Date: 2005-07-28
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I thank our ranking member on our subcommittee for allowing me to speak for 3 minutes. The comprehensive energy legislation is a positive step towards a stable energy future for America. and I want to thank all the Members who worked so hard in putting this together on such an aggressive schedule. I especially appreciate our ranking member. the gentleman from Michigan . of our full Committee of Energy and Commerce. and also our Chair of our subcommittee. the gentleman from Virginia . for their hard work. I congratulate the gentleman from Texas on both his fairness in the committee markrup and also in the floor action that we had. We actually made democracy work. But also I know the hard work as I watched a lot of conference committee on TV in the effort to get this legislation where it is today. I think it is a great achievement. The folks who are opposing it. their biggest argument is we do not do anything about lowering oil prices. Well. the easiest thing we could do is actually produce more domestically instead of importing it from everywhere. but they are the same folks that are opposing any more domestic production. This bill does so many good things. Energy infrastructure. the bill addresses the bureaucratic blocks that hamstring the growth of our energy infrastructure. particularly regarding natural gas terminals and pipelines. And I am pleased the conference committee has chosen to follow the blueprint of the TerryGreen LNG legislation we introduced last year that first recognized LNG as an international and interstate commerce and thus subject to ultimate Federal jurisdiction. We need to open at least 10 to 15 liquefied natural gas terminals in the lower 48 in the next 5 to 10 years in order to stabilize our natural gas prices. both residential and commercial prices. and protect millions of our manufacturing jobs. The petrochemical industry is in dire need of stable natural gas feedstock prices as elsewhere along the Gulf -Coast. Our community would end up looking like the Rust Belt. This committee report helps that. Domestic production. I am disappointed. did not go far enough in domestic energy supplies. Americas vast offshore energy resources remain largely offlimits even though our coast would not be threatened by development. Contrary to political scare tactics of certain organizations. oil and gas can be safely produced. whether it is Florida. California. or the east coast. We have been doing it off Texas. Louisiana. Mississippi. and Alabama for _H6954 years. Lower 48 production uses pipelines and not tankers so the Valdez is not even an example they can use. Mr. Speaker. the other concern I have is the loss of the MTBE issue. but I understand the Senate did not want to take it up. So I guess the folks who want to sue for MTBE can go to the courthouse. MTBE actually lowered our air pollution problems in my community in Houston. It was under the 1990 Clean Air Act. I would just hope businesses and communities would still continue to try to find another substances that would clean up our air. In conclusion. I am concerned about ensuring that we have adequate traditional energy sources because we have to rely on them for the next few decades. I will support anything we do in research to get alternatives. but we also need to make sure we can keep our lights on for this decade. The comprehensive energy legislation is a positive step towards a stable energy future for America. I want to thank all Members who have worked so hard on puffing this together on such an aggressive schedule. This is a great achievement.