of the country. if we take the steps that we need to take. reevaluate those longheld positions. look at information with a fresh look and glance. and be willing to take some risks because thats what its going to require to do right by our constituents. And I thank the gentleman for yielding.