Date: 2006-05-25
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership on this issue. We have. as many have said. been through this issue before. but we have never been here in this situation. The suggestion is by those individuals that somehow. if we just drill ANWR. that we will have lower gasoline prices in the United States. Maybe they do not know it. but they should know it. that there is only now one price of oil. It is the world price of oil. The last time we had lower prices in the United States. the oil companieg drilling in ANWR sought to export that oil to Japan rather than sell it into the United States. So these are not benevolent societies. These are profitmaking organizations. And if the world price of oil is $70 a barrel. it will be $70 a barrel in ANWR. If it is $100 a barrel it will be $100 a barrel from ANWR. So the idea America is going to get this fix out of ANWR just isnt true. Bythe time ANWR comes on line. it may be 4 percent of imports. We should not ignore that. but the fact of the matter is. as so many people have pointed out. there is much more that -we can do. Many people have referred to the fact that the President stood here and told us we were addicted to oil. Well. the supporters of this legislation and the President of the United States are acting just like addicts. What they are doing is looking for one more quick fix. One more fix and then they will get religion tomorrow. One more fix and they will get well. One more fix and they will go into treatment. What they are telling us is that they have postponed conservation. they have postponed new technologies. and they have postponed new sources of energy. This is the most oilfriendly administration in recent times. and we still find that we cannot meet the demands of this country. Because rather than deal with our demands. rather than deal with the technologies and the innovations that are available to us today. they have put all of their money on the oil companies. They put it there with royalty relief. They put it there with incentives. They have put it there with bonus bid systems and they have put it there with drilling in ANWR. It is a bankrupt policy. What they are now doing in the l1th hour. while American consumers suffer from $3.00 and $3.50 gasoline. they are buying a lottery ticket. They are buying a lotto ticket called ANWR. And they are hoping to be able to redeem it. When it doesnt work. America will be deeper in debt and more dependent on foreign sources of oil than they are today. Because if they can get ANWR. they can once again postpone the commitments to conservation and technology. They can scare you by suggesting Venezuela may cut off its oil. Well. let me tell you. ladies and gentlemen. they may sell that oil to the Chinese. but it is going to be refined -in my district. Because the Chinese cant refine that oil. We know that most oil changes hands from the time it leaves one shore to get to the other shore. It may change ownership three or four times. sometimes as much as a dozen times. And it changes destination. But the fact of the matter is. it is not very attractive oil that Mr. Chavez is trying to sell or put on to the market. So we have to understand what this means. What this comes down to really is about a sense of the future and our values. This ANWR. and I have been there. I meet the test. I have been there. I have explored it. I have slept overnight there. I have stayed out and camped out in this area. so let me talk about it. This is about a pristine area that you either make a decision to industrialize or you dont.. The 2.000acre footprint is a hoax. There is another 69.000 acres under Indian jurisdiction. They can build airports and they can do whatever they want. That is the nature of our relationship with the Indian tribes. So the 2.000 acres is a hoax. It is a decision about the value of this place. this very special place. and whether or not you are going to industrialize it. Then it comes down to whether or not you believe in the ingenuity and the creativity of America. When we put together our innovation agenda. we met with the CEOs of the most advanced companies in the world. And they said to us. put energy innovation on thd table. and you will drive a new generation of technology. a new generation of economic activity. and new jobs in America. What are they putting on the table? They are putting on the table the old tired policy that somehow America can drill its way out of this problem. No. it cant. Theres nobody who believes that is the situation. But you chose to stick with the 1960s. a 1970s policy. a 1980s policy. a 1990s policy. We would like to think about this century and new innovation and new places to go. and the excitement of new technologies. where America once again sells to the world those cuttingedge technologies. We sliould not abandon wind energy to the Scandinaviang. to the Europeans. and to the Spanish. No. we should have those technologies. We should be making the investments in alternative sources of energy and alternative sources of fuel. That is not what this legislation is about. This is about the one last .lottery ticket. the one last gamble that the American people lose with this legislation.