Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I represent one of the largest, if not the largest, ag districts in the State of Ohio. Also, according to the National Manufacturers Association, I represent one of the top 10 manufacturing districts in the country. And over this August break that we had, I was across my district--north, south, east and west--having a lot of meetings with farmers and a lot of meetings with our manufacturers. And the word wasn't all that good. Farmers were telling me that on many a day they're burning between $800 and $1,000 a day for diesel. They're paying much higher costs for fertilizer and chemicals-- and in some cases these are up 3 to 3.5 times as much as they were 2 to 3 years ago.

Manufacturers: Not only the cost of shipping being up, but also the cost of the product that they had to produce with. They took me into the warehouses at the factories and they said, you know, a year ago, if you would have been here, this entire warehouse would have been full of the product that we needed to produce what we need to make our goods with. And today, it is only a quarter full. But that's the same price that we paid last year for this year, only a quarter. And it was an oil-based product. They've got a problem, because as that price keeps going up, they have to make tough decisions on manufacturing what they're going to do in Ohio.

You know, we were talking about it just not affecting the farmers and manufacturers out there, but it also affects everyone. For the man and woman on the street, when it comes to thinking about their retirement and their future and putting their kids through college, they have to think, well, are we going to put that in the gas tank, in the oil tank for fuel this winter and not buy that new car or that new washing machine that might be produced in the northern part of Ohio?

I was fortunate enough earlier this summer to go to ANWR with 10 other Members. And we went up there, we saw Prudhoe Bay and what was being done there, and also looking at what was right across from the line of the river of ANWR. And ANWR, if you don't know, is the size of South Carolina, about 19 million acres. We're looking at an area that was set aside in 1980 of what they call section 1002 of about 1.5 million acres of that. And when you get right down to it, all we're talking about in this whole debate, when we're talking about ANWR, is an area of about 2,000 acres. And that translates to about 3.5 square miles in size. But we've got to do it. Because what's happening right now is, when the Alaskan pipeline was at its height, it was carrying about 2.1 million barrels of oil a day.

Today it's carrying 700,000. We are losing about 15 percent capacity every year in that pipeline. When it gets down to 3,000 barrels a day, it will no longer be able to flow and bring that oil south. That's a real concern because right now we're importing 70 percent of the oil used in this country, 70 percent.

So what we need to do is be able to take that oil that's over in ANWR, about 10.3 billion barrels, and we can put that 1 million barrels a day into that pipeline and bring it south.

And why is that important? Well, it's important that we do things here in this country because right now we're talking about having potentially about 86 billion barrels offshore, we have about 2.1 trillion barrels of oil shale, we're looking at around 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas that's all off-limits right now. We also have 24 percent of the world's coal reserves. We have that technology, and some of that was invented in my own district, to have clean coal technology. Because we don't have these surprises that we wake up to like we did today that the OPEC countries have decided to cut back on production by about 520,000 barrels of oil over the next 40 days. Immediately the price of crude went up. Immediately we saw that, after watching the price go up and up and up to about $147 a barrel, it was back under $100 a barrel just briefly. And it's time that this country take control of its

own destiny when it comes to energy, and that's why we need the all-of- the-above strategy. That's nuclear, that's clean coal technology, that's making sure that we use hydroelectric, that we are producing, that we are making sure that we have oil and natural gas because we are going to need that oil, we're going to need that natural gas for the next 20 to 25 years.

We also have to look at the alternatives because when we went to ANWR, we stopped in Colorado and saw what they were doing out there in the National Renewable Laboratory dealing with solar, wind, hydrogen, ethanol, and biodiesel, and that's interesting to me because it's all happening in my district, the Fifth Congressional District of Ohio.

Mr. Speaker, it's time for us to act.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the time.

As we gather here this evening, we have heard a lot of speeches and discussion about one of the number one questions we have in this country, and that's our energy policy. We all went home and a lot of us didn't want to go home on August 1, and we stayed down here to get an energy policy in this country, but as we did go home, we faced a lot of questions from our constituents.

I, for one, represent the National Manufacturing Association, one of the largest manufacturing districts, with manufacturing jobs in the Congress, and the number one agriculture district in Ohio. We have got a lot of needs in our district concerning energy. And that energy isn't just talking about oil to put in our cars, but it also depends on what we have in our factories.

This evening, we have a number of Members who I would like to bring to the podium to talk a little bit about what's happening, not only in their States but across this country. The first Member I'd like to introduce this evening is our distinguished Member from Texas, our ranking member on Energy and Commerce, Mr. Barton.

Good evening, and thanks very much.

I appreciate the distinguished gentleman from Texas and all of his hard work through all of these years on this energy debate because, as he mentioned, this country's future is at stake. Our standing in the world is at stake. It's not time to wait to get something done down the road. We have to do it right now.

At this time, I would like to recognize my good friend from Georgia (Mr. Broun). I appreciate all of his work that he has done over the last year on trying to get an energy policy in this country. I appreciate it.

The mike is yours. Thank you.

I appreciate your willingness to be with us tonight, your hard work, your dedication to be back here during the August break and make sure we get that word out to the American people that we had to be here, not on break, but be here on this floor and make sure that we get an energy plan, especially all-of-the-above. We are talking about everything from nuclear to clean coal technology to hydroelectric to drilling for oil and natural gas and all the alternatives.

At this time, I'd like to recognize the gentleman from Indiana for I believe he said a few minutes. I appreciate your time.

I appreciate the gentleman's words from Indiana. When you were talking about what your brother had contacted you on in regards to the sales tax issue in Indiana, I know it strikes close to home because it wasn't too long ago that we were looking at our charge card statement for the month and I said to my wife, What did we buy this month? I started looking down the list. It was gasoline, gasoline, gasoline, and mostly my fault because I am out in my district, it's a larger district, and when you're filling up 3 or 4 times a week, you put in a lot of gasoline. It's really cutting into our Americans' pocketbook.

At this time I'd like to recognize the distinguished jurist and the distinguished gentleman from Texas. I know that you have had a lot of discussions with your constituents, especially I know the one that you told us about the long hauler from Texas that took that load to California. I know I have given that example to many people across my district over the last couple of months after I heard it from you.

At this time, I'd like to yield to the gentleman from Texas.

I appreciate the gentleman's words from Texas.

At this time I would like to introduce the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx), who has been a leader on this energy issue here on the House, in her 1 minutes and 5 minutes and her many, many speeches and special orders. I yield to her at this time.

I appreciate the gentlewoman from North Carolina's words. I appreciate her work. I also would like to thank the Speaker for this evening's Special Order.

Madam Speaker, I submit the following:

Requesting Member: Congressman Robert E. Latta.

Bill Number: HR. 6599: Military Construction and Veterans' Affairs Appropriations Act.

Account: Department of Defense; Army National Guard.

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Ohio National Guard.

Address of Requesting Entity: 2825 West Dublin Granville Road, Columbus, Ohio 43235.

Description of Request: Provide $2 million in P-341 (unspecified minor military construction) funds pursuant to Title 10 US Code 2805, to construct a new 80-bed barracks at the Ohio National Guard's Camp Perry Training Site, Port Clinton, OH. The request will increase the readiness of our servicemen and women in the Ohio National Guard and help them better prepare for the challenges they face both at home and abroad.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to represent the ninth largest manufacturing district of the United States Congress. Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of visiting two manufacturing facilities in my district.

During the visits, the management of each facility told me that the number one issue facing them is the rising cost of energy and petroleum products.

Natural gas is a much-needed resource in the manufacturing industry to fuel production, in addition to the thousands of petroleum-based products that are used to fabricate various goods.

Without comprehensive energy reform, the price of oil and natural gas will continue to rise here in the United States, forcing costs to rise, and leaving us at a competitive disadvantage with the rest of the world. Foreign manufacturers located in countries such as India and China are allowing for exploration and recovery of their domestic natural resources that keep their energy prices low.

The bottom line is that energy equals manufacturing which equals jobs. And without comprehensive energy reform, our Nation will continue to lose business to these countries and our economy will continue to suffer. The time to act is now.

Madam Speaker, it was a privilege to travel with Leader Boehner and my fellow Republican colleagues on the American Energy Tour to Colorado and Alaska.

Our mission encompassed the ``all of the above'' energy policy our constituents have demanded. We've expanded our knowledge of renewable and alternative energy in addition to getting the hard facts on domestic exploration and recovery of our natural resources.

After hosting multiple town hall meetings and speaking with constituents throughout my district, it is clear that they, along with the majority of the American public, support the House Republicans' ``all of the above'' plan.

