Dan Burton

Mr. BURTON of Indiana

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Will the gentleman yield just for a second?

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. I know, but I would like to talk to you before you leave.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. The geologists with whom we've talked say that they know that there is oil in the ANWR and that they know where the oil is off the continental shelf. I don't know about these other 8,000 leases in the spots that we're talking about, but I would be happy to talk to them about exploring those if we could work together to get the oil out of the ground and get it to market. I'd just like to say to my colleague that I know that you want to move toward energy independence. We have a different view on how it has to be done. You'd like to do it in an environmentally safe way, and so would we, but we aren't starting. So I'd just like to say to my colleague: When are we going to start? In your opinion, how are we going to start, and how long will it take? The transition to hybrids and to everything else and to get everybody in this country working on these things is a laudable objective, and I agree with you that we should be doing that, but in the interim, we've been just sitting around, waiting for 30 years. The American people, I don't think, can wait much longer. So I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I'd just like to ask you: Where do we start? When do we start? How do we start if we don't drill?

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Would the gentleman yield.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. The reason I wanted to talk to you really briefly before Mr. Westmoreland and I take this hour is that we're going to have to work together to solve this problem. On its face, for us to say that the oil companies with these leases really don't want to exercise the ability they have to drill doesn't make sense. The problem we have with energy right now is that China is buying an awful lot of the oil, and India is buying a lot of the oil. The appetite for energy is growing at a very rapid rate, even here in the United States, and we're not keeping up with the production necessary to keep the prices down. The oil companies want to drill. They want to make this money. They want more refineries. You and I don't know each other really well, but what I'd like to say to you is that I'd like to sit down with you and with some of the oil companies executives and talk to them about the drilling problem and about the lease problem. Maybe there's something we can do by talking to them to get this thing off dead center. But to sit around and say they're not drilling where they should when the world needs more energy doesn't make any sense. We need more refineries. Everybody knows that. As you were talking a minute ago, we want to move toward energy independence, but that's going to take time as well. So I would like to work with you and with other Democratic leaders--Mr. Rahall and others--and see if we can't get some of the oil execs in without beating them over the head about, you know, taxes on them and just say, ``What do we need to do to get you to do exploration in a clean way and to get this energy to market as quickly as possible?'' I'd like to talk to you about it and see about that.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Would the gentleman yield.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. If the gentleman will yield for just one second, I know you have to leave and I just want to say one thing real quickly, if you don't mind.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. You know, you can blame us, we can blame you. We can go all the way back to the Carter administration when we had lines. You are a fairly young man, you probably don't remember, But there were lines around the block and people coming with five gallon cans to get gas because we didn't have any. There is probably enough blame to go around. The problem is we are in an economic crisis right now that is not going to get any better until we work together. I have been down here railing against you and the Democrats for the last three or four or five weeks saying you guys are the reason that gas has gone up a buck- and-a-half in the last 2 years. You can blame us if you want to. But the people who are watching on television and the people around this country right now are paying 4 bucks-plus a gallon and they want us to work together. I would like to sit down with you and others like you and try to figure out a way to get this problem solved.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Our colleague from Ohio was talking about these leases. And the reason they want to drill in ANWR is because geologists found there is a huge supply of oil there. That makes your point. That's where the oil is. As Willy said, that's where the money is. So why would you drill, as you said, in leases where there aren't any, when you know, you know that there's oil in the ANWR.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. I just want to say one thing about what you are doing here tonight. I know that we can't talk to the American people, we have to talk to each other. But if I were talking to the American people tonight, I would say, like you are saying, you ought to call your congressman and tell him to sign this thing. I can't say that to the American people because I'm only allowed to talk to you. But if I were talking to the American people, I would say Mr. Westmoreland has the right idea, let every Congressman know how you feel, and if you do, then they will change their mind and they will support exploration that will give us energy independence. So I congratulate you on doing this. This is a great idea.