Robert Latta

Mr. LATTA

Mr. LATTA. 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.

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

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

Mr. LATTA. 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.

Mr. LATTA. 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.

Mr. LATTA. 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.

Mr. LATTA. 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?

Mr. LATTA. 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.

Mr. LATTA. Well, thank you very much.

Mr. LATTA. 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.

Mr. LATTA. 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.

Mr. LATTA. 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.

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

Mr. LATTA. 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.

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

Mr. LATTA. I certainly can.

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

Mr. LATTA. 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.

Mr. LATTA. 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.

Mr. LATTA. 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?

Mr. LATTA. 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.

Mr. LATTA. 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.

Mr. LATTA. 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.

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

Mr. LATTA. They've figured it out.