This plan calls for nuclear, clean coal technology and a responsible effort to safely explore and recover our domestic natural resources while expanding wind, solar, hydrogen, ethanol and biofuels. This plan is similar to the resolution I introduced on May 15, House Resolution 1206, which is a five-point comprehensive energy reform plan.

We must enact comprehensive energy reform. And until Congress does, our constituents and the economy will continue to suffer.

Mr. Speaker, the American people are demanding action. And that action is about what they know more about than this Congress does. The American people want us to act, because they're hurting at home, at the pump and at work.

My district is the Fifth Congressional District in Ohio. I have, according to the National Manufacturers' Association, a district that is number nine in manufacturing jobs across the entire Congress. And I represent the number one agricultural district in the State of Ohio. My district also has a great distinction in that we have I-75 and the Ohio Turnpike intersecting in northern Wood County. And with that intersection, we have been told that we are within about 60 percent of the United States population in a good hard day's drive. So we rely a lot on transportation. We rely a lot when it comes to having to have energy. And without that energy, we're not going to be working. And without that energy, people are going to be saying that we're paying so much for gasoline. We have to pay so much for home heating oil this winter, more for natural gas, more for when it comes to having to pay for groceries. And not because it's the farmers' fault, because those farmers are out in those fields right now having to pay more for diesel. And the chemicals they put on their yard are petroleum based. The fertilizers are.

So what we have to do is we have to get an energy policy. And we have to get it now. Our national security depends on having a strong economy. And not only do we need a strong economy, but we want to make sure that the folks back home are saving some dollars for their future to be able to make sure that their kids get a good college education that they can help them with. I have in my district a Whirlpool plant in Clyde, Ohio, which is the number one washing machine factory in the world where they produce over 5 million washing machines a year. Twenty percent of those washing machines are exported. That helps balance our trade. We have to make sure we're doing that.

And right now, a lot of people are talking about what's happening with all the energy. Well, the United States consumes between 21 to 24 percent of all the energy in the world. And with that, we were king of the hill for a long time. But the rest of the world is catching up. And they're catching up fast. Look at this chart. Look at 2010. Right now the United States is ahead of the combination of India and China.

In 2015, those countries are passing us. And when you look at the chart, in 2020, China alone is going to be consuming more energy than the United States. And when you look at the populations of those two countries and you look at the United States having about 300 million people and those countries having 1.3 and 1.1 billion individuals, respectively, they are going to be consuming more. They want to consume more because they're getting more of a middle class there. And that middle class is demanding more when it comes to the better things in life. And a lot of the folks, you will notice, in China are buying more and more automobiles. And with those automobiles, what are they doing? They're consuming energy, especially on the petroleum-based site.

So we have to have a policy. The American people are demanding it right now. It has to happen. And it can't happen in this country if this country is importing 65 to 70 percent of its oil. Because with that, our balance of trade is out of whack. And how out of whack is it? If we just talk about our debt in this country being over $9 trillion, and with that, who is buying our paper? Well, we're having to rely more and more and more on foreign governments. In fact, $2.6 trillion is owned by foreign countries. And who is one of the largest holders of our paper? Well, it's China with over $500 billion. And it keeps going up every month.

And that is not any way to have an oil policy, an energy policy or a fiscal policy, when we're having to rely on the rest of the world to take care of us. The United States has to take care of itself. And that is what we have to do. In fact, you know, we have to have a very balanced all-of-the-above type of a policy in this country because we have to have nuclear.

We have to use clean coal technology. The United States has over 24 percent of all the coal reserves in the world, 24 percent. It is estimated that in the world there is about 164 a year supply of coal. But the United States can get that going right now. But we're not doing it. When you look at what has happened over in China, they're investing in clean coal technology right now. India is the third largest consumer of coal. But in this country, because of this Democratic Congress, we're not using nuclear. We haven't sited a new plant since 1977. And we're not looking at clean coal technology. We've got to be doing it.

But along with that, we need to have the alternatives, the supplementals. And what those are, of course, are wind, solar, ethanol, biodiesel and hydrogen. Those are the things we have to look at in the future. And not too long ago, just this past weekend, Leader John Boehner invited ten of the freshmen, I being one, to be able to go with him to Colorado to see the renewable energy lab. And then from there we went up to ANWR in Alaska. It was important that we were there, because it really demonstrated something.

The United States is working on trying to get away from fossil fuels and also other areas so that we can improve our balance in trade and also make sure that we don't have to be relying on oil all the time. I was fascinated because of all the things that we had out there. We were talking about wind, and we were talking about ethanol, hydrogen and solar. They are all occurring in my district, the Fifth Congressional District of Ohio.

We already have a plant that is manufacturing solar panels. Most of the solar panels right now are being exported to Germany. But we have another plant that is going to be opening up. And they're going to be manufacturing solar panels. And one of the things we noticed, if you go back 20, 25 years ago, a lot of people didn't like the idea of solar panels because the problem with them is you either had to put them on the side of your house or on top of your house. And a lot of people didn't think that looked good. But when you saw the technology that they are coming up with right now in a private partnership with government and also private firms out there working together, one of the things you saw are the solar panels are now being integrated into the roof itself. They are being integrated into the shingles. So you have to look very, very hard to see that you actually have solar power on your roof.

Also, when we were looking at some of the hydrogen and the plug-in cars, it's very, very interesting because we hear a lot of talk about what are we going to do about our fossil-fuel burning cars in this country? And they had two different cars out there that day. They had a plug-in, and they also had a hydrogen.

Well, we've got a lot of development. And that is what this is. This is all research out there. Are we there yet to be able to mass produce these? I don't think so. Because in one case, with the hydrogen car that was sitting there, there was a small Mercedes. And I said, well, how much would this vehicle cost as it sits here today? And they said about $1 million. So we're a long way from getting that to where we need to have it.

But the thing is, we've got to look at those alternatives for the future. Because oil in this country is going to be king for the next 20 to 30 years. So we have to be prepared for the future. But we also have to meet our needs so we don't fall behind the rest of the world. Because there is no there is no time to fall behind.

They had a plug-in car that you plug in from your electrical outlets. And you get that thing charged up. But the problem with that vehicle is you can only go about 60 miles before you have to recharge. But there was an interesting point. We talk about electric cars. And what people don't want to talk about sometimes is this. Once you have that vehicle and you have to plug it in, don't forget, you have got to have the power some place to be able to get that car generated again. So we have to make sure, in that case, that you have the nuclear and you have to have the coal out there to have what they call the base load capacity so we can make sure that can occur. A lot of people are going to be investing in some of these vehicles until you get more mileage. You not only have to get to work and back but you have to plug your car back in.

So those were things that I was impressed with that they're working on. But the really interesting thing is the hydrogen. The issue with the hydrogen vehicle is where are you going to get the hydrogen to fuel this vehicle? Well, they're thinking about taking a wind turbine and, of course, usually with wind turbines you're putting it into the grid with the electricity. But if you can divert that and put it into a system where you can convert it to hydrogen. Then they are even thinking about taking that idea, what do you do with the hydrogen? How about having a hydrogen fueling station that you can fill up these hydrogen cars with? That is a really, really unique thing out there that they have. But I think it's very, very important that we remember that we're going to have to be doing these things.

I have an ethanol plant in my district about 35 or 40 miles from my home. They're producing about 60 million gallons of ethanol a year there. But it's mainly corn based. What they're looking at out there is what else can we use? They're thinking about using switchgrass. They are looking at using not the product of the corn itself, but the stalks for different types of cellulosic type of material that they can put in there. So by doing that, they're looking at different ways that they can produce ethanol. And they're looking at, well, how can we get these across the country? Maybe if we can have 20 to 30 million gallons of these types of facilities around, and you have to have about 400 to help fuel a lot of the cars out there that are E-85. So things are happening out there that I think are very, very exciting. But we have to make sure that we're doing everything at the same time to make sure we have the power to get to the next level.

The interesting part of this trip was going up into ANWR in Alaska. And a lot of people say, ``well, what is ANWR?'' It's the Arctic Refuge up there in the northeast part of the country in the far part of the State. It is huge. You're talking about an area the size of South Carolina, 19 million acres. Of that, 17.5 acres are always going to be permanently set aside.

So you are only talking about 1.5 million acres that Congress 28 years ago said that is the area that you will only be able to explore and drill for oil in. But when we are talking about that 1.5 million acres, that acreage, they are

only talking about looking at 2,000 acres. What is 2,000 acres? It is a little over 3 square miles. Of an area the size of South Carolina, 3 square miles. They believe there is 10.3 billion barrels of oil there that is capable of being taken out.