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. I think one of the things that ought to be put into the equation that we don't discuss a lot, and that is that we are depending on the Middle East for what, 40, 50 percent of our energy. Right now we know there is a lot of conflict in that part of the world. When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, he burned a lot of the oil wells. And had he taken over, we would all have been buying or trying to buy oil from Saddam Hussein. The reason I bring this up is we don't know what is going to happen 5 or 10 years from now. There could be a terrible conflagration over there and we might not be able to get oil out of that area for our country. They might sink a couple of ships in the Persian Gulf and block the tankers from even getting out of there, and we won't be able to get energy. So what do we do then? Do we let the lights go out and let the cars stop on the streets because we don't have energy? That is another reason, for national security purposes, that we have an energy supply here and become independent of the other countries in the world. As you said, both men from Georgia, we have the ability to do it. Even if it took 10 years, and I don't think it would, but even if it did, we ought to be looking down the road and asking, Do we want to keep depending our security on the Middle East where something could go wrong tomorrow when we could be independent, as far as energy is concerned, right here in America and protect ourselves, as well as getting the energy that we need, from a conflagration that might take place halfway around the world.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. First of all, let me compliment my colleague from Georgia, because I really appreciate you taking the initiative to actually lay before the American people those who support energy independence, true energy independence and those who don't. I think this will do it. I hope this is publicized across the country so every single constituent of yours, mine, everybody in this country who is paying $4-plus a gallon for gasoline will know how their representative feels about this issue. One of the things we were talking about just a few moments ago before our colleague left, which was very troubling, was that he indicated that oil companies were protecting leases, and he didn't want to drill in those places. It's very--it's almost a ludicrous argument. Because with the demand for oil growing like it has around the world, the need for more oil or energy is apparent. The more oil companies, the more they drill and the more they refine, the more they are going to be able to sell. What my colleagues have said in the other side of the Senate and over here is they want to raise taxes on the oil producers. That's okay if they want to tax those people, but oil companies don't pay taxes. This is what people need to understand. Those taxes are passed on to the consumer when they buy the gasoline, because they raise the price of the gasoline. When you buy a car, if you raise the taxes on the production of a car, it's passed on with the prince increase on the car. So companies, corporations aren't paying these taxes, the consumer is. That's what we really need to explain to the American people. The thing that troubles me the most--and this is why I appreciate you doing this and taking this initiative, Representative Westmoreland, is because the American people are confused. Right now they read in the paper, see on television, well, the Republicans killed a bill in the other body that would have really put the hammer to the oil companies. The fact is that it was raising taxes on the oil companies, which would have passed on to consumers in a price increase that would have made gas prices even higher. What we need to do, as you said, and what you are doing tonight, as my colleague from Georgia, your buddy here is going to talk about in a few minutes, is we need to get more energy out of the ground and we have the ability to be energy independent. My colleagues say, well, it's going to take 10 years it may take 5 years, it may take 2 years. I don't know. But we have been talking about this since the Carter years in the 1970s, and we haven't done anything. So I want congratulate you one more time, I am happy to be here with you tonight. I will stay with you for the whole hour if you want me to. But I hope that we will get across to the American people this, we don't want this to be political, we want to work together with them, and they are not willing to do it at this point. We need to work with the Democrats to get a program, to become energy independent, to get our oil and natural gas and coal shale out of the ground so we don't have to depend on Saudi Arabia or OPEC or Venezuela and Mr. Chavez down there who may pull our string any day. We need to become energy independent and quit talking about it. We need to work together to get that job done because the American people, if you look at the polling results, I think Congress is worth, what, 18 percent in popularity right now, a pox on all of our houses. We better get together, or they will throw us all out. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Will the gentleman yield just for one second?

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. You know, a number of us--I'm on the Foreign Affairs Committee, and I do some traveling to meet with leaders in other countries around the world. And one of the things that I have found is the Pound Sterling and the Euro, their currency has gone from where it was about 70 cents to the dollar to where the Euro is almost one and a half times what the dollar is as far as value's concerned. And one of the reasons why you have seen the currency of the United States go down is because we're buying more and exporting less, and one of the main reasons for that is what you just mentioned a moment ago: we're importing all of this energy when we could be producing it ourselves keeping more of our money here, which would not only help us energy-wise, but which would strengthen the dollar and help the entire economy of the United States. There are so many ancillary reasons, so many ancillary reasons why we should be drilling for our own energy that it doesn't make--that it isn't funny. And yet I can't understand why many of our colleagues don't understand that. It's not just energy, it's economic security, it's national security, it's a whole host of things; and we ought to get on with it. We really ought to get on with it.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. And I would just like to say thank you very much, Representative Westmoreland, for taking the leadership. Once again, Georgia, my two colleagues from Georgia are leading the way, and I really appreciate it very much.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Would the gentleman yield?

