Date: 2008-06-18
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume to close. Madam Speaker. I rise again in support of H. Res. 1150. expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that TSA should in accordance with the congressional mandate provided for in implementing recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007. enhance security against terrorist attack and other security threats to our Nations rail and mass transit lines. I think we have already spoken about why this is important. why we need to move in this area. as we have moved in effectively in the areas of aviation safety and port and marine safety. We cannot leave out any element of our overall programs. And I thank the gentleman from Mississippi. the chairman. for informing me that we should expect to see some action on legislation dealing with the trucking industry. a goal that he and I share. Madam Speaker. as I have reflected on much of the rail industry. I have noticed that they are powered oftentimes by diesel engines. As I have reflected on mass transit in most of our intercity and intercity communities where we are dealing with buses. I have noted. that they have been powered by diesel. In some cases for environmental purposes we have encouraged the use of natural gas. That is why. Madam Speaker. it is disappointing to see that we have made it more difficult and more expensive for those who operate those buses and operate those trains to continue to operate because of the increasingly high energy costs. I have been informed that my home State of California has a substantial portion of its electricity that is produced by way of natural gas. So when we talk about the need. the demand. it seems to me we should also look at the supply side equation as well. Not even talking about offshore potential for oil and gas. we should look at onshore oil and gas and the potential for creating more product. American product. for these mass transit systems that we are talking about here today with this bill. So. if we would just look at total onshore oil and gas. not including oil shale. we would find this: Onshore Federal lands contain an estimated 31 billion barrels of oil and 231 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. I am not misstating that. That is 31 billion barrels of oil and 231 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. those figures according to the Bureau of Land Management. The Federal Government currently denies or restricts by way of congressional mandate. denies or restricts access to 92 percent of this oil and 90 percent of this natural gas. In other words. we are saying to the American pegple who want to use these mass transit systems as well as use their own automobiles. that the very source that provides the energy for those modes of transportation. that is oil and natural gas. we are going to deny 28.5 billion barrels of the oil and 207.9 trillion cubic feet of this natural gas. Now. it is beyond the scope of this bill perhaps to talk about heating. We are going to be in winter. even though it seems difficult in some of these sweltering summer days or presummer days to think about that. but we will be in winter when we are talking about the heating needs of the American people. and we should look at the price of natural gas. as it is going up and on up and up. as are our gas prices. Only 8 percent. that is 2.48 billion barrels of the oil out of the potential 31 billion barrels of oil. and 10 percent of the natural gas. 23.1 trillion cubic feet of the 231 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. are accessible under standard leasing terms. So what we have done to the American people by way of congressional action is say that we are only going to allow you to have access to 8 percent of the oil and 10 percent of the natural gas. Or another way of saying it is we -are going to lock up 92 percent of the oil and 90 percent of the natural gas. even though you are desperate in terms of the impact of energy price increases on your everyday living. Its not just at the gas pump. it is as it trickles through or ripples through the entire economy. Every bit of food that we buy today is transported from somewhere else. so the costs of transportation are going to be included in the cost of food to the American people. As we talk to the need for us to enhance our security against terrorist attack and other security threats to our rail and mass transit lines. lets understand the national security implications of denying those very lines. rail and mass transit lines. the energy that they need to move. Again. I support H. Res. 1150 as a bipartisan product of the Homeland Security Committee. which. I think we can proudly say. works on a bipartisan basis. Madam Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time.