At this stage I would like to ask my colleague, the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Mrs. Bachmann) to make some comments about ANWR and probably about Colorado.

I think it is important to point out what has happened with wildlife in that area over the time that that pipeline was constructed and the drilling began.

One of the caribou herds that we were told about actually has gone up six to sevenfold in numbers. It was also interesting the day when we got there, at Mile Marker Zero of the pipeline, that was the first place we saw wildlife on the whole trip. We had three caribou about 45 yards away walking toward us toward the pipeline.

I think when we were up in the air surveying the area, not only of Prudhoe Bay but going over to the NPR-A area and then over to ANWR, the most wildlife we saw were in the area where the pipeline was, and the one large caribou herd.

I think all of us want to make sure that we have environmentally sound drilling and exploration. People have to know when we are up there and those companies are out there looking for oil and getting ready, they are only out there on that tundra during the time it is frozen. There are no roads. There are no roads. There is one solitary road heading north, but nothing else. Once you are up there and out there exploring, they have to do it quickly. They have to find it, and then come back the next year because they have to wait year after year to get in and out.

But the oil is right there. The pipeline is less than 75 miles away from that 10.3 billion barrels of oil. They have also been able, the way they drill, as you mentioned being environmentally friendly, the whole idea of having the smallest footprint that you would have to have to drill, when you are looking at that footprint, we are talking about how large of an area is it that you used to have until today, and having to have your drill set up.

I happen to have some of the statistics here. In 1970, the drill site had to be 20 acres to be able to cover 502 acres. From 1999 to the present, they only need 6 acres to cover an area of 32,000 acres. That is pretty exciting. One site that they are looking at, it is going to cost $1.5 billion to get that going. And what that $1.5 billion is going to be able to do is they are going to be able to laterally drill down and go out 8 miles without having to set foot anywhere to get to that oil.

I believe the pipeline they said was stopped for at least 2 years during the construction of the pipeline. So all of these things take time. That is one of the big things, and there are some urban legends out there about how long some of these things can take.

Some people say it takes 10 years. Well, if we all remember, it was in 1995 that President Clinton vetoed the legislation on this drilling. If we hadn't had that happen, we would have oil coming down that pipeline from ANWR today. And then we would be able to say to the rest of the world, look what is happening. And one of the things when we talk about oil and prices around the world, President Bush just this past week, I believe it was, said you know what, I am going to lift the ban on the executive side, but Congress also has to act.

Because the world says hey, wait, is the United States getting serious about this, are they getting serious about really wanting to produce their own oil, getting away from that 65, 70 percent that they are importing right now and say, you know what, maybe the United States is going to get serious, maybe they are going to start looking at that Outer Continental Shelf. Maybe they are going to start looking at more with drilling in Alaska. It's important to note that we met with the Governor of Alaska.

It's important to know that she wants to keep her State pristine and beautiful for the future generations of Alaskans. My wife's one sister does live in Alaska, and you want to make sure you keep that State gorgeous. But the Governor of Alaska said we have got to drill, we must drill. Not only does she believe it, but 80 percent of the Alaskans believe it.

Remember we got off at Endicott at the drilling station there. Do you remember what we were told immediately, what was the warning?

You are absolutely correct. We have got to act now. On the environmental side, I have hunted my entire life. I have been outdoors my entire life. One of the things, when I was in the Ohio legislature, I carried a lot of the bills from the Division of Wildlife. I helped create the bald eagle license plate. I believe in making sure that we preserve our natural heritage. We want to make sure in Ohio that the eagle is on a comeback, from only having four nests in 1979 to having about 185 nests this year.

I am a firm believer of making sure. Not only did we hear about the polar bear when we got there, but when we were leaving, they said oh, we have got another report, we have got a brown bear out in the compound.

Yes, the bears were out. I think it's also important that people keep remembering there is a lot of misinformation, there is a lot of misinformation that comes with photographs.

You know, because just if you look at this, you talk about 1002 here on the far end of the chart here of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. That's that 1.5 million acres. We are only talking about 3 square miles way to the west, and that's all it is.

The other thing is, you know, I see photographs sometimes showing the refuge with trees, and the mountains having different types of trees on it.

That might be on the south slope of the Brooks Range. But I tell you when we flew along that Brooks Range, and I took photographs, all I saw were granite mountains.

You are absolutely correct. You know, it's mind boggling.

As the gentlelady from Minnesota said, you know, there is so much that can occur up there. But you know the one thing that's being left out of the debate sometimes is well we are hearing you have got the National Petroleum Reserve over here, use it. Well, there is one thing about it, you have to have larger footprints over there. You have to have more exploring, because what we have gotten in ANWR, we know there is that.

We know there is that 10.3 billion, probably more. Because as you know when they first started in the Prudhoe Bay area they thought it would be 9 billion. It could actually, by the time it is all over, be 13 to 15 barrels.

So it could hit that. We can get that out.

What's the Governor of Alaska saying about that natural gas?

I also know in this country we are using over 20 million barrels of oil a day. What would that do to have another million plus be put in that pipeline per day to help the economy down in the lower 40? Look what it would do for the economy in Alaska. They get that check up in Alaska, I know my sister-in-law's family gets that check for every person living in Alaska, what they get for that royalty up there.

But when you look at the map again, as the gentlelady from Minnesota said, we are talking about an area, only about 75 miles, to be able to tap in from area 1002 to that pipeline and get it in, you are going to have to go much farther into that area of the NPRA to get over there and find it. Again, they don't know if that's going to be in smaller pockets, that means they will have to do exploration.

Again, we know where the 10.3 billion barrels are right now. Again, we don't want to disturb that area any more than you have to. They would have to be driving all over that area to do the exploration.

Why do it right now? Why? Because we have got the ANWR area. As you just said, back 28 years ago, Congress set that land aside, that top part of that 1.5 million acres. You know it boggles my mind. We are fighting over 3 square miles of land.

Three square miles in the State of South Carolina, you couldn't even find it if you had to, if you are looking at the size difference. It's incredible that we have that problem going on there.

And across the country where we can't get to right now we have over 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

And when you look at what we need and when people this winter are going to say, look at my energy bills. I have people telling me in my district right now that they are already, that people are not buying and filling up their tank this year already. They are ordering only half a tank because the cost is going to be the same as have gotten it at the full tank price last year. So people are going, how are we going to pay for this?

Well, I guarantee you in northwest Ohio Congresswoman that you have got to turn that furnace on because there are some winters it gets down real cold. It might not be quite as cold as in Minnesota, but I will guarantee we have had some 10 to 20 below days, and it is cold.

What happens for all those companies that have converted their coal over to natural gas?

And think about California. What are those people going to be facing? Every time they are going to be turning on a switch at their house they are going to be finding out they are going to be paying more and more and more because that natural gas is going up and up and up. But when you have, as you said, 420 trillion cubic feet in those areas that we are not allowed to go into now, or as you mention, that 86 billion barrels of oil in areas we can't go in, or as you mention, that oil shale, you know, all these things are out there, and as I mentioned a little bit earlier, we have the world's largest coal supply that we could gasify. You could use it into a liquid. You could run automobiles off of it. But what are we doing? Absolutely nothing. And so I think that you are absolutely right.

You are going show that out that direction because I can remember it quite well.

I certainly can.

It says Democrat energy plan, drive small cars and wait for the wind.

Well, I will tell you what. When I have got people driving 50 miles one way to work. We don't have Metros. We don't have trains. We don't have taxis. They can chauffeur you around most of my district and we have got to have an automobile. So a person in my district now is saying, you know what? If I have got to drive 500 miles back and forth all week long, can I afford to go to work? And then the companies then say, what happens if these people are going to say, well I can't show up to work anymore, and then they don't have that good qualified worker anymore. Then the company says we have got to go someplace else.

And I think it is absolutely correct, Congresswoman, that we have got to remember that we have to have that balanced energy plan. We have to have that base load. We have got to make sure that we have that base load, that we have nuclear, that we have that clean coal that we can run our factories. Because the big problem that people forget sometimes is

the wind is not always blowing all the time. And when the wind is not always blowing all the time, those turbines aren't going to be turning all the time.

In my hometown where we have the only four wind turbines in the State of Ohio, the big problem could be, you know, when the wind stops, there is no power being generated. But you know when people think they drive about and I say, just out of curiosity, they will say oh, it is great that you have the wind turbines. And I think it is great that we have those wind turbines. But the thing that I ask them is how much power do you think that supplies to the City of Bowling Green if that power is going into the city's grid and not into just the general grid? And they say, oh they come up with these really high numbers. I say no; only 3 percent from those four wind turbines. And they are big.