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Before you leave, let me say I think what would be very illuminating for the American people is for you and three or four of your colleagues who have some expertise in this area to come down with three or four of our colleagues and sit down and discuss in logical way these issues you are talking about, because we all want the same thing. So I would like to talk to you about that after we are through here, and maybe we can work something out in the next week or two. Thank you, Mr. Westmoreland.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. One of the things that we haven't really discussed a great deal tonight is if they didn't want to drill for oil, for instance, we have a several hundred-year supply of natural gas, and there could be an entire new industry creating conversion units for automobiles that would be much less than a brand new car, that could convert gas-powered cars to natural gas power, which is a clean burning fuel. But once again, the opposition will not allow us to drill for natural gas, which is a clean burning fuel which would help the environment. So it's not just the oil issue; it's the entire energy issue that you're talking about. And that's why I think that the American people, I hope that they're paying attention to this. I know that they're getting their attention because the price of gasoline is so high. But we have the ability to use natural gas. We have the ability to use oil. We have the ability to get it out of the ground, to use shale and we're being blocked again and again and again. And I appreciate you and the other gentleman from Georgia saying tonight that we'd like to work with the Democrats on the other side of the aisle to solve this problem. But, as you said before, it takes two to dance. Well, I guess I could dance by myself, but that wouldn't be very becoming. But it takes two to tango, and I would just say that if my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are listening to my colleagues from Georgia, let's get together and see if we can come up with a way to get this problem solved.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. I appreciate the gentleman yielding. You know, the truckers across this country that drive these big diesel rigs that bring food to the market and all these other commodities, they were so upset when diesel fuel got to over $4 a gallon, now it's over $4.50 a gallon, that they came, hundreds of them, maybe even thousands of them, drove here into Washington, DC to protest. And they're very concerned about that. And the people who buy those products are concerned. You even see now where people are stealing cooking oil from McDonald restaurants in the back so they can augment their fuel so they can get more mileage with their diesel trucks. And I would say, if I were talking to those truckers across the country, and I know we can't because we're just talking among ourselves, that the truckers, I'm sure, would want their Congressman and the people they serve to contact their Congressman to say sign this petition because we can't afford to bring across the country the food and the commodities necessary to keep your standard of living where it is today. So it's not just the guy driving his car to and from work. I had a young man, I won't tell you who it is because he might get fired. But he's a young man who works here in the Capitol. And he was talking to one of his friends, and I walked out, and I said, what about this drilling in the ANWR and in the United States to get oil? He says, I don't care where you drill. He says, I live 45 minutes from the Capitol. I can't afford to drive to and from work anymore, and I'm going to buy an air mattress and pump it up someplace so I can spend half of my time here because I can't afford to go home. So they're upset, the people driving these cars, because they can't afford to live like they did in the past. It's hurting people with home mortgages, their food and everything else, those on limited incomes. But as I was saying before, the truckers have already demonstrated. And I'll bet you if they knew tonight that these petitions that you've come up with were here on the floor, I'll bet you every one of them would call everybody they know and tell them, call your Congressman. Tell him to sign that petition so we can get the fuel down so we can transport the goods and services you need across this country so you can live again.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I don't think I'll take the whole 5 minutes tonight because I'm going to join Mr. Westmoreland of Georgia in a special 1 hour order on energy in just a few minutes. But I would like to say, during the 5 minutes that I have, that another week has gone by in the Congress of the United States and we have taken no action in dealing with the energy crisis that faces America today. The price of gasoline is well over $4 in most areas, and in some areas it's up closer to $4.50. Diesel fuel is over $4.50 a gallon, and the truckers across this country are suffering, and they've even demonstrated here in Washington, D.C. And it's not just the energy problem that we have to deal with, it's the effect that the energy problem has on other commodities, such as food and other equipment that we need to keep this economy moving forward. The price of food is going to go up. It's going to have tremendous inflationary pressure on every family in this country if we don't address this problem and address it quickly. I know some of my colleagues say, well, you know, if we started drilling for oil in the ANWR today, it would take 10 years before we would get that oil to market. Well, I disagree; I think it would be a lot sooner than that. But the sooner we start, the quicker we will have that oil at our refineries. We also could drill off the Continental Shelf and get another couple million barrels of oil a day. And that may take a little bit of time, but the sooner we start, the better. The other thing we have to consider is we need more refineries to refine that oil. We haven't built a refinery, I think, in this country for