Date: 2008-09-16
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank our Chair of the Rules Committee for yielding to me. I rise in strong support of our legislation H.R. 6899. The Comprehensive American Energy Security and Taxpayer Protection Act and this rule. Why we identify this as a comprehensive bill is very simple. Our country needs a comprehensive legislation that deals with energy. We need everything for our country to both be energy efficient but also to be able to afford it. All sides of debate can longer insist on the "its my way or the highway" approach to energy. We need all energy resources. both conventional and renewable. And everyone must be willing to sacrifice to reach that common ground. I do not believe our bill goes far enough to address all of our domestic energy resources. especially nuclear energy. But however in every shortcoming there are positive concessions. Our legislation improves on a provision included in the original H.R. 6 by at least freezing independent oil and natural gas producers at their current section 199 manufacturing deduction rate instead of a complete repeal. Our bill modifies provisions from the flawed use of "use it or lose it" legislation which necessarily hammered future lease acquisitions. It retains but adds accountability to the tainted RoyaltyInKind Program that we all read about. It improves the management of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve with an idea offered by my good friend from Texas. NICK LAMPSON. by allowing a swap for heavy crude which could immediately lower prices for consumers. Most dramatically. our proposal will help utilize our domestic oil and natural gas resources in the outer continental shelf. Our legislation incorporates most of the offshore drilling provision that I and other "Energy Democrats" first introduced in the LEASE Act by directing the immediate opening of all areas beyond 100 miles off our coasts. That is over 300 million acres of outer continental shelf that are automatically open to oil and natural gas leasing. States are given the option to opt in the additional 50 to 100 miles off their coast. an estimated 90 million acres for production. My friends on the other side of the aisle argue that this does not open enough acreage in the Gulf of Mexico. I agree. I would like to open up the eastern Gulf of Mexico. But there was an agreement made by the Republican Congress in 2006 for Florida. and we are not going to break that agreement on the House side. But lets not forget the fact that during the height of the Republican rule under both the Republican President and Congress. Republicans were only able to open 8.3 million acres of leasing in the Gulf of Mexico. And President Bush took 72 years. almost 72 years of his administrations to actually decide to take off the moratorium. So who really wants to drill? Over 350 million acres will be open. This bill is hundreds of millions more acres that are directly opened in contrast to the Senate "Gang of 20." or in the Senate Republican Leader MITCH MCCONNELLS bill. his Gas Price Reduction Act. which has the support of only 44 Republican senators. We open so many more than even the Republican leadership and the Senate wanted to. more acreage for exploration and production. Most importantly. we use the revenues from oil and gas production to ttansition -to a clean energy future. Our bill would create a fund to invest in renewable. clean energy efficiency. land and water conservation and LIHEAP. Mr. Speaker. I could go on and on. and I will continue as we go to the debate. This bill is a drilling bill. but its also a future bill for comprehensive energy production.