Congressman Lamar Smith, Twenty First Congressional
District of Texas
Mr. Speaker, I oppose H.R. 5351, the “Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2008.”
H.R. 5351 contains some beneficial provisions, such as creating incentives to make energy efficiency improvements to new and existing homes and extending tax credits to encourage the production of alternative forms of energy.
But while it is well and good to encourage alternative energy development, Congress should not do so by damaging our domestic oil and gas industry.
According to the Department of Energy, in 2006 all renewable energy sources provided only 6 percent of the United States domestic energy supply. In contrast oil and natural gas provided 58 percent of our domestic energy supply.
The numbers don’t lie -- oil and natural gas fuel our economy and sustain our way of life.
Furthermore, almost two million Americans are directly employed in the oil and natural gas industry.
Punishing one of our Nation’s most important industries does not constitute a national energy policy.
The answer to lowering gas prices and reducing our dependence on foreign oil is not to remove $17.6 billion in tax incentives from the oil and gas industry. The answer is to utilize our domestic resources, such as ANWR.
According to former Interior Secretary Gale Norton, “ANWR would supply every drop of petroleum for Florida for 29 years, New York for 34 years, California for 16 years, or New Hampshire for 315 years.” It could also supply Washington, D.C., for 1,710 years.
The answer is also to build new refineries. But no new major refinery has been built in the United States in the past 15 years.
And to develop more nuclear energy, as most European and Asian countries have done. But no new nuclear facility has received a construction license in the United States for 30 years, even though safe technology is available.
Instead of penalizing the oil and gas industry, Congress should pass real energy reform, expand domestic exploration of oil and gas, build more refineries and construct more nuclear facilities.