the past, what, 30 years? And we need that capacity in order to get this oil transitioned into gasoline and diesel fuel for the people to use in this country. To sit back like we have and not do anything over the past weeks and months, watching the gas prices go up and watching people suffering, in my opinion, is just unconscionable. Yet, my colleagues, we really haven't done a thing. I reach out to my colleagues on the Democrats' side of the aisle. You're in the majority and we're in the minority, but we all understand we have a crisis facing this country. We need to work together to explore, to get the oil that we have in our country to market as quickly as possible. We also have as much as a 500-year supply of natural gas, a clean-burning fuel that we could get to market if we could get it out of the ground, and we can do it in an environmentally safe way, and we can extract the oil in an environmentally safe way. If we were talking to Americans all across the country tonight and if we said, ``do you think gas prices are too high?'' they would all say, ``Yes.'' If we said, ``would you mind if we drilled in this country and in an environmentally safe way to get oil out of the ground to lower your gas prices?'' you'd get 80-90 percent to say, ``Yes.'' If you asked them ``what about the ANWR?'' they'd say, ``Where's the ANWR?'' Most people aren't aware that it's a very small part of Alaska which is three times the size of Texas. We need to move toward energy independence. We have the ability to be completely energy-independent from Saudi Arabia, from Venezuela, from Mexico, from Canada, from any country in the world. We can be independent if we work together, but we haven't done that. Many of my colleagues are saying, ``Well, we're concerned about the environment.'' We all want to transition to new technologies, to new ways of getting energy so that people can have clean-burning fuel, but in the meantime, while we're doing that, we must realize that we're having a terrible, devastating impact on our economy by not taking action. So I would just like to say to my colleagues, before I get together with Mr. Westmoreland for this 1-hour special order, let's work together. The American people are begging us. If you don't believe it, go to any gas pump in the morning or tonight and ask them. They're begging us to do something about the exorbitant fuel prices which are not only affecting their getting to and from work but that are also affecting their ability to buy groceries at the supermarket and that are affecting every other commodity. It's going to severely hamper and hurt this economy if we don't work together very quickly to get the job done. Now, I believe that if we listen to the American people that Democrats and Republicans can work together, and we can come up with a plan to extract these vital, essential minerals so that we can lower our gas prices and can lower the energy prices in this country, but if we don't and if we continue to fight with each other and if we're recalcitrant and if we don't do something, then the problem is going to get worse and worse and worse. So I would just like to say to my colleagues and to plead with them one more time tonight: Let's not let another week, month or year go by of our not having done anything to explore or to drill for our own natural resources that can give us energy independence. We've been talking about it since the Carter years back in the 1970s. It is time we did something. Americans are suffering, and we're not doing anything. Democrats and Republicans must work together to solve this problem. With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, we have been talking about the energy crisis in this country now for some time, and it has captured the imagination and the attention of probably every person in America, all 300 million people, because the price of gasoline is now over $4 a gallon. It has affected every family as far as their ability to live the kind of life they want to because they have to spend so much money on energy. It has affected the price of our food because the people who transport our commodities across the country--the truckers--are now paying $4.50 to $5 a gallon for diesel fuel. In fact, they've demonstrated here at the United States Capitol with their trucks because it's so expensive for them to do their jobs. We had a hearing today on how China is being involved in the United States and in Central and South America. They're buying up more and more of the oil because they have an economic expansion program, funded, in large part, by the money that we give to them in trade. India is now taking more and more energy and oil. So the demand around the world is growing at a very rapid rate. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle are always talking about new energy--new sources of energy, new technologies. I'm for all of that. We all want to clean up the environment, but with the demand for oil growing at such a rapid rate all around the world and with these countries that have more and more ability to buy oil and to use oil because they need more because their populations are growing so rapidly, we need to do something about energy in this country. We have the ability from coal shale, I understand, to take care of this country for a couple of hundred years, as far as oil is concerned, by converting that shale into a usable energy oil shale. We have the ability to get 1 million to 2 million barrels of oil a day out of the ANWR in Alaska. We're not doing that. We have the ability to get 1 million or 2 million barrels a day off the Outer Continental Shelf. We're not doing that. We have up to a 500-year supply of natural gas in this country. We're not drilling for that. It's all because of what people call environmental concerns. I would just like to say to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle that we should be concerned about the environment, but we should also be concerned about the economy of this country. We can't survive if the energy costs continue to go up and up and up while we wait on the transition to new technologies. Those new