Robert Latta

Mr. LATTA

Mr. LATTA. 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. LATTA

Mr. LATTA. 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.

Mr. LATTA

Mr. LATTA. 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.

Mr. LATTA

Mr. LATTA. 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.

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

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

Mr. LATTA. 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.

Mr. LATTA. I yield to my friend from Georgia.

Mr. LATTA. 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.

Mr. LATTA. 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).

Mr. LATTA. 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.

Mr. LATTA. That is correct.

Mr. LATTA

Mr. LATTA. 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.

Mr. LATTA

Mr. LATTA. 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.

Mr. LATTA

Mr. LATTA. 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. LATTA

Mr. LATTA. 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.

Mr. LATTA

Mr. LATTA. 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.

Mr. LATTA

Mr. LATTA. Madam Speaker, I submit the following: Requesting Member: Congressman Robert E. Latta (OH-5). Bill Number: H.R. 5658. Provision: Title XXVI; Section 2601. Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Ohio National Guard. Address of Requesting Entity: 2825 West Dublin Granville Road; Columbus, OH 43235. Description of Request: The requested funds will be used to construct a two-story, 80- bed barracks facility at the Ohio Army National Guard's Camp Perry Training Site. The firing ranges at the Ohio Army National Guard's Camp Perry Training Site have been operational for over 100 years. They are some of the finest known-distance firing ranges in the United States. In the past two years, the National Guard Bureau provided $1.5 million dollars to update the targeting systems and to rebuild the protective berms around the firing ranges. They recently completed construction on a ``shoot house'' at which our members may train urban warfare skills, and the base also features a high-tech shooting simulator. There is great capability at Camp Perry, but the housing for National Guard members is entirely inadequate. The National Guard Bureau recently certified a shortage of nearly 600 bed spaces at Camp Perry, and much of the housing stock on Camp Perry is uninhabitable. With the January 2007 change in the Department of Defense's policy on mobilization of the National Guard, and the corresponding increase in responsibility for training and certification, the Ohio National Guard will rely even more heavily on Camp Perry for individual weapons training and qualification. Providing sufficient bed space of habitable quality is critical. This project, which will replace a number of World War II-era hutments with a 100+ bed barracks, is an important first step.

Mr. LATTA

Mr. LATTA. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay a very special tribute to one of the truly outstanding citizens from Ohio's Fifth Congressional District, Mrs. Sandra Barber, as she ends her tenure as Chairman of the Fulton County Republican Central an Executive Committees. Over the past three decades, Sandra Barber has certainly been an indispensable asset to Republicans in Fulton County and the State of Ohio. Her strong commitment to conservative values and leadership has guided her 26 years as Chairman. Through her leadership, she has fostered healthy debate and democracy by leading the Party and representing the principles it embraces at the local, State, and national level. Without question, Mrs. Barber has given unselfishly of her time and talents in order to serve the interests of all Republicans across our Nation. Mrs. Barber has served as county chairman for various Presidential campaigns including Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and President George W. Bush, as well as her role as a delegate at the five national conventions. She has also served the Ohio Republican Party as a member of the State Central Committee in addition to involvement in numerous State and local races. Sandra Barber embodies the spirit of American public service through her commitment as Fulton County Recorder and her community as well. Mrs. Barber has served the State of Ohio as Chairman of the Ohio Lottery Commission and as a member of the Ohio Recorders' Association. Locally, Mrs. Barber is a member of the Christ United Methodist Church, serving as a member of the chancel choir and church school teacher. Madam Speaker, at this time, I would ask my colleagues of the 110th Congress to join me in honoring Sandra Barber. On the occasion of her retirement as Chairman of the Fulton County Central and Executive Committees, we thank her for her dedicated service and we wish her well in all of her future endeavors.

