Lynn Westmoreland

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. That is the part that we know the billions of gallons of oil are under. That's the part.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Well, Mr. Peterson, let me say this. We have that technology, and there was a push in the late 1990s, mid- to late-1990s to convert gasoline engines to propane. Then the EPA put such testing regulations on the emissions testing for these different types of makes and models of cars, a lot of people just got out of the business. It was not a commonsense thing for EPA to do. They should have gone to these people doing the conversions and said, What can we do to make it easier and faster for you to do this propane conversion and the same thing with natural gas?

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Did the gentleman offer an amendment in the appropriations bill that was voted down?

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Thank you. My friend, Mr. Peterson, who is a real expert on energy, I'm glad you joined us tonight.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. So if they think the price at the pump is painful, wait till they start trying to stay warm.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Would the gentleman yield?

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Isn't it true that we have a 54 percent tariff on ethanol brought into this country? Fifty-four cents a gallon on ethanol brought into the country, and already right now corn is at $7.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. We need to be doing something about it, and that's what we're trying to do. And to my friend from Pennsylvania, and thank you for coming down tonight and helping Mr. Burton and myself with this because we know that you are an expert on it and that you have been trying to correct a situation. Even when the Republicans were in the majority, you were the lone voice crying in the wilderness about this; and I really wish we would have paid more attention. But now is the time when natural gas is $13-plus, the price at the pump is over $4, the price of oil in a barrel is up to about $140. And the gentleman mentioned some of the Norwegian countries. And you know Norway, you know, 30 years ago was dependent on foreign oil. And they said, You know what? We're going to do something about it. Norway is dependent on tourism, fishing. I mean, they are very conscious of their natural resources. Today, they are the third largest exporter of crude oil in the world.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. I thank my friend from Indiana for being here with me and supporting this initiative that we have. And I want to just hit on a couple of points that Congressman Burton made. You can go to house.gov/westmoreland and find out who has signed a petition that basically just says, I will vote to increase U.S. oil production to lower gas for Americans. There are also some links to some other sites where you can get some of these energy facts that we're giving you and find the truth for yourself. One of the things that he mentioned was the size of ANWR and where we're drilling. And he mentioned that the drilling site is about the size of Reagan Airport. And it is, in comparison to the total State of South Carolina. Here is the comparison of ANWR to the Continental United States. You can see the size of Alaska compared to the United States. This is the wildlife refuge here, and we will show you, in a moment, Madam Speaker, what this wildlife, the refuge area looks like. Here is the drilling site up here. So you can see that this is, the ANWR, the wildlife is about the size of South Carolina. And where they're talking about drilling is about the size of Reagan Airport, in comparison. You can see how much land is there. The other thing the gentleman from Indiana mentioned was the amount of land; 68 million acres is what the majority party claims is out there, and that may be a true statement. I can tell you that 54 percent of the exploratory holes that have been drilled between 2002 and 2007, 54 percent of them were dry holes. Now, we all want to use common sense. We don't go to the hardware store to buy groceries. So why would you drill somewhere that there's no oil? You wouldn't do it. Or no natural gas. Why would you do that? You would not do it. And so after they do all of these tests that they do that is required by the government for them to do, they find out on these leases that have been offered up by our government that there is no oil. There is no energy resource there, so why are we saying drill there? Now, also I've heard that these energy companies are stockpiling these leases. Well, that's not true. It's already in law that if they don't drill, they lose it. If they do not go with the terms of the lease, they lose that lease. And so if they have a problem with them not drilling where they said they would drill in the time that they said they would drill, according to the lease agreement with the government, that's not their problem. That's our problem, that we're not enforcing the laws that we have. And so, you know, there's a lot of myth going on here, Madam Speaker. But I did want to bring up one thing because I think this is really what gets my blood boiling when I think about our dependence on foreign oil. Let's look at Mr. Castro and Mr. Chavez down here. And I want to read something to the American people, Madam Speaker, and to you and to the people in this House. It says, in a recent interview on Al Jazeera, Chavez called for the developing nations to unite against U.S. political and economic policies. What can we do regarding the imperialistic power of the United States? We have no choice but to unite, he said. Venezuela's energy alliances with nations such as Cuba, which receives cheap oil, are an example of how we use oil in our war against neo-liberalism, he said. Another quote, right down here under the picture of him hugging Castro, or as he put it on another occasion, we have invaded the United States, but with our oil. The next thing over here, Madam Speaker, is a check that American families and businesses write out every day to Hugo Chavez for $170,250,000. That is a day. That money could be coming to American companies and to American workers and creating Americans