WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, today made the following statement on the House floor opposing H.R. 6578, the Consumer Energy Supply Act of 2008:
“Democrats have said that it will take 10 years to get oil production going. That’s poppycock. We can convert coal to liquid in the next two years. We can be drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, if it’s allowed, within the next year. We could be doing major pilot projects on the shale oil resources within the next year. In the next year we can be drilling in parts of federal lands that are currently SNAFU’d because of federal permitting. Those are all things that can be done very quickly and it’s not going to take 10 years if we give the green light to drill and develop ANWR. It will definitely take more than two to three years but you could have production in ANWR, I’m told, within five years.
“The thing that we’ve got to do if we’re going to bring energy prices down and keep them down is change the fundamental difference between supply and demand in the world oil market. You’ve got 85 million barrels of oil we’re using worldwide and we’ve got approximately 86 million barrels of oil that’s available. That less than one percent supply margin is what brings these high prices. A gimmick like we have today where we take some oil out of the SPR for 60 days and then hope we put it back in during the next six years, it’s not going to change that fundamental. If it has a temporary price decrease, that’s a positive. But it’s temporary because you’re not changing the fundamental supply/demand equation on the world oil market.
“What the Republicans are saying is, ‘Let’s have a strategic plan.’ Perhaps releasing some oil from the SPR is part of that plan. Perhaps. That’s what hearings are about. That’s what regular order process in the committee system would be about. We’re not saying we never want to release any oil from the SPR but we are saying it ought to be part of the strategic plan. And part of that strategic plan has got to be to develop American energy resources.
“Speaker Pelosi, for some reason, is adamantly afraid of that kind of bill coming to the floor. I don’t care if it’s a Gene Green bill, a John Dingell bill, a Rick Boucher bill, or a Steny Hoyer bill, but let a bill come up that’s got some real domestic energy supply in it and have an honest debate and see where the votes are. Let’s don’t have an ‘Energy Gimmick of the Week.’ That’s what this is – it’s the latest ‘Energy Gimmick of the Week.’ If it has a positive effect – and I say that has an ‘if’ – it will be temporary.
“By the way, I want to give a hint to my friends in the majority side who drafted the bill. You’ve got a drafting error in the bill. It won’t do what you think it will do, but I’ll let you find it.
“With that, vote ‘No’ on the bill and let’s bring a rational, long-term strategic plan to the floor in the next two weeks.”