So you have to have a lot. You know, the estimates are out there that you need 600 to 800 for a smaller coal generated plant. You need 1,250 to 1,700 turbines, and that means people are going to have to say, if we are not going to go with the one direction and go with the turbines, we are going to have to be able to site these.

Well, and the other question is, it is just not tourists that are on those airplanes. You have got a lot of people in business travel. And so that is going to hurt the American business community because people have got to get from Point A to Point B for business reasons, and if they can't do it, then what happens?

Well, that might be true. They might be much happier to keep us at home than send us down here.

That might be that problem too. But we have got a situation in this country. But my philosophy is this: You know, sometimes you have got to spell out what the problems are before you can solve them. And by saying, you know, these are the problems we have, this is how we can solve them. I think the American people would say let's do it. And when they get to that point, I think what we can begin to say is we have got to start expanding. We have got to make sure that we are doing everything we possibly can, across the board. You know, we are all for conservation. We are all for renewables.

We are all for making sure that we have that base power that companies out there that use a lot of power, and when they turn those machines on in those factories, that they are going to run, that there won't be brownouts and blackouts. They have got to have that capacity to keep those things running. And some machines, they have got to keep running hours a day, all the time.

And again, the American people all know it. And when we have our tele-town halls, I think the other night when we did ours, we probably had 95 percent of all the calls dealt with one issue, energy. Energy, energy, because people are scared. They are worried about not only about turning on the switches at home, but they have got to pay for it.

I hate to admit it. I can remember when I started driving, gas was around 32 or 35 cents a gallon.

I think that we have got a lot to do in this country. You know, I was very glad when I was able to be on that mission to Colorado and up to ANWR because I think that it really shows us what we can do. We can go out and talk about it. We can talk about making sure that we are using those renewables, that we can go out there and talk about what would have the smallest footprint out there to preserve that beautiful tundra up there. But again, I think the people, don't be a lot of these photographs sometimes. You have got to see the actual photos of what this area looks like. And not that the tundra isn't attractive, but it is not some of the things that it is portrayed to be.

You can't walk across it without sinking through. So my view is that we want to do, as you said, and I said a little earlier, it is all of the above. We want to make sure that we have got a great energy policy, and energy that will get us past the oil. But it is going to take time. And you probably remember, you were standing right there when those discussions were being had, that we are not that close yet to get to those new renewables that are out there. It is going to take time.

But during that time, when 80 percent of all of the goods that are delivered in the State of Ohio are delivered by truck, when you look at everything that we rely on for oil, we have got to have it. But if we put ourselves out of business before then, what good is it going do down the road to get us to the renewables because we have already lost.

Absolutely. That's what we're going to do, and that's why we're going to keep working. We're going to make sure that the American people hear what we believe has to be done. What I'm hearing from my constituents in the Fifth Congressional District of Ohio is why aren't we drilling, and why aren't we exploring. What happened to nuclear? What happened to coal?

So these are the issues out there that folks in my district are concerned about. They've figured it out.

They've figured it out.

But I just want to thank you very much this evening, the gentlewoman from Minnesota, for being here tonight, because I know of your passion on this whole subject.

I think it's important that the American people know that we're out there, that there is a solution to this problem. So I just want to thank you very much for all of your help.

Well, thank you very much.

I thank the gentlelady from Minnesota for this hour and for her leadership on this issue. It is an important issue. It is probably the most important issue facing this Nation today. Our well- being and our economic independence relies upon it. And the other Members that have spoken, the gentlelady from Ohio, the gentleman from Iowa and the gentleman from North Carolina all touched on these major issues that we have to be looking at from ANWR, to drilling, to making sure that we have energy conservation in this country.

So I thank the gentlelady for her time here tonight and for her leadership. The big issue really is this: The people back home understand what the issue is, and Congress doesn't. That is the big issue. We have had many telephone town halls that we have conducted. The people back home, the vast majority of that hour and a half is all dedicated to one thing: What is Congress going to be doing about energy in this country? We have got to be doing something right now.

Why is it important? Because you have to think about a few things. As we have seen in these charts and the graphs tonight, when gasoline is over $4 a gallon, when diesel is over $4.69 a gallon, we are talking energy equals manufacturing equals jobs. It spreads out across the economy. And when you are talking about spreading across the economy, we have people having to pay more and more and more for the energy to put in their vehicles, energy to put in their trucks and tractors and to heat their homes this winter.

We are in trouble because we have been told over and over that Americans aren't saving enough. We're not saving enough. Well, if we are going to put more and watch more of our dollars go overseas, and a lot of people are starting to see the commercials, that T. Boone Pickens is running right now showing how many dollars are flowing out, over 65 percent or 70 percent of every gallon of oil that comes into this country is imported that we are using, 65 percent. That is really a tough thing for us to be doing.

So we have to make sure that the future holds that America can take care of itself. Because we want to make sure that our kids can have a good college education, that people can buy a home, that people can make sure they can save for their future, for their retirement.

But if all we're going to be doing is putting more and more dollars into an envelope and shipping it overseas, that is not the future for America. It has already been stated, we have to produce and we have to conserve in this country. But we can't wait. And it has been talked about earlier, when President Clinton vetoed the bill back in 1995, we would have 1 million extra barrels of oil flowing down here every day, 1 million barrels. But we don't.

And it's also the naysayers saying that, well, it might take time. Well, we don't know how much time we're talking about. We can always say it can take 10 or 15 or 20 years. But it can take a lot less. But that is the spirit of America. If we put our minds to it, we are going to get it done. We're in a crisis. And in a crisis, that is where America shines. So we want to make sure that we start working on this.

The other thing that was mentioned by the gentlelady from Ohio, my colleague, is that when you're talking about all these groups out there, organizations, local government and schools that are being hit hard, one of the things she didn't mention is the volunteer firemen out there. We have a lot of volunteer fire departments across my entire district. We don't have a lot of departments that are there 24 hours a day. And a lot of these volunteers out there are now saying we don't know if we will have enough fuel to get to these fires. Because there is just not enough money. The price keeps going up. They are running at a cash crunch.

We talk about public safety out there that we have to worry about. And we're talking about those volunteer firemen out there that have to make sure that they get that fire truck to that fire in time.

The other thing happening in my district right now is across the entire country. It is wheat harvest time. And so the farmers are out there bringing in that wheat. But again, they're paying a lot of money to do it. And not only once they get the wheat harvested with the combine and with the diesel fuel, but then they have to put it in trucks to haul that wheat to the elevators or wherever it is going to be stored. So again, there is costs involved over and over. It's driving up the price for all of America. We've got to be doing something now. We can't wait.

And again, the folks back home get it. Congress isn't getting it. The Democratic-controlled Congress here has got to realize that the American people are saying we have got to conserve and we have got to drill. We have to make sure that we use the assets we have in this country to do it. And as my district points out, according to the National Manufacturers, we have about the ninth largest number of manufacturing jobs across the entire country. I have the number one agricultural district in the State of Ohio. I have transportation in my district. At one point you can almost be within 60 percent of the United States population in one day's hard drive.

So we have all these things going on. But we're not going to be producing food. We're not going to stay food-independent in this country if we don't do something about this right now. So the time to act is now, not later. When the President just the other day said that he was going to lift the ban on his end on offshore drilling, it is time for Congress to do the same. And I demand that we start working on that to make sure we get that done right now. Because you know what happened right off the bat, the world market said, do you know what? The Americans are serious. The Americans are saying we're going to go out there and drill. That price of oil is starting to go down. It's down about $9 from where it was. But that is because the world is thinking, hey, America might be getting serious about this.

We have all these energy resources out there. As has been pointed out, 10.3 billion barrels in ANWR. And again we're only talking about as the gentleman from Iowa stated, you are talking about a 2,000-acre out of a 19.5-million acre area, a very small footprint that would be confined. It would be an area that we can make sure we get that oil drilled. And we have to do it. We have to get that oil up. We have to get it moving.

The Outer Continental Shelf, we are talking about 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. We are talking about 86 billion barrels of oil. What are we doing? Absolutely nothing. It's time to start acting and start acting now, because if we don't, it will be, well, if another year goes by, we can't do it because it will take that much more time. The time to act is absolutely right now. And we have to get it done.

America has so many resources at its disposal. But we're not using them. We've talked about oil. We've talked about natural gas. The other thing up here that has also been talked about a little earlier is oil shale. We are talking about 2.1 trillion barrels of oil in oil shale out West. And what are we doing? Nothing. Congress has to start lifting the restrictions so that America will be energy independent and get it done right now. Because if we don't do it, we can't be held hostage by dictators around the world and also by Middle Eastern oil. It's time to act right now.