technologies are going to come, but it may take 1 year, 5 years, 10 years from now before they are able to pick up the major part of the energy needs of this country. We can't wait that long. We simply can't. We could become a second-rate economic power if we don't get control of our energy needs and are able to get the energy that is necessary for this country to grow economically. I just don't understand why my colleagues on the other side of the aisle and in the other chamber on the other side of the aisle continue to say we should not drill for oil in our own country. The American people, if you went out on the street and asked anybody at any service station, will tell you they don't care where we drill, because they want their gas prices down. Now, we can drill in an environmentally safe way, but my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will not allow us to do it. It is just unexplainable, as far as I am concerned. We have the resources in this country, we have the ability in this country, to provide for the oil resources that are necessary to lower the gas prices in this country, and we are not doing it. And we are not going to do it as long as the other side, the Democrats in this Congress, continue to block us, because of ``environmental concerns.'' There has to be a balance between the economic concerns in this country and the environment concerns, and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are simply not realizing that. They have the ``ostrich syndrome.'' They have got their heads in the sand. Gasoline prices have gone up $1.50 in the last 2 years since this body has been taken over by the Democratic Party. This is intolerable. They said they were going to do something about the energy crisis in this country when it was $1.50 less per gallon. We have to do something about it, and we have to start now. We talked about energy independence during the Carter years back in the seventies, and we haven't done anything about it. We had gas lines real long back in those days and we were going to become energy independent. We have not done it. The Congress of the United States has been controlled by the other party up until 1994, and we haven't done anything about the energy shortfalls in this country. It is time that we become really bipartisan in the search for energy. It is time for us to work together. We need to be able to explore this country for the natural resources we have, the oil that we have in the ground and the natural gas we have in the ground, and we are not doing it. I would just like to end by saying this, Mr. Speaker, to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle: Let's work together. Let's explore and drill for the oil that we have in this country so we can truly move towards energy independence and at the same time move toward the new technologies that will give us more and more of a clean Earth. That is what we all want. But at the same time, we have got to have energy now. We have to drill for it now. And I hope my colleagues will realize this before it is too late. This is going to be a major issue in this campaign this fall, and I hope they will realize that and come to the conclusion that we ought to become truly energy independent and move in that direction.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Tomorrow is the beginning of the best and greatest golf tournament in the world.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. The people that criticize Mickelson probably can't even carry his shoes. He has won two Masters. He is the number two golfer in the world right now. He is tough in every tournament. So when people say something bad about Mickelson, they had better take a good look at themselves, especially if they are a golfer.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Madam Speaker, I really appreciate my colleague on the Rules Committee yielding to me, and it is nice to see my buddies on the other side of the aisle looking so bright and cheerful tonight. You know, if we don't do something about the price of gasoline and fuel, we will be able to go to the moon cheaper than we can drive down to the corner drugstore. I know that may sound like a joke, but the cost of fuel is going up so rapidly that everybody I have met, and I am talking about Democrats, Republicans, people on the street, everybody that I have met when I ask them what do you think about the price of fuel and gasoline, they say we have got to do something about it. And I ask, What do you think about drilling here in the United States and the territorial possessions of the United States and offshore on the Outer Continental Shelf, and they say drill wherever you have to; drill wherever you have to, but get my gas prices down. And that is about 80-some percent of the American people that are saying that. Everyone I have talked to has said that. You know, last night I spoke on the floor and as I left the floor, I talked to some of the people who work here. I am not going to tell you who they were because I don't want to get them in trouble, but a couple of them told me that they drive about 35 or 40 miles to work every day, and they can't afford to do it because the price of gasoline has gone up so rapidly. One of them told me he was going to buy a blow-up mattress so he can sleep someplace around here in the Capitol because he can't afford to go home at night. Now this isn't baloney. People can't survive with gasoline at the prices they are right now. And not only that, the transportation of foodstuffs and other commodities are going up as well because of the cost of transportation. So when I say, you know, that it may cost more to go to the store than it does to go to the moon, I am being facetious, of course, but it sure sets the point in hard concrete. The cost is unbelievable, and the American people want us to do something about it. And my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, you are not listening. You are not listening to the American people. They want to drill in the United States. They want energy.

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Will the gentleman yield?