Date: 2008-07-24
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. I have the privilege of representing the Third Congressional District of California. It is in the Greater Sacramento area. I live in a wonderful community called Gold River along the American River. near the site of the finding of gold in the 1800s. which began the great gold rush in California. When I was home in my district over the last several weekends. I had an opportunity to speak to a number of people in that district. and the issue that they were most concerned about was that of energy. This is of some interest to me. not only because of the legitimate concerns of the people of my district--the problems that are besetting them as a result of the higher and higher prices of energy. particularly with respect to gasoline. the embedded transportation costs and many other things. such as foodbut because. before I moved to that area some now 20 years ago. I for most of my life lived in Long Beach. California. and Id had the privilege of representing that area and the adjoining areas for 10 years in this Congress during my first tenure here. Although I was not involved in the energy industry nor were my parents nor were other members of my family. I did go to school with a number of people who were either involved or whose parents were involved in that industry. The community of Signal Hill is completely surrounded by my hometown of Long BeachSignal Hill. one of the longest producing oil fields in the United States. As I grew up. I saw offshore drilling. some very close to shore on the manmade islands in San Pedro Bay and Long Beach Harbor. where the drilling of a resource that had been counted to be. perhaps. as large as 2 billion barrels of oil was a reality during the years I grew up. and it continues to this day. As a matter of fact. every school district in California benefited from that as they got a bit of the royalties that were achieved because these are considered State lands. tidelands. I also saw some rigs further out- off the shores of the Long Beach and Huntington Beach areas that I represented. and I noted that we didnt have problems with oil seepage or with the loss of oil to any measurable amount during those years that I saw it there. I also understood from those who worked in the fields and from those who worked in the refineries that this is tough work. difficult work. but it is proud work. hard work. bluecollar work. American work. I remember some of my friends having parents who were called wildcatters. It wasnt a derisive term at the time. It was a term of some pride. These were people who took risks to go out and attempt to find oil. not only in California but in other places around the United States. and somehow during the period of time or from the period of time that I was a child to the present time. these people have gotten a bad name. that somehow anything that is touched by the oil industry is dirty and befouls the environment. Yet what we have seen over the last 30 to 40 years is a remarkable improvement in technology and tremendous attention to detail with respect to the protection of the environment. So it not only surprises but it saddens me that on this floor we cant have debate about bills that would allow us to discover. uncover and produce the natural resources that are available to us at this present time for ourselves. for our children and for our grandchildren. . We are here on a Thursday evening once again. We are not here for a 5day week but for barely a 3day week. coming up next week for our last week before we leave for the August recess. and we have not had one serious piece of legislation dealing with increased supply. Weve had shell game legislation like todays legislation on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Well remove some now. put it back later. The net result is no increase in supply worldwide. and that is the answer. in part. to the energy problem. I have supported wind. and I have supported solar. and I have supported nuclear. and I have supported geothermal. and I have supported hydroelectric. I continue to support that. but the fact of the matter is. if You look at the real world. we very much rely on oil. natural gas and oil. and we have tremendous reserves in and around this country that we have put off limits. It doesnt make sense. It makes less and less sense every day. and yet we fail to move. I would just hope that. before we leave next Friday. we would at least have a single vote on this floor to open up greater areas for exploration and for the production of American oil produced by American men and women for American men and women.