And as we also talk about some other things that we have in this country that we want to make sure that we keep using, we have over 24 percent or 25 percent of the world's coal. And what are we doing in this country? Well, we don't like coal. Well, we have an abundance of coal. We can gasify it. We can liquefy it. And we can make

sure it is done in a clean manner and start utilizing it. In Ohio we have what we call ``high sulfur'' coal. It is too expensive to use. Well, not only if we can use it in a clean system what we can do out there with that coal is in a clean system we can put more people to work that want to go out there and mine that coal. We have other people that can transport that coal. So we want to make sure that we have that coal out there for Americans to be using and using it today.

Another area is of course that we have talked a little bit about earlier, we talked about the alternatives, the supplementals. In my district alone, we can talk about several things. Out my back door we have the only four wind turbines in the State of Ohio. We can also use those wind turbines across the country. We can start utilizing them. But we also have other things in my district. We have solar power production. We have folks out there producing and working on getting a hydrogen engine. We have people out there working with ethanol, biodiesel.

So America has all these resources. We are a great country. We can get it done. And I just want to thank the gentlelady from Minnesota again for her leadership on this and for putting this hour on tonight. We have got to get this out to the American people. But it is one of those issues that the people back home are far ahead of us here in Congress. And it's time that the people here in Washington start listening to what the people back home say.

Mr. Speaker, President Bush's action yesterday to lift the ban on Outer Continental Shelf drilling is an important step towards a comprehensive energy plan that the American public is demanding from Congress.

Many other countries, including China, Brazil and India allow similar exploration off their coastlines. With an estimated 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas off our own coastline, it is only logical that the United States allow similar action.

But as we know, there is no one single fix for our energy crisis. Congress must act and enact a comprehensive energy reform plan that encompasses alternative and renewable energy, in addition to the recovery and refinement of our own domestic resources, all while expanding our conservation efforts.

Our constituents have made it clear that this is the type of comprehensive energy reform they want, and we must give it to them.

Madam Speaker, I have the honor of representing the number one agricultural district in Ohio. During the recess, I visited three family farms to find out what issues are on farmers' minds. After speaking with these farmers, they unanimously agreed that the rising cost of energy is

the number one issue facing American agriculture.

Diesel and fertilizer are just two of the petroleum-based products a farmer uses each day. And as the costs of these products rise, their livelihoods continue to be jeopardized.

One beef farmer told me as of right now, he is preparing to lose money on his cattle when they go to slaughter later this year because of the rising cost of oil. He added that he wasn't even sure he would even have a herd next year. All of the farmers agreed that two ways to lower energy prices and reduce our dependence on Middle East oil would be to drill in ANWR and also off the Outer Continental Shelf.

Unless something is done soon, more and more farmers will be forced to make the hard choice of whether or not to continue their livelihood of feeding Americans and the rest of the world.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the opportunity on this special order this evening to talk about a very, very important issue that's facing this country, if not the most important issue, and that is energy.

We have several Members this evening that will be addressing the House to talk about the energy policies, or lack thereof, in this country. And the first gentleman that I would like to recognize is the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wittman).

I thank the gentleman for his statement on energy policy in this country.

I'd like to next recognize the gentlelady from Minnesota, Representative Bachmann. Good evening.

Well, I thank the gentlelady for yielding back, and also for her enthusiasm and her knowledge of this subject because this is what we have to do in this country because we've got to get the word out to the American people. But as you said, the American people are actually far ahead of Congress right now and they know what we need to do. So I just want to thank you very much for your eloquence tonight on your statement.

At this time, I would like to yield now to my good friend, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Broun), to speak on energy.

I appreciate your being here this evening. Thank you.

Thank you very much, my good friend from Georgia. I really appreciate your being here tonight. And, again, what you say is absolutely what we have to be doing in this country, and I appreciate it. And, again, as we said a little bit earlier, the American people back home get it, but we are not getting it down here in Congress. So I appreciate your words this evening.

Mr. Speaker, we aren't listening to the folks back home. I got home on Friday night from Washington at about 8 o'clock, and gas down at the local gas station was $4.03. I had to speak at our Buckeye Boys State, which was going on at Bowling Green State University on Saturday morning, and I attended one of my county fairs that day and also went to an event at Bowling Green State University that evening. And the only topic that people are talking about right now is what are we going to do in this country about the high prices of fuel? And, again, they understand there's a problem, but, unfortunately, here in this Congress there is a real question if we actually are getting it.

My district, the Fifth Congressional District, is kind of unique in that we are number nine in manufacturing in the entire United States Congress, ninth out of four hundred thirty-five.

What made this country great was the Industrial Revolution. After the Civil War, we watched what happened as the country took off. We had a situation where we had the resources, we had the people, and we were able to produce a product that the rest of the world wanted. And we did great. But the big thing we have to look at today is that energy equals manufacturing, which equals jobs for Americans, and if

we are not going to be doing that, we're in trouble.

Another great privilege and honor that I have got out there, I am able to go around my district and go to the manufacturing facilities and talk with a lot of the people that are working in these plants. And one of the questions that I always ask them right upfront is how many miles do you drive to work? or how many folks do you have that are driving out of the area? It's not uncommon to hear 30, 40, 50 miles one way for people to come into work. So you multiply that out, and some people driving 500 miles a week. And some people are saying to me, you know what? There's a real problem out there. What happens when gas gets to the price that I'm not going to be able to afford to drive to work and it's not going to be sound for me to do that? We have got a real problem. We have got a real problem. Because the Fifth Congressional District is 140 miles east to west. It's not as large as going to Montana or Wyoming or some other spots in Iowa or some of the other States. But when you're driving that many miles to work, people are going to start asking, is it worth it for me to actually get to work?

At the same time, we have a lot of different manufacturing facilities in Northwest Ohio. We also have certain very unique ones. We have a float glass plant in my district. Five years ago their costs were around $10 million; today they are $30 million. There are 40 of these facilities being constructed in China today. Their labor force is cheaper. So when we are competing with cheaper labor compared to our more highly skilled labor, but at the same price of fuel, let's just say, they are going to win because their prices are cheaper. We can't have that happen.

The other thing we have in Northwest Ohio, I come from the largest farming area in Ohio, and when you're looking at the farmers today, they have been planting corn and soybeans, and they are getting ready in the near future to be out there and are going to be harvesting that wheat. But it costs money. It costs a lot in diesel. It costs in chemicals. It costs in fertilizer. And this is all from the same thing, and all of it is coming from petroleum. So when people say they are getting X number of dollars for a bushel of wheat or beans or corn, you've got to look at what that production cost is. And it's rising. And not only is it rising for the farmers and the manufacturers, but also for that man and woman going into that grocery store every week to try to make sure they have food on the table for their family. The costs are going up.

In Ohio 80 percent of all the goods that are delivered are delivered by truck. We don't have a rail system. We don't have a metro system. We don't have a bus system. People in my area, if you're going to get someplace, you can't walk. You can't ride a bicycle. You've got to get in that automobile and get to work or get to that store. So we have to make sure that folks have that ability to be able to purchase things because if we have too high prices for gasoline, home fuel oil, natural gas, electric costs, rising food bills, that's going to prevent consumers out there from having more disposable income. And when they don't have disposable income out there, what's going to happen? Well, they are going to quit buying, and pretty soon this economy is going to be in shambles. So we have got to do something right now. And, again, the American people understand it, but we have got to understand it here in Congress.

A couple weeks ago when we were having another Special Order, a Member from Texas brought up an example of a person from his district. A trucker from Texas had a load to take to California. It cost $1,500 in fuel costs to get that to California. That trip cost $1,500, and he got $1,700 for the entire trip. By the time you take out all the expenses, the taxes, the depreciation on the truck, he lost money. So we have got a real problem in this country, and that problem is coming up on us right now.

The United States uses about 21 percent of the world's energy as we speak tonight, but the rest of the world is catching up. We were years ago able to make some dumb mistakes in this country because we were always able to correct them quickly because everybody was behind us. After World War II, most of the world all lay in shambles but the United States. But as time went by, these other countries have been catching up, and I think this chart explains it really quickly.

When you look at the energy consumption in this country and where the other countries are, and I'm talking about India and China, you will see that right now we are leading. But in 2015 China and India are going to be at parity with the United States. In 2020 China is going to surpass the United States in energy usage. What does energy usage mean again? Energy usage means jobs. It means manufacturing. And if they get ahead of us, it's going to be very, very tough to catch up. Once again, we have got to do what we have to do for the American people, and that is to make sure that we have the energy to make sure that we have the jobs for the future.

