Ralph Hall

Mr. HALL of Texas

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn).

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Rogers).

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield my neighbor from Louisiana (Mr. Fleming) 2 minutes.

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, H. Res. 117 supports the goals and ideals of National Engineers Week, which will be celebrated this year in just a few days, starting on February 15. The National Society of Professional Engineers established one of America's oldest professional outreach efforts, National Engineers Week, in the year 1951. During this week coming up, a wide range of activities are planned in order to increase the understanding of and the interest in engineering and technology careers, and to promote K-12 literacy in math and science. Among these activities is the Future City competition, which has engaged more than 30,000 middle school students in more than 1,000 schools across the Nation to tackle water conservation issues. The finals for this competition will be held during National Engineers Week. Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day is another activity during the week, intended to help spark enthusiasm for science and engineering in our daughters and our granddaughters. Currently, less than 20 percent of engineering undergraduates are women, and only 10 percent of our professional engineering workforce is women. These activities and many others will also highlight the contributions that engineers have made to our society. The innovation path that our country has trail blazed would not be possible without the work of engineers. From designing satellites to help us predict the weather to creating bandages that don't hurt when you pull them off, engineers play a role in nearly every facet of our lives. It is essential that we capitalize on opportunities such as National Engineers Week to raise awareness of the valuable work and contributions of engineers to society, and to attract young people of all ages to this very rewarding profession. I commend the corporate sponsors of the week, who recognize that their future depends on our engineers of tomorrow. I support the goals and ideals of National Engineers Week, and I urge my colleagues to join me in this support. National Engineers Week Corporate Sponsors 3M; Bechtel Group Foundation; Bentley; Boeing; BP; CH2MHill; Conoco Phillips; DuPont; ExxonMobil; Fluor; Hitachi; IBM; Intel; Lockheed Martin; Motorola; Northrop Grumman; Raytheon's Math Moves; Rockwell Collins; Symantec. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HALL of Texas. I yield the gentleman an additional 1 minute.

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time. We have no further requests.

Mr. HALL of Texas. I yield the gentlewoman 1 additional minute.

Mr. HALL of Texas

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Inglis).

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Radanovich).

Mr. HALL of Texas. I yield the gentleman 1 additional minute.

Mr. HALL of Texas

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Blunt).

Mr. HALL of Texas. I yield the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Shimkus) 2 minutes. (Mr. SHIMKUS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I recognize the chairman of the House Republican Conference, the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence) for 3 minutes. (Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today, of course, in support of H.R. 554, the National Nanotechnology Initiative Amendments of 2009. This initiative was first named in the 2001 budget request, and it was made a priority by the previous administration. Last year, we created a necessary and responsible reauthorization bill for this important program. The House took an already good statute and improved it just a bit to streamline some administrative issues and to ensure that areas such as nanomanufacturing, education and environmental health and safety are adequately recognized. Unfortunately, the Senate did not act on it prior to adjournment, so we will try it again with the same bill this year. Just what is ``nanotechnology,'' and why is it important? Well, according to the NNI Web site, ``Encompassing nanoscale science, engineering and technology, nanotechnology involves imaging, measuring, modeling, and manipulating matter . . . at dimensions between 1 and 100 nanometers.'' Now, a nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. To put it into perspective, this piece of paper that I am reading from is 100,000- nanometers thick. It is 100,000 nanometers. The fact that our scientists and engineers can create and manipulate matter on that small of a scale to be used in electronic, biomedical, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, energy, catalytic, and materials applications is mind boggling. It is the kind of research and technology that makes the United States the leader in innovation. It is important that we continue to make this area of research a national priority. There are numerous examples of nanotechnology being used today. Not only is it being used to create clean, secure energy, but its uses range from stain-free clothing to glare-resistant eyewear to car bumpers to improved tennis balls. Nanotechnology is also being utilized to cut down on drug counterfeiting and to improve computer capacity. The list is long, and the potential for nanotechnology at this time is endless. Once again, I am pleased to join Chairman Gordon. He is a good chairman to work with. As well, the overwhelming majority of our committee members are good folks on both sides of the aisle. We do work together, and I am honored to be an original cosponsor of the NNI Amendments Act of 2009. This has been a bipartisan effort from the beginning. While we have made some changes to the program, I believe that, by and large, we have continued to give the NNI and all of the Federal agencies involved with it the flexibility needed to do their work without being overly prescriptive. I support this measure, and I encourage my colleagues to do the same. Likewise, I hope my friends in the Senate will do a better job this year and will soon follow suit. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. HALL of Texas. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to Colonel Pitts, the gentleman from Pennsylvania.