jobs and bringing down the price of gas at the pump for Americans. Now, we're writing one of our enemies a check for $170 million a day when we could be using that money to create jobs in this country. The other thing I think is important to realize is that not only have we not drilled and used our own natural resources for our own citizens, but we've not built any refineries. Our refining capability has not been added to since 1978. We have not built a new refinery. Now, we are importing, and listen to this--this is not oil, crude oil that we're importing--we are importing gasoline, a product that has been refined in another country, we are importing about 6.9 billion gallons of gasoline, refined crude oil into this country every year, and probably the same amount in diesel. There is no excuse for us sending our hard-earned dollars to foreign countries when we could be doing it ourselves, and especially, going to the pump and paying over $4 a gallon when this new majority for the 110th Congress had a commonsense plan to bring down skyrocketing price of gas when it was $2.20.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. And with the devastation that we've had in Iowa, in some of the corn-producing States, it would be nice if we just give a temporary halt to that tariff to get this ethanol in.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Thank you. And let me just close with saying this: You're probably going to hear later on tonight that there are 68 million acres out there to drill on. Keep this in mind, Madam Speaker, we don't go to the hardware store to buy groceries. We're not going to drill on land that does not have resources under it. If you look at the Outer Continental Shelf and the lands that the Federal Government have inside this country, it is 2.5 billion acres of land. You're going to hear that the oil companies have these leases and they're not drilling them. It is law today that if a company that leases land does not honor that lease agreement, that lease is taken away from them. These arguments will not hold water. It is time to act, and the time is now. It is time that this Congress turns into a Congress of action that wants to move forward--our being less dependent on foreign oil--and quit relying on our enemies in an unstable region to produce our oil, to produce our energy. So I want to thank the two gentlemen for joining me tonight. I hope you will go to house.gov/westmoreland and see the people that have signed up and believe in the fact that we need to increase U.S. oil production to lower the gas prices for all Americans. And Mr. Peterson, you can close.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Speaker, it is great to be back tonight to address some of the concerns that most Americans have today, and that is the cost of energy. Let me start out by saying that I have gotten numerous calls and e- mails concerning the price that the average American is paying for gas today. As most Americans realize, gas is up over $4 a gallon. When the 110th Congress started and the new majority took over, after telling the American people that they had a commonsense plan to bring down the skyrocketing price of gas, and keep in mind at the time it was about $2.20 a gallon, we have seen the price of gas go up to $4.05 now. I have had many people call and ask me if I had signed the petition on several Internet sites, such as AmericanSolutions.com and some other sites that were out there where the American people could go and sign a petition telling us, Madam Speaker, Members of Congress, that they wanted us to drill now, drill here, and bring down the price of gas. And so as I was thinking about that, I thought, you know, we are hearing from our constituents about they want us to do something, to take action, to bring down the price of gas because that's what we do in this Congress, Madam Speaker, is we are here to help the American people, and especially with their pocketbook. So as I got to thinking about that, I said you know we all hear from our constituents, but sometimes our constituents don't know how we really feel because a lot of times these issues are not brought to the floor, or when they are brought to the floor they are so convoluted and so hard to understand that someone could go home and answer their constituency as to why they voted for a bill or why they voted against a bill because you could probably take either side on any piece of legislation that is passed in this body. I said I need to come up with the simplest thing that I can to make sure that the American people understand and there can't be any wiggle room from their Member of Congress where they stand on bringing down energy prices. And so I came up with this petition. What this petition says is ``American energy solutions for lower gas prices. Bring onshore oil online. Bring deepwater oil online. Bring new refineries online.'' We have not opened a refinery in this country since the late 1970s. So what I did, this is the petition we have had on the floor all today for Members to sign. What it says is very simple; very, very, simple, ``I will vote to increase U.S. oil production to lower gas prices for Americans.'' That's about as simple as it gets. It's not politics. It's not gotcha politics, it is the kind of change that I think the American people want, honesty and common sense. Honesty and common sense. So today we have had a total to date of 126 people out of 435 sign this petition. So 126 out of the 435, and I hope that it will continue. But I hope, Madam Speaker, that people understand that they can go to House.gov/Westmoreland and find out if their Congressman has signed the petition or not. And if not, you might want to ask them why because the thing is pretty clear. It just says ``I will vote to increase U.S. oil production to lower gas prices for Americans.'' That's about as simple as it gets. So we are proud to have this petition and we are proud of the American people, Madam Speaker, for going to these Web sites to sign these petitions to let us know how you feel about paying these outlandish gas prices at the pump. What I want to do is make sure that the American people know how their Congressman feels about the pain they are suffering at the pump. I yield to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton).

