Energy Policy Act of 2003

ENERGY POLICY ACT OF 2003

AMENDMENT NO. 884

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I rise to say a few words in opposition to the Graham-Feinstein amendment. I am opposed to this amendment for several significant reasons.

This amendment would restrict our ability to conduct an inventory and analysis of our own energy resources. Section 105 of this bill will commission a comprehensive scientific study by the Department of the Interior concerning the energy resources of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf. It will provide the groundwork for an informed debate on the offshore drilling issue.

This amendment will only decrease our knowledge of these issues. That is why I call it a know-nothing amendment. The American public has a right and a need to know the status of its national resources. We survey, catalog, and inventory our forests, our fisheries, our coal reserves, and other valuable living and non-living natural resources. We should also allow for the study of our domestic offshore energy resources.

The information that we currently have concerning our oil and natural gas resources is limited, dated, and lacks the specificity required for this important debate. This legislation will allow the Department of the Interior to use the latest technology, except drilling, to update its resource estimates using all the available scientific data.

As we reexamine our growing energy needs for the future, the geopolitical reality of our Nation's dependence on foreign oil becomes all the more disturbing. The demand for natural gas in this country continues to increase, while domestic production continues to decrease. Decreased production will result in American increased prices for natural gas, fertilizers, agricultural chemicals and electricity.

The OCS survey is vital to our energy future, and to our ability in the Senate to make energy decisions based on the best available information.

The energy industry in my home State of Texas and all throughout the Nation has established a strong record on safety and environmental issues, and they are the most critical part of our continuing work to find alternative sources for energy.

While we are debating this matter on the floor, Cuba has already launched well projects north of the island in the Gulf of Mexico. Just last month, the Castro regime invited oil companies from other nations to drill, just miles away from our own international borders. We should not restrict our Nation's knowledge and ability to make responsible decisions regarding energy policy, while other nations plow ahead, with no U.S. oversight, no U.S. safety regulations, and no U.S. environmental standards.

With the prospect of energy challenges looming on the horizon, now is not the time to ransom our sovereignty over our energy resources for the sake of short term political gain.

These natural resources belong to the American people, and they deserve an accounting of them. The debate over offshore drilling is a critical one, and it deserves our full attention.

I oppose this amendment as imprudent and inappropriate. That is why it was defeated by a strong bipartisan vote in the Senate Energy Committee. That is why it deserves to be defeated again.

I yield the floor.