Mr. LATTA

Mr. LATTA. Mr. Speaker, our Nation's industrial revolution was powered by coal, and with the current state of our energy market, coal should receive the attention it deserves. It is an important energy source for our country. Coal is the United States' most abundant and efficient fuel source, and we hold over one-quarter of the world's coal reserves. The energy content of the Nation's coal reserves exceeds that of all the world's known oil reserves. In my home State of Ohio, we have reserves that will last for 250 years. Coal provides more than half the electricity consumed by Americans. And work is currently being done in my district to develop coal gasification, which is a process that increases the efficiency of coal within a closed system. The current Democratic leadership in Congress refuses to invest money into the coal gasification process, while China at the same time is investing $24 billion into the same technology. We must embrace all forms of energy to keep our economy and products competitive with the rest of the world.

Mr. LATTA

Mr. LATTA. Madam Speaker, pursuant to clause 1, rule I, I demand a vote on agreeing to the Speaker's approval of the Journal.

Mr. LATTA. Madam 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.

Mr. LATTA

Mr. LATTA. Madam Speaker, with no relief in sight for the American public as they continue to endure the costs of skyrocketing energy costs, it's once again time to look at alternative sources to combat this problem. China has plans to build 40 nuclear power plants in the next 15 years, investing approximately $50 billion in these reactors. The United States has not licensed a nuclear power plant in 30 years, while the current congressional leadership refuses to even consider the notion of nuclear power as a viable alternative energy source. Of course we don't have to leave my home State of Ohio to find additional ways to increase domestic energy production. In northwest Ohio, alternative energy is abundant with the only wind turbines in the State, solar panel production, and coal liquefaction technology all adding to our energy production. Whether we look at other countries, or in our own backyard, we must embrace alternative energy sources as one way to reduce our dependency on Middle Eastern oil and combat skyrocketing energy prices.

Mr. LATTA

Mr. LATTA. Mr. Speaker, the United States is at a crucial point in terms of domestic energy production. With estimates that China and India combined will consume more energy than the United States by 2015, we must take a serious look at our domestic energy production and continue to reduce our dependence on Middle Eastern oil. China's increasing offshore energy production to reduce its own dependence on foreign oil, growing their production an average of 15.3 percent per year with plans to make offshore production China's largest source of oil by doubling production by 2010. The current congressional leadership opposes domestic offshore energy exploration and production, making America the only developed nation in the world to restrict access to offshore energy supplies. China has invested $24 billion in coal liquefaction technology, while current congressional leadership continues to exclude coal from their energy policy, even though it is the most abundant and efficient fuel source found in the United States. Mr. Speaker, I could go on and on about our energy crisis, but it's time for this Congress to get serious about our domestic energy production.

Mr. LATTA

Mr. LATTA. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay a very special tribute to one of the truly outstanding individuals from Ohio's Fifth Congressional District, Mr. Norman Walker. On Friday, April 18. 2008, Norman Walker will retire after thirty years of service on the City of Defiance's Police Department. Over the last three decades, Norman Walker has certainly been an indispensible asset to the City of Defiance and to the northwest Ohio law enforcement community. His strong commitment to sound principles and honest leadership has guided his nearly fifteen years of service as Chief of Police. Mr. Walker's commitment to the law enforcement creed of ``to serve and protect'' was instilled in him as he worked his way through every rank in the Defiance Police Department. Without question, Mr. Walker has given unselfishly of his time and talents in order that the citizens of the City of Defiance might have a safe community in which to work and raise their families. Norman Walker embodies the spirit of American public service and through his workman-style approach put his vision for a modern rural police department into action to establish the City of Defiance's police department as it model for the region. His dedication to community-oriented policing has empowered not only his fellow officers, but community residents as well, to play an active role in their own safety and have a voice in how their police department can continually provide better service to the residents of Defiance, Ohio. Madam Speaker, it has often been said that America succeeds due to the remarkable accomplishments and contributions of her citizens. It is evident that Mr. Walker has devoted himself to the preservation of a free and just society where the rule of law is respected by all who call this great land their home. For that, we owe him a debt of gratitude that mere words cannot sufficiently express. Madam Speaker, at this time, I would ask my colleagues of the 110th Congress to join me in honoring Norman Walker. On the occasion of his retirement as the City of Defiance's Chief of Police, we thank him for his dedicated service and we wish him well in all of his future endeavors.