As my colleagues discussed a little bit earlier some of the issues, nuclear, let's just talk about nuclear for a few minutes. France, about 75 percent of all their energy comes from nuclear power. Not only do they have that nuclear power, but they also have that nuclear power they can export to the rest of Europe. So they're producing it and they're shipping it over.

Japan has 55 nuclear reactors with 2 under construction. Russia, 31 reactors in operation and 37 to 42 currently or will be under construction and operational by 2020. India is building 30 new plants in 25 years. They're smaller, about 200 megawatts, but they are building. China, they are building 40 gigawatt nuclear power stations in the next 25 to 30 years. That's 40 in the next 25 to 30 years.

What about coal? As my colleague from Minnesota brought up about all the coal that we have in this country, what is China doing? Well, right now in China, about 80 percent of their power is electrically generated and 18 percent is hydro, and they are getting into nuclear. China is investing in $24 billion in clean coal technology.

India, the third largest coal producer and consumer in the world. India is right there at number three. India and China account for 45 percent of coal use.

Hydro, China is constructing the Three Gorges hydro plant, which is going to produce about 18.2 gigawatts, and the Yellow River hydro plan will produce 15.8 gigawatts.

Oil, as my colleague from Georgia has mentioned, drilling offshore, the Chinese, as he just mentioned and as my colleague from Minnesota mentioned, China is negotiating for oil leases off Cuba 50 miles from the U.S. Canada is negotiating. Venezuela is negotiating. Those are in waters that would be considered areas that the United States should be drilling in, and we are not.

The alternatives/supplementals, China is mandating by 2020 15 percent of energy from wind, biomass, solar, and small hydro plants.

Things are happening across the world, but the real question is what is happening in this country? What is happening in this country? And I am afraid to report tonight not much at all.

As we have talked about, what's been going with nuclear in this country? The last plant to be licensed in this country was in 1977. The last plant to go online was in 1996. When you're looking at these things, we are getting farther and farther behind. There is a lot of different things we can be talking about with alternatives or maybe you want to call them supplementals, types of powers, but I think people have got to know what we're talking about. When we're looking at what one 1,000 megawatt reactor would need, you would have to erect between 1,250 to 1,700 wind turbines to get there. I think wind is great, but I think you have to remember we have to have a base load out there to make sure that we can run our plants.

As the gentlewoman from Minnesota mentioned, the United States has 24 to 25 percent of the world's coal. Well, what are we doing about it? In Ohio we have higher sulfur in our coal, and the problem with that is it costs more to scrub it. But we have the technology. We have an individual from Northwest Ohio that has helped bring about and invent a clean coal technology that we can consume this coal without emitting it. We have hundreds of years of reserves on our coal.

As has been mentioned, the oil shale in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, over 6

trillion barrels of oil equivalence out there, and what are we doing about it? Absolutely nothing.

Congress is standing in the way. Oil and natural gas. When we reimport 65 percent of our oil in this country, that is a problem. That is a problem. We need to start doing something. Our friend from Virginia, Mr. Wittman, said a little earlier that what they did with Apollo 13, they had to come up with a solution, and come up with it now. We have got to do that in this country.

John Kennedy, when he was in office, had said that we were going to put a man on the Moon by the end of the 1960s. We did it with Neil Armstrong in 1969. But we have got to have a purpose and make sure we get that done.

We are talking about places where we are restricting ourselves. The only country in the world to fight with both hands tied behind its back is this country. ANWR, we have approximately 10.3 billion barrels of oil. As has been mentioned, we are talking about an area of over 19 million acres, and only talking about drilling and exploring in 2,000 of those acres. When you are looking at 10.3 billion recoverable barrels of oil up there, we have got to get up there. As mentioned a little bit earlier, President Clinton, in 1995, vetoed that legislation, or we would be getting that oil right.

Also, as has been mentioned, we have 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas offshore. We have 86 billion barrels of oil. Of that, the Federal Government denies access to 92 percent for oil drilling and 90 percent of that area for natural gas. As has been mentioned, even if we got that oil to this country, we haven't done anything for over 2\1/2\ decades on refinery.

A bill has been introduced here to say if people have that NIMBY, that ``don't put it in my backyard,'' how about using an abandoned military base to put these facilities in, these refineries.

The scary thing we have got going out there is this, is that as we watch more and more American dollars being spent on all of this fuel and all these other dollars going overseas, and of course we have a $9 trillion debt right now, the scary thing that we have got going out there is who's buying our debt. Right now, we have about a $9 trillion national debt. About $2.6 trillion of that is owned by foreign countries. Japan owns, as of the April statement, about $592.2 billion, and the Chinese have about a half a trillion dollars of that debt.

We have got to act now. We can't wait. We can't make mistakes. We have to explore, drill, we have got to conserve. We have got to do everything that has been mentioned here tonight. We have got to look at those alternatives of supplementals because, again, you talk to a lot of folks out there and the question as to alternatives, well, maybe don't have enough base load out there.

So we have to make sure that we get those wind turbines up. Again, people object to those. In my district, out my back door I can see the only four wind turbines in the State of Ohio. We have solar, with two companies, one in production right now in my district, another going to be going online here in the near future, producing solar panels. I have another company in my district working on hydrogen. There's ethanol, there's biodiesel, but everything put together, we have got to go out there and do it all right, and do it all right, and we've got to do it now.

So, Mr. Speaker, I think that the time is now. The American people are demanding action from this Congress, and we can't make the mistakes of the past because we don't have time to catch up.

I yield to my friend from Georgia.

To the gentlemen, I believe that is absolutely correct. When you're talking about leases, as you said, you're buying and leasing a lot of an area. It doesn't mean they are all profitable, because if every time you put a well down and struck oil, everybody would be doing it.

That is correct.

Thank you. I yield to my good friend from Minnesota.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. We appreciate the opportunity to be here tonight on this Special Order.

Mr. Speaker, as Congress continues its debate on domestic energy policy, we must be aware of what our constituents are saying, both at home and at work.

During this past week, I had the pleasure of touring two manufacturing plants in my district. These plants provide hundreds of good-paying jobs and produce high-quality products for our Nation's economy. During my tours, the management of these companies said that hands down, rising energy costs are their number one concern.

As energy costs rise, production costs rise as well at these plants. As production costs rise, companies all over the United States face competition from foreign manufacturers who have lower labor costs and, in some instances, lower fuel costs. Countries like China and India, who are currently exploring

many forms of domestic energy production, are able to offer lower production costs directly tied to their lower energy costs.

Under the current congressional leadership, Congress will not even consider domestic exploration and recovery of an abundance of energy resources that we have here in the United States. With these energy resources, we can grow our own economy, retain American jobs and prevent them from being taken overseas.

The bottom line is that energy equals manufacturing which equals jobs, and we in Congress must remember that as our energy debate continues.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to introduce House Resolution 1219, celebrating the symbol of the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of Flag Day.

Flag Day is celebrated on June 14, which is the anniversary of the official adoption of the American flag by the Continental Congress in 1777. This was done by the first Flag Act, which stated, ``Resolved, That the flag of the United States be made of 13 stripes, alternating in red and white, that the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.''

Since 1777, our flag's design has been altered three times under executive order, rearranging the design of the stars and stripes each time a State was added.

The first celebration of the American flag was believed to have been introduced by a Wisconsin schoolteacher, who arranged for his students at Stony Hill School to celebrate June 14 as Flag Day in 1885. President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the first nationwide Flag Day in 1916, and in 1947, President Harry Truman signed legislation requesting National Flag Day be observed annually.

Flag Day is an important holiday, as our flag is the official symbol of our great Nation and its ideals. Our flag serves as a beacon of hope, courage and freedom during times of crisis and triumph alike. It honors the men and women of the Armed Forces who have

paid the ultimate sacrifice in defending the United States, and serves as a symbol for those families who have lost loved ones while defending our Nation.

So, Madam Speaker, it is with great honor I ask for unanimous approval of House Resolution 1219 as we celebrate our Nation's flag.

I thank the gentleman for yielding, and he speaks the truth. This country is in a crisis and we are not listening. The folks back home get it. But we are not getting it. It is time we do.

I would like to start off with this. This is kind of sobering. Right now the United States uses 21 percent of the world's energy. If you look across this chart, in 2010 we still have energy supremacy and usage over India and China. When you look at 2015, those two countries together will be consuming more energy than the United States. When we get to 2020, China is going to be consuming more energy than the United States. And just look at the chart as it goes across, the United States is barely moving while China is making leaps and bounds. The question is, what does that all mean. It means this: energy means jobs. Those are American jobs. The folks back home get it. Congress doesn't get it.