Mr. HALL of Texas

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 469, the Produced Water Utilization Act of 2009. I had the pleasure of working with Chairman Bart Gordon on this and introduced H.R. 469 in the 110th Congress as H.R. 2339. In July of 2008, the bill was reported out of the Committee on Science and Technology by a voice vote and then was passed by the House of Representatives again by a voice vote on July 30. It comes to the floor today virtually unchanged. Only the short title and the authorization years have been updated. For those who are not familiar with the term, the Department of the Interior defines ``produced water'' as mainly salty water trapped in reservoir rock and brought up along with oil or gas during production. Produced water cannot, in its current form, be used for any purposes, and it is most commonly reinjected into the ground at great expense to small producers across the country. Each barrel of oil that is produced generates approximately 10 barrels of produced water, and we currently produce over 5 billion gallons of produced water a day in the U.S. That is enough water to accommodate 14.3 million homes a day. As we face shortages in energy and water, this bill could not be more timely. H.R. 469 is legislation that has two main purposes, first, to increase domestic energy production by lowering production costs for small producers and, second, to increase the amount of water available for agricultural, irrigational, municipal and industrial uses by making produced water stable. The Produced Water Utilization Act will provide important funding for research, development, demonstration and commercial application of technologies to purify and use the produced water. There is a critical interdependency between energy and water. Water is needed to produce energy, and the treatment and distribution of water requires energy. And as our population grows, so will the demands on both. According to a report by the Department of Energy on the Interdependency of Energy and Water ``the lack of integrated energy and water planning and management has already impacted energy production in many basins and regions across the country. For example, in three of the fastest-growing regions in the country, the Southeast, Southwest and the Northwest, new power plants have been opposed because of potential negative impacts on water supplies. Also, recent droughts and emerging limitations of water resources have many States, including my State of Texas, also South Dakota, Wisconsin and Tennessee, scrambling to develop water use priorities for different water use sectors.'' We obviously need to take a serious look at how we can avoid a water/ energy crisis, and this bill certainly helps. Mr. Speaker, produced water is currently considered an expensive nuisance by oil and gas producers, but it needs to be considered a valuable, usable commodity. With the research and development set forth in the Produced Water Utilization Act, we can make it happen. I urge my colleagues to vote for the bill. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton).

Mr. HALL of Texas. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. HALL of Texas

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Chair, I rise today to express my deep disappointment at a missed opportunity in this Stimulus Bill. Before us is a package that many claim will stimulate the American economy and create jobs. But we are on the verge of losing thousands of highly skilled American jobs and this bill has done nothing to address the situation. As Ranking Member of the Science and Technology Committee, I am particularly concerned about a section aimed at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. As many of us are aware, NASA is currently on a path to retire the Space Shuttle in 2010 and develop the next generation launch system, but without sufficient funding that replacement system cannot be ready before 2015 at the earliest. During this five year gap, America will pay cash to Russia to provide transportation for our astronauts to our International Space Station. The bill calls for $600 million, but none of that money will help close this impending gap. This one-time addition will not keep an estimated 5,600 jobs from disappearing during the gap, and it will not reduce our dependency on and payments to Russia. I want to be clear-- because this bill fails to include funding to reduce the gap, we will be forced to lay off high tech workers in the United States while we are paying Russia to do the job that these American workers used to do. Many Members of Congress have been concerned by this situation. Last year's NASA Authorization Bill passed the House with a resounding vote of 409-15 and authorized an additional $1 billion to accelerate the development of the shuttle follow-on--known as Constellation System. Unless the Constellation System can be delivered sooner than 2015, we stand to lose thousands of highly-skilled aerospace jobs that will be very difficult and costly to replace. The sooner these systems are developed the sooner we eliminate our reliance on the Russians for access to the International Space Station, and give our Nation the systems necessary to explore beyond low-Earth orbit to the Moon and beyond. Keeping American tax dollars working for us here at home would stimulate the creation of highly-skilled, well-paid jobs in this country. Furthermore these types of investments in our Nation's space transportation infrastructure would continue to pay dividends and have large multiplier effects throughout the economy by stimulating high- tech manufacturing and networks of suppliers around the country. It is exactly the kind of thing that should be part of this ``stimulus package.'' Not funding the acceleration of the Constellation Systems represents a failure of our national leadership that will be paid for on the backs of American aerospace workers and with a loss of our industrial competitiveness against our international competitors. It makes me sick that we are bailing out failed banks and corporations while ignoring the support of a successful Space Station and space program--a program that could defend our nation from space and provide a cure for our most deadly diseases. By lessening the utility of a Space Station that provides a platform for lifesaving research, including growing white corpuscles that could be used to cure cancer, we are weakening our competitiveness. We are allowing Russia to reap the benefits of our space program--benefits that are badly needed here at home. It is comparable to buying energy from Saudi Arabia and other nations and not spending that same amount developing our own natural resources, such as those found in ANWR, off the coasts of Florida and California, and in the energy-rich Gulf of Mexico. I am told that the total budget for NASA is less than 1% of the Federal budget (\7/10\ths to be exact). Surely, we can honor the request that Congresswoman Kosmas had in her amendment that the Rules Committee rejected--a request that would have narrowed the gap-- especially considering that we throw away billions on other nations through foreign aid. President Monroe is famous for saying ``hands off this hemisphere,'' but we should be saying ``hands on this hemisphere'' and protecting our own American citizens, and their jobs, first.

