Recognizing the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Ozark National Forest in Arkansas.

Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to bring up some more points about the Federal lands since that's one of the main things that we're talking about here today is Federal land. Coming from the Committee on Natural Resources and, Mr. Speaker, being privileged enough to be on the floor today with the subcommittee chairman that has authority over this, we have a problem in the fact that the majority, the Democratic majority keeps making what I think are false arguments about oil companies having the ability to drill on Federal lands right now.

The problem is that, and this is the reality, that 97 percent of the Federal offshore areas and 94 percent of Federal onshore areas are not leased by the government. 97 percent of offshore, 94 percent of onshore. The government is stockpiling these leases, not the oil companies.

And I'm not being a big defender of the oil companies. I just know that the truth is the truth. It's many things to many people. But at the end of the day, it's the truth. And the truth is that they are not stockpiling these leases.

The truth is that raising taxes on them is not going to bring down the price of gas. Oil companies are, indeed, drilling on these leases, which have oil in them, and when there's a pipeline close that they can ship this oil. You know, we haven't built a refinery in this country since the late 1970s. So that would be, Mr. Speaker, a perfect bill to bring to the floor where we can refine more oil.

We keep putting these boutique fuels on the market, and I forget, but I think there's probably 16 or 18 of those boutique fuels now, three different grades. We don't have the ability to refine even the crude that we have. So a novel idea is, why don't we build some refineries where some of these leases are, or where we know there are some oil reserves?

You see, if these leases and this available land that's out there does not have oil on it, why would somebody want to drill in a dry hole?

And so, if the government is only leasing this land that they know is a

dry hole, how can they expect the oil companies to get oil out of it?

Well, that's a pretty novel idea. And the fact that we have the leadership in this House, the Democrat leadership, the Speaker of the House sending President Bush a letter demanding that he ask OPEC to do more production, to do more drilling, when we're sitting here in this country, with 97 percent of our Federal offshore areas and 94 percent of our Federal onshore areas with no ability to drill on it. They must have felt that was kind of interesting.

We cannot produce, and I say we, this country cannot produce its own energy dependence by asking the companies that have the leases here to drill on land that does not have the oil.

Now, with more than 2 billion acres of Federal lands not leased, how can these oil companies find the oil?

We know the oil is under there. But if you're not going to lease the land, you've only leased the land that doesn't have the oil, and then you're saying that the oil companies aren't drilling on the land they have, when the land they have does not have the oil. I'd like to hear the answer to that one, Mr. Speaker.

We have got to open up these lands for us to be able to become dependent on our natural resources and not the resources of others. I think it's a great question, Mr. Speaker, that all the American people would ask is, is there oil under this Federal land?

Is there environmentally safe ways to drill it?

Is there natural gas there?

Is there shale coal there?

Is there coal that can be converted to oil there?

If it's there, let's go get it. ANWR, today, I think it was released, 10.4 billion, that's billion with a B, barrels of oil. 10.4 billion.

Mr. Speaker, we could use that natural resource that this country has to bring down the price of gas for the hardworking men and women of this country. And, Mr. Speaker, I hope that the American people will get an answer from the Democratic leadership about this commonsense plan, because surely the bill that was passed in January of 2007 was not that commonsense plan. Surely they are holding this commonsense plan for some reason.

And so I'm asking, the people of the Third District of Georgia are asking, and, Mr. Speaker, I think the American people are asking, where is this commonsense plan?

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1158) recognizing the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Ozark National Forest in Arkansas.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution that is under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

House Resolution 1158 recognizes the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Ozark National Forest in Arkansas.

On March 6, 1908, then President Theodore Roosevelt set aside, by proclamation, the Ozark National Forest which today includes more than 1 million acres in the northwestern part of the State. The Ozark National Forest is one of the true gems of our national forest system, providing extensive recreational opportunities, more than 500 species of trees, habitat for 11 threatened or endangered species, and it's very appropriate therefore today that the House recognize the forest's 100th anniversary.

This resolution is sponsored by the entire Arkansas delegation, and they are to be commended for their work on this measure. Representative John Boozman and the sponsor, Representative Mike Ross, have worked particularly hard to get this measure to the floor today.

Mr. Speaker, I would ask that Members of the House support the passage of House Resolution 1158.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Georgia indicated earlier in his comments with regards to statistics gained by the Minerals and Management Service, which the last time I've checked has been under the executive branch of our Republican administration, has increased the leases to public lands, both on and offshore, 361 percent.

In addition, the gentleman from Georgia indicated that there is an increase in revenues to the Minerals and Management Service, therefore to our Nation's treasury, because, in fact, more leases are being provided, and there is more oil and gas being derived from those oil leased lands.