I come from the Fifth Congressional District of Ohio which is the ninth largest manufacturing district of the 435 districts in Congress. I also represent the number one agricultural district in the State of Ohio. What does it mean, if we don't have energy, we don't have jobs. Companies out there are looking, we look at this chart, companies are looking at where can they get energy. How are they going to keep their jobs and keep their people employed. Farmers are out there right now in our State planting, and some people say farmers are getting these high prices this year. Let's look at some facts.

When they are buying diesel and buying fertilizer that is also made from oil, when they are buying their chemicals that they are putting on the field made from oil products, they are not making that much money.

What does that mean to the consumer? Very simple, the consumers when they go to the grocery store are finding that prices are going up for milk, bread and cereal. It is all going up.

Looking down the road, when you are paying $4 a gallon for gasoline, you are paying more for food and it is costing you more to get to work. I have talked to a lot of my manufacturers in Ohio in my district, and I asked how far do most people drive to work. It is not unusual to have people say people are driving 50 or 60 miles to get to work. So when we look at people who are driving maybe 100 miles round trip every day, 500 miles a week, and $4 a gallon for gasoline, some folks are saying I'm not sure I can afford this job. We can't have that happen.

As the gentleman from Pennsylvania mentioned about Dow, we have a company in my district, a float glass company, the price of their fuel for natural gas in a 5-year period of time has gone from $10 million to $30 million. What does that mean for America? There are only 37 float glass facilities left in this country. The Chinese are building 40 as we stand here today and bicker, unfortunately, about doing something in this country about oil and our energy usage and needs. They have the energy and they are going to have a cheaper labor supply, I am going to ask you in the future, where are you going to buy a window pane that is made in the United States of America? Or where are you going to buy a windshield that is made in the United States of America? They will not be made in this country at all. And the gentleman from Pennsylvania is absolutely correct, more and more products are being made offshore and those are American jobs. We can't afford that.

What made this country great is very simple. After the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution really kicked into high gear. We had all the natural resources in the country, and we were able to produce for the world, and we produced for the world for years. We had the head start on everybody, of course, after World War II when the rest of the world lay in ruins and the United States' factories were humming. But the rest of the world is catching up, if not surpassing us, and this chart shows it. And we can't afford it.

What is the rest of the world doing? France, 70-80 percent of their power is nuclear. They are exporting power to the rest of Europe.

Japan, 55 nuclear reactors, two under construction.

China, they are building 40 nuclear power stations in the next 25 to 30 years.

India, 30 plants in the next 25 years.

Coal. That was talked about earlier. China and India use 45 percent of the world's coal. China is building coal-powered plants as we speak and putting them online right now. They are investing $24 billion in clean coal technology.

The gentleman mentioned they are also out there building the Three Gorges hydroelectric plant. Again, it is a communist country and they are not worried about displacing millions of people, but they are going to have that power station producing electricity to make sure that they are producing.

It has been mentioned how China is drilling onshore and offshore and right off our shore. But the real question is what is the United States doing on all of this? And this scares people, absolutely nothing. Absolutely nothing.

The last nuclear power plant to be licensed in this country was in 1977; 1977. The last one to go online was in 1996; 1996. We have 24 percent of the coal in the world; 24 percent. But what are we doing, nothing. You mention coal in this Chamber, and it is an absolute no. We have to have it.

In Ohio we have what they call high-sulfur coal so it is very, very expensive to burn because you need to have it clean. But if you burn it in a closed system, you don't have those emissions. What does that mean for Ohio, we will put miners to work and we will have companies that make steel to make the coal gasification plants out there, making those parts, and we will have people building those plants. And we will be able to consume that power in this country because when we have 24 percent of the world's coal reserves right now, we can get a lot done. But what are we doing about it, absolutely nothing.

What about oil. Again, when you have China out there doing everything it possibly can to make sure that they have their oil supplies up, they are putting thousands of cars on the road. A lot of people say we don't understand what is going on out there. Well, there is only so much oil out there in the world right now, and only so much of it has been refined. The whole world is now consuming more and other areas are producing more, but not in this country.

One of the things that we should be doing is, as the gentleman from Pennsylvania mentioned, we've got to be drilling. We've got to be exploring. And one of the places we've been talking about a lot is ANWR in Alaska.

As has already been mentioned, how big are we talking here? We're talking one-half of 1 percent of that area. Of 19.6 million acres, total, we're only talking 2,000 acres.

Anybody who has ever done any title work, you know that a section of land is only 640 acres, which is 1 square mile. We're talking a little over 3 square miles. Three square miles. And we're talking about an area of 19.6 million acres, and we're not allowed to go in there and produce?

And there's estimated that we have 10.4 billion barrels of oil that we can extract up there. What's it all about?

That's twice the proven oil reserves in Texas, almost half of the total U.S. proven reserves of 21 billion barrels. What are we doing? What's this Congress doing? Absolutely nothing.

But we are doing something that this past year we almost imported 65 percent of the oil that we need to use in this country; 65 percent of the oil being imported into this country.

We talked about it a little bit earlier. We're watching our dollars flow overseas. What's that all mean to America?

We have a $9 trillion national debt right now. What scares the devil and daylights out of me is this little fact. $2.4 trillion of that national debt is owned by foreign countries. The Chinese almost now own almost one-half of $1 trillion of American debt. That's what's happening.

You know, the American people out there, again, they get it. This Congress doesn't.

Again, as the gentleman mentioned earlier, right now it's estimated there's 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas offshore and 86 billion barrels of oil. 85 percent of that's off-limits, and we

can't afford that. We can't afford that for the future.

Onshore, it's estimated there's, on Federal lands, 31 billion barrels of oil and 231 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. And again, it's restricted down to access, which does not allow Americans to be getting that. 92 percent on Federal lands for oil and 90 percent for natural gas. We can't get to it. What civilized country in the world allows this to happen? Not very many. But right here in this country it's happening. It's happening here, ladies and gentlemen, and we're doing nothing.

The old saying is, ``Rome burned and Nero fiddled.'' That's what's happening.

We haven't built a new refinery in this country, talk about problems, in two-and-a-half decades. I'm fortunate in my district, just by coincidence, that I have a company that produces solar panels. Over 99 percent of their production goes overseas to Europe. We have another plant that's going to be constructed. Solar is another area out there. It's good supplemental power.

We also have the only four wind turbines located in the State of Ohio. I can see them out my back door in Bowling Green. We only have four. There's a lot of objection now because people say they're unsightly; they don't want them; build them someplace else.

But when you talk about wind-powered turbines, to kind of get an idea how many you have to have to equal something, you have to have between 600 to 800 turbines to equal one coal-fired plant, or anywhere from 1,250 to 1,700 wind turbines to equal one nuclear power plant. If we're having problems around Bowling Green in Ohio, getting turbines built, how are we going to build 1,700 turbines if people are objecting to a few?

Because now in Ohio the Division of Wildlife is going to have to start making assessments what birds might be killed, or a bat. And it's going to be blocking them.

We also have an ethanol plant in my district. We're working on biofuels. It's all out there. But we've got to be acting and we've got to be acting now. We can't wait. The American people can't wait because we've got to be getting this done today.

This country, 10, 20 years ago, had the ability to make mistakes and say, well, in a few years, okay, we can get it corrected. We can't do that today. Why can't we do that today? Because the rest of the world has caught on and they're moving. Every day that we do not act they are, and we're falling farther and farther behind.

That's American oil, energy that we have to be producing, and we're not doing it.

I introduced a House resolution not too long ago, 1206, and it's really pretty basic what we need to be doing. Just a few points. We have to expand the use of our renewables and alternative energy sources. We have to increase the U.S. domestic refining capacity. We have to promote, incentivize an increase in the conservation and energy efficiency, expand and promote additional research and development through new and innovative methods, such as public-private partnerships, and enhancing the consumer awareness and education regarding methods to increase energy efficiency and available alternative fuel sources to reduce our dependence on middle eastern oil.

But the time's getting short. The clock's ticking, and America must act now.

I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania, and I yield back.

Mr. Speaker, as another week passes and gas prices continue to hit all-time record highs each day, our constituents want answers from Congress. Because there is no one single fix to stabilize the energy prices, we must have a comprehensive, realistic plan.

Last month I introduced House Resolution 1206 which promotes five important energy policies that I believe will assist Congress as we develop our comprehensive energy plan.

The five points within House Resolution 1206 include promotion and expansion of renewable alternative energy sources, increasing domestic refining capacity, promotion of conservation, increasing energy efficiency, expansion of research and development for domestic exploration, and enhancement of consumer education.