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Twelve percent lower production and an increase in drilling.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. See, this is a picture of it. It's a frozen tundra. It goes back to the fact that we are continually getting further and further behind. I think the American people, Madam Speaker, are at a point where they're saying we are wanting some action. And that's the reason we came up with the petition for Members of Congress to sign because we are the ones that can create the action. The American people can't create the action. It's our duty to create the action. And so we started the petition, and this is a petition for just the Members, the elected Members of this body. It says: American energy solutions for lower gas prices. Bring onshore oil online, bring deepwater oil online. And I guess we need to add natural gas to that, too, because that sounds like something we need to get on in a hurry. But also bring new refineries, bring new capabilities of refining this oil where we don't have to import 6.9 billion gallons of gas into this country a year. And so what we did, we came up with a petition that's simple. This is not hard for anybody to understand, and you can't dance around it. It basically says: I will vote to increase U.S. oil production to lower gas prices for Americans. And we've got every Member, even the Delegates, a place to sign here. So far, out of the 435 Members, plus the Delegates, I don't know if that's seven delegates or whatever it is, we have 126 signatures. And so it's going good, and you can go to house.gov/westmoreland to find out if your Member of Congress has signed it or not. We're trying to make this as simple as we can, to make us a responsive body, a body of action, rather than just laying here saying ``we can't'' to ``we can.'' And I think that the gentleman from Pennsylvania and the gentleman from Indiana have made terrific points here tonight, and I want to thank you all for coming. We've got about 8 minutes, so I'll give you a couple minutes a piece to close, and then we'll wrap it up.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Peterson.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. We import from them.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. And they're celebrating. I saw in the paper where they found that big oil reserve offshore, and the Brazilian people were celebrating over finding it, and we know it's there and can't even get our country to drill.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. And Madam Speaker, with that, I know you have enjoyed this, we yield back the balance of our time.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Last month we had a motion to recommit that demanded that within 90 days we recognized three bases that had been under the BRAC, or the base realignment, to start looking at refineries and it was voted down by the majority.

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, isn't it true that if this motion were to pass, the bill could be recommitted back to the committees from which it came and reported back the next legislative day?

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, I want to take just a moment, before I start with any of my energy remarks, to welcome President Chen, Joy and Sean Chen here with General Protecht that is opening up a business in my district in Barnesville, Georgia. It's great to have them visiting Washington, D.C. What I really want to talk to the people about today, Mr. Speaker, is the fact that it is time that the American people understand where Congress is on providing them with our own resources to bring about lower gas prices and lower energy prices. I have had several constituents and people e-mailing me and calling me, asking me about a number of petitions that were on the Web or that were in service stations or in Wal-Marts or in Home Depots, and they were wanting to know how I felt about drilling onshore, about drilling in deep water and about bringing more refineries on line. So, as I looked at some of these petitions--and some of them I saw-- one was on American solutions, and there were others, but the one on American solutions had about 600,000 signatories. Six hundred thousand Americans had taken the time to go to that Web site to sign the petition that said, ``Drill now. Drill here. Less price.'' Less gasoline price. So I thought, you know, that's interesting because we know how these constituents feel, but do our constituents really know, Mr. Speaker, how Members of Congress feel? Because we do things up here to keep the American people from knowing exactly what we do think because we make these issues as to so many different subject matters that we can find excuses to vote for or against most any proposal that is brought to this floor. So what I want to do is simplify it, simplify it for the American people--for our constituents--and, Mr. Speaker, for the Members of Congress. So I came up with a petition for this House of Representatives, and the petition is simple. The petition says: ``American energy solutions for lower gas prices. Bring onshore oil on line. Bring deep water oil on line, and bring new refineries on line.'' I've got a petition here. Don't worry. This is one board. We've got five boards. We've got every district, all 435 Members who can vote in this House. We've got a petition, and it says, ``I will vote to increase U.S. oil production to lower gas prices for Americans.'' How simple is that? That's pretty simple. So what we've done is we've got this. Congressman Price and myself didn't bring it out until, really, after everybody had kind of gone home up here last Thursday, and we've already gotten 20 signatories. I've got two pens that I'm going to attach to these petitions. Mr. Speaker, I'm going to put them over here by the back door here on the minority side, and I'm going to invite every Member of Congress who believes that they would vote to reduce these prices to come by and sign them. Just to give the American people, Mr. Speaker, a way to look at this, we are going to post, and are going to try to post in as real a time as we can, on different Web pages who has signed it. So, if you want to know who has signed so far, you can go to House.gov/Westmoreland, and you can also go to GOP.gov/energy. Now, these are two Web sites that are going to have posted by the end of the day who all has signed. If you, Mr. Speaker, or if anybody out there might want to know if your Congressman has signed, then you can go to that Web site. We have had all different types of arguments in this House about energy, and the Democrats had an energy bill that they proposed and actually passed that President Bush signed into law in December of 2007. The Democratic majority passed this as one of their big issues in January of 2007.

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Okay. Well, all right. But further parliamentary inquiry. If there's four of us in here, and one stands up, is that, in the Chair's opinion, enough to call for a vote?

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.