Mr. HALL of Texas

Mr. HALL of Texas. Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to rise today to honor an outstanding citizen in the Fourth District of Texas and my longtime friend, Bill Douglass of Sherman, as a 2008 Convenience Store Hall of Fame Inductee. This year's Convenience Store News Hall of Fame induction ceremony in October honored Bill as much for his strong character, integrity and community service as for his business achievements. Bill was honored for his tireless efforts on behalf of the convenience and petroleum retailing industry and for the level of integrity that he has upheld over the years. The W. Douglass Distributing Company, which Bill founded in 1981 and which he serves as CEO, is a full-line distributorship and operator of the 15-unit Lone Star Food Stores chain servicing the region of north Texas and southern Oklahoma. The company, which began with just six employees, has grown to more than 280 employees. Throughout his career, Bill has been a tireless and effective advocate for the convenience and petroleum retailing industry. He has served as chairman of the General Committee of State Relations for the American Petroleum Institute, chairman of the National Association of Convenience Stores and director of the Texas Petroleum and Convenience Store Association, and he has testified on several occasions before Congress about issues important to his industry. Bill is also a widely recognized and respected member of the north Texas community, providing financial support and volunteer efforts to various local organizations each year. In 2002 he and his wife, Joan, were named as the Outstanding Employer of Older Workers for their strong belief in the value of older workers by maintaining an age- balanced group of employees. Their winning combination of younger workers and their older counterparts has created a work environment where age and experience can assist in training, advice and counseling. The company has no mandatory retirement age and provides flexibility in scheduling of employees' hours. Madam Speaker, Bill Douglass is the kind of employer who leads by example. These are some of the words that his employees used to describe him and his family in a full-page newspaper ad: ``wonderful, inspirational, brilliant, graceful, generous, charitable, tireless, encouraging, selfless, devoted, integrity.'' Bill Douglass embodies all of those qualities--and I ask my colleagues to join me today in recognizing this wonderful man and outstanding American, Bill Douglass.

Mr. HALL of Texas

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HALL of Texas

Mr. HALL of Texas. Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership standards on earmarks, I am submitting the following information for publication in the Congressional Record regarding earmarks I received as part of, H.R. 2638--The Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2009. A. Rivet Joint ISR Networth Integration (0305207F 192 MANNED RECONNAISSANCE SYSTEMS.) The entity to receive funding for this project is L-3 Integrated Systems, located at 10001 Jack Finney Blvd., Greenville, TX 75402. The funding would be used to provide networking upgrades that will enable it to fully collaborate with a variety of Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) nodes so that more effective projections of threat environments can be made. B. PrePreg Thickness Variability Reduction Program (0603680F 29 MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM.) The entity to receive funding for this project is Cytec Engineered Materials, located at 4300 Jackson Street, Greenville, TX 78402. The funding would be used to reduce the variability of prepreg thickness to +/-1 percent, which is a substantial improvement over even foreign prepreg capabilities. Reducing variation significantly complements and enhances the advancements expected to be made in the areas of tooling and manufacturing. These achievements are crucial for Cytec's military and commercial partners. C. Stryker Common Active Protection System (APS) Radar (0603653A 62 ADVANCED TANK ARMAMENT SYSTEMS (ATAS).) The entity to receive funding for this project is Raytheon Network Centric Systems, located at 2501 West University, McKinney, TX 75070. APS is an externally mounted vehicle protection system that identifies, discriminates and intercepts RPGs, mortars, antitank guided missiles and artillery projectiles after they are launched toward a combat vehicle. The system consists of the Multi-Function Radio Frequency (MFRF) radar, launchers, fire control processors and countermeasures. Please see attached for financial plan of each project. Neither I nor my spouse has any financial interest in these projects. Finance Plan Requesting Member: Rep. Ralph M. Hall. Bill Number: H.R. 2638. Account: Air Force, RDT&E, Line 192, PE 0305207F, Manned Reconnaissance Systems. Project Name: Rivet Joint ISR Network Integration. Legal Name of Requesting Entity: L-3 Communications Integrated Systems. Address of Requesting Entity: 10001 Jack Finney Boulevard, Greenville, TX 75403. Anticipated sources of funding for the duration of the project: Additional funding would be provided by the Air Force to procure this capability after successful demonstration of the developmental prototype, in their future years budget requests. Percent and source of required matching funds: N/A, this program is providing a good or service to the Department of Defense. Justification for use of federal taxpayer dollars: The RIVET JOINT will provide networking upgrades that will enable it to fully collaborate with a variety of Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) nodes so that more effective projections of threat environments can ba made. Detailed analysis of RIVET JOINT operations shows that full integration of networked capabilities will result in a 25 percent improvement in critical Threat Analysis Measures of Effectiveness for priority dual-use commercial communication threat environments. The specific threats that will be addressed by this system upgrade are the highest priority threats to ongoing military operations. Detailed finance plan: $750,000 is for Non-Recurring Engineering Design and Development; $750,000 is for Manufacture Design and Production of Networked Speech, Geo-Location, and Reach-back Processing and Data Base Access Applications; and $500,000 is for Labor, Materials, and System Installation and Integration on one Rivet Joint aircraft.

Mr. HALL of Texas

Mr. HALL of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.