House Resolution 1206 is one piece of our energy puzzle, but an important one as Congress seeks to improve our Nation's comprehensive energy policy.

Well, I appreciate the gentleman from Texas yielding.

I stand here tonight, coming back from Memorial Day break, and people back home, I think, know more about what is going on in this country than we do.

Every place I went--we had meetings across our district--the folks all asked the same thing: When are you going to be doing something about energy in this country? Because we can't afford these prices at the gas pumps. They all said the same thing, what some of them have been saying down here. We have got to start developing our own energy sources in this country. We have got to start acting now.

Why is it important to be acting now?

You know, years back, we had the ability in this country to be able to make some mistakes and to correct them in 5 or 10 years, but we don't have that luxury anymore. That luxury now is gone. What is going on now is that the rest of the world is catching up to us.

I just want to start with this chart, if I may. That is the harsh reality of what we have here. The United States consumes about 21 percent of the world's energy right now with 300 million of the people. When you look at this chart and in looking at 2010, you see that India and China will almost be at a parity with the United States in 2010. In 2015, energy usage in China and in India will exceed that of the United States. By 2020, China alone will be exceeding the energy usage of the United States. When you look at this graph, the United States' usage is very, very slowly going up, but if you look at the energy usage of China, it is skyrocketing straight up.

What does that mean?

People back home understand this, too. ``Energy'' means jobs. ``Jobs'' mean people can make sure that they can have those different benefits that the honorable gentleman from Texas was talking about. You know, if you look at this as energy prices keep going up, what happens? Fuel prices go up. Food prices are going up because you've got to get the food to market. Then you have got to have heating. Then the question is what are those people going to do about going out and about buying those necessary goods and services for their families and also to help keep this economy moving. It's tough, and people back home understand it much better than we do. Congress has got to act, and they want it done now.

The other thing is, as for acting right now, if we stood in the well of this House and they stood over in the Senate and we said that the United States has an energy policy right now for developing its own sources within this country alone, you'd see the world speculation go down on what it costs on the oil markets. We're not doing that and they know it, so they can keep raising that price on us. America can't be tied to Middle Eastern oil for any longer because it is costing us way too much money. We have to be able to control our own destiny in this country.

What are we going to do about this?

Well, to give you an idea of what's happening back home, I come from the ninth largest manufacturing district out of 435, so we depend on energy. In Ohio, 80 percent of the goods and services that are delivered in Ohio are delivered by truck. When you're looking at things being delivered by truck, of course they're using fuel. Their fuel costs are going up, so whatever they are delivering is costing Ohioans more and more dollars, and the same can be said across this great Nation.

The same can be said when you talk about farms. There are farmers out in northwestern Ohio right now. They have been planting corn. They are out there, putting in soybeans. It's the same thing. Diesel prices are up. Fertilizer prices are up. Chemical prices are up. Why? Because they're all petroleum-based. So those costs are, unfortunately, going to have to be passed along to the people back home and across the country.

Before we broke for Memorial Day, at one of our town hall meetings that we had, at the teletown hall, one of the questions that we posed was an informal poll. We said, ``What should we be doing? Should the United States be out, drilling in this country?'' Overwhelmingly, 6 to 1 said that the United States must be drilling at this time so we can meet our own energy needs.

If we don't meet those energy needs, what is going to be happening, especially with those jobs back home?

At one of the float glass facilities in my district, their costs in the last 5 years have gone up from $10 million in energy costs to $30 million in energy costs. Why is this significant? There are only 37 float glass facilities left in the United States while there are, right now, 40 being built in China. So, if they can put cheaper people on these production lines with the price of the fuel, the countries around the world are going to do one thing. They are going to be buying those goods not from the United States but from China, and we are going to watch more and more of our facilities closing because of the costs of high energy in this country, and we can't afford that.

What do we have to do?

Well, I think there are several things we have to do in this country. One, I think we have to go out and develop our nuclear energy that we have at our disposal.

What is the rest of the world doing?

You know, a lot of people always have jokes about the French every so often. I come from the ancestry of the French. 70 to 80 percent of all energy in France is derived from nuclear energy. They are actually exporting energy into Europe from France. Russia currently has 31 reactors in operation. It

is projected that 37 to 42 nuclear reactors that are currently or will be under construction are all scheduled to be in operation by 2020. Japan has 55 nuclear reactors in operation, and two or more are in construction right now.

What is China doing on the nuclear side?

Well, right now, in the next 25 to 30 years, it is pretty much, in looking at China, that they will be building at least 40 new nuclear power stations across that country. Right now, China has 21 nuclear reactors under construction or about to be under construction. They are moving ahead.

What is India doing?

India is the second leading country right now in the development of nuclear energy. India is building small nuclear reactor plants, and in the next 25 years, they will probably have 30 in operation. They are moving ahead.

What is the United States doing?

Well, the last nuclear power plant that was licensed in the United States was the Wolf Creek Nuclear Power Plant in 1977. The last plant to go on line was in Tennessee in 1996. The last new licensed nuclear reactor to go on line was in 1996. We are way behind. Not only are we behind in getting these plants on line, but we are also behind in that there is only one place on Earth where a lot of these parts can be manufactured to get these plants on line, and that is in Japan. So, if the United States isn't out either building its own machinery that we have to have to run these nuclear power plants, we are in trouble because the rest of the world is already in line to get these plants built. So we have got to get moving, and we have got to get moving quickly. That's what the people back home know and what we talk and talk and talk about in Congress.

Coal. The United States has about 24 percent of the world's coal. What are we doing with it? Well, on the majority's side, they don't want to do anything with coal. In Ohio, I can tell you a lot about coal. We, unfortunately, have what you call high-sulfur coal. So, in a lot of places, it is very, very expensive to have to go out and burn that coal because you have to put a lot of scrubbers on.

Now, we have an individual in my district who has developed clean coal technology where you can burn this coal in a closed environment and produce methane. But, again, are we doing that in this country? No, we are not doing it. You know, when you talk to people out there in the scientific world as to how much coal we actually have in this country, some people say we might have 250 to 350 years of coal, and we're not doing anything with it. We have got to do something.

The Chinese today are going to invest around $24 billion in clean coal technology while the United States sits. We have got to be doing something.

Hydroelectric. You know, we all know that the Chinese are building their hydroelectric dam right now to produce more power. We're not doing it either. We're not doing anything.

Drilling. That's where the American people really get it. They really got it when gasoline prices hit $3.50 a gallon, especially in my district. I think that was the breaking point for people in northwest Ohio. They say, ``Why aren't we doing something in this country?'' You know, we see these gas prices rising. I know, when I got home over the Memorial Day break, I should have filled up my gas in the car before I left that week because it was around $3.83 when I left Bowling Green. I got home that following Friday. It was $4.99 a gallon.

People say, ``What are we doing in Congress?'' Again, nothing. As the gentleman from Texas alluded to in talking about ANWR, you're talking about only drilling at around 2,000 acres, which is only one-half of 1 percent of an area. Nothing is being done. You know, it's estimated there are 9 to 16 billion barrels of recoverable oil there, and we're not doing anything.

We're not doing anything offshore. You know, the Chinese, as were alluded to a little earlier, and the other countries around the world are drilling offshore. They're drilling offshore in the United States, but we're not doing anything. It's time to act.

Where I come from in northwest Ohio there was at one time one of the largest oil fields in the United States in the 1800s. They say there's probably as much oil out there today as there was then, but it's too costly to get it up. We ought to have credits out there for individuals and companies to go out there and get that oil and bring it up. We need to be doing that. We've got to get these prices down because, again, our jobs and our livelihoods and our country depend on action today.

You know, if we got that oil here, the other problem we'd have is that we haven't been building refineries in this country. It's been about two-and-a-half decades since a refinery has been built in this country. It's time we got going. We've got to get this thing done now because we don't have time in the future to do it. If you look, as the energy usage is going up across the world, the United States is getting farther and farther behind everyone else. When they have energy and we don't, that's when we're going to be in big trouble.

Now, I was a history major in college, and in reading our American history, of course of our great Industrial Age, we had all the natural resources. We had the coal that produced the power to make sure that we could make the product, which we were able to export around the world. Well, look at this chart, and you're going to see who is going to be able to do that in the future. We have got to be able to meet our needs, and we have got to meet them today. Time is running out.

You know, the other scary thing about this is we send more and more of our energy overseas. One of the things we have to think about is who is owning our debt. Right now, $2.43 trillion is owned by foreign countries. The Chinese own about $487 billion of our debt, and we can't have that.

I really appreciate the time the gentleman has allotted to me, and I yield back. Thank you.