It is illogical and it would be unfactual to conclude that if revenues are up and more energy companies are seeking those leases, that they are seeking leases to lands that do not have oil nor gas. It is clearly illogical and unfactual.

These energy companies are smart, competitive companies. They do not lease lands that they have not surveyed and that they do not have a great degree of certainty, based on the seismology, that in fact there is oil and gas there; otherwise, these record bids that the gentleman made reference to that just came back 2 months ago would not be record bids for dry holes.

As a matter of fact, again, the Department of Interior that has been under the stewardship of our Republican leadership for the last 7\1/2\ years recently released a report, a report by Secretary Kempthorne, that indicates that only 38 percent of the oil and 16 percent of the natural gas today on public lands, whether they be onshore or offshore, are being excluded from leasing.

The fact of the matter is is that we need the energy. We need to do everything we can to stabilize our gas prices. We need to reduce our dependency from energy offshore. This administration and the previous administration started that effort in 1999, but that alone will not reduce our dependency on foreign sources of energy; therefore, we have to work together in a bipartisan effort to use all of the various energy management tools that are in our energy toolbox if we are going to address this issue in the short term and the long term.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to urge the support of the passage of House Resolution 1158.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield myself such time as I may consume.

House Resolution 1158, introduced by Congressman John Boozman and supported by the entire Arkansas delegation, recognizes the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Ozark National Forest. 100 years ago, President Theodore Roosevelt set aside, by Presidential proclamation, 917,000 acres of hardwood forest land in Arkansas.

I want to commend Congressman Boozman on his hard work and dedication to recognize this unique and wonderful resource area that we have in our country.

At this time I yield to my good friend from Georgia (Mr. Westmoreland) as much time as he may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I had the opportunity over the weekend to meet with several legislators from Mexico. And a couple of the legislators asked me--they were very confused as to why the United States is asking Mexico to produce more oil because one of the legislators said, Well, don't you have more oil in your country than we do? And why don't you use your own oil in your own country? We will gladly sell it to you, especially at $140 a barrel, but we don't understand why your government doesn't allow for your own companies to drill for oil in your own country.

Now, if the Mexican legislature has figured that out, you would think that our legislature and our Congress could figure that out.

And so if we really want to end our reliance on foreign oil, it's very simple. There's two major ways to do it: You can drill for oil and gas in our own country on the 86 percent of the Federal lands that are off-limits to our use, that's one way; and the second way is to build nuclear power plants.

If we don't get serious about those two options, Mr. Speaker, we're going to continue to pay higher prices for gas and oil, and we're also going to continue to pay higher prices for electricity.

If we continue to make excuses, as people in this body have done for decades, decades this has been happening, we're going to continue to pay higher prices for fuel. I think it's time that we get serious about this in this Congress, we pass meaningful legislation that opens up our own areas for drilling for gas and oil so that we quit buying gas and oil from the likes of the Middle East, Venezuela, Nigeria, places that are, quite frankly, hostile in most cases towards our country, and we start to buy energy in our own country, drill for oil in our own country, create American-made energy, create American jobs. And then as we begin to put that revenue into solar and wind and future technologies that are going to allow for the next generation of energy to come on line, that, coupled with nuclear power, we can solve our Nation's energy problems.

But if we continue to allow the Democrat majority to place blame on oil companies, place blame on OPEC, place blame on any everyone else but themselves, we're going to pay high prices at the pump.

So I want to thank the gentleman, my good friend from California, for allowing us this opportunity to express our thoughts on this, the current energy situation, and on the wilderness areas that we're creating today in these bills.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor the Ozark National Forest and offer my congratulations for a century of enriching the lives of all Americans.

A proclamation from President Theodore Roosevelt on March 6, 1908, dedicated the Ozark National Forest as the first federally protected stand of hardwoods in the U.S. 917,944 acres of land was set aside by President Roosevelt for the forest that currently covers more than one million acres, most of which is in Northwest Arkansas.

This great landscape is one prime example of why Arkansas is called the Natural State. The Ozark National Forest covers some of the region's most magnificent scenery. The Ozark National Forest is home to Mount Magazine, the tallest mountain in the state, as well as Blanchard Springs Caverns, a magnificent limestone cave system, and the only cave system featuring guided tours administered by the Forest Service.

I'm grateful for the efforts of all Forest Service employees, volunteers and sportsmen who serve as stewards in the preservation and management of this great land.

I thank my colleagues for passing this resolution to honor the 100th Anniversary of this great Arkansas treasure.