Energy Independence in America

ENERGY INDEPENDENCE IN AMERICA -- (House of Representatives - June 19, 2008)

The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Murphy of Connecticut). Under a previous order of the House, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, the American people are crying out. The story in my district is no different than across our country. As gas prices continue to rise, Washington is deadlocked. The energy crisis is sapping our economic future coast to coast. Consolidation in the oil industry is putting a tourniquet on the heart of the American economy.

In 1983, the United States consumed about 18 percent of the world's oil supply. Today, with the price of oil at over $135 a barrel, our share of world oil consumption has grown to over 25 percent. We only have 5 percent of the world's population, but we consume 25 percent of the global oil supply.

During the last 25 years, our country has gone from producing the majority of its oil domestically to importing most of our oil from abroad. So, since 1997, the United States' gluttony for oil has boiled over, and we've been consistently importing more than half of the oil we consume since the late 1990s. The increasing levels of oil importation have caused our structural deficit to skyrocket and have encouraged the creation of a pipeline that flows in the wrong direction--straight from the Middle East.

This pipeline is not carrying back our finished cars or windmills or solar arrays, but, instead, hundreds of billions of dollars every year from the American people's pockets are going to some of the most undemocratic regimes in the world.

The GAO has recently come to a conclusion which is obvious to the American people. As oil companies continue to consolidate, the price of oil spikes. The GAO report shows that, for the seven large mergers they modeled, five led to increased prices. Especially with the ExxonMobil and MAP-UDS oil merger, gas prices have increased upwards of 2 cents a gallon. Since 1976, not a single refinery has been built in this country, and between 1991 and 2000, over 2,600 mergers in all segments of the U.S. petroleum industry have destroyed competition.

As fewer players control bigger segments of the industry, the American people lose. ExxonMobil reports earnings of $40 billion in a single year, and as the price of gasoline increases, these firms merge into even larger and larger conglomerates.

This week, we passed into law a farm bill with over $1 billion of incentives to begin converting a portion of our market to biofuels. That is long overdue. With gasoline prices reaching toward $5 a gallon, it's time for action here in Washington. The other body and the President should join us in passing H.R. 1252, the Federal Price Gouging Prevention Act, H.R. 5351, the Renewable Energy Act and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2008, and a renewable energy portfolio standard to bring these new energy technologies into our Nation's grid. While our House of Representatives has acted on these bills, we really need a commitment from the other part of this institution and up Pennsylvania Avenue.

As this summer's driving season begins, Americans will be brutally reminded that energy innovation will never materialize unless we develop public policy that prevents the big oil companies from manipulating and from controlling our market. In fact, we really lost control in 1998 when over half of our market came from someplace else. From investigations into the futures market to a comprehensive antitrust policy, we can get rid of the corruption, manipulation and speculation that have driven the cost of oil higher and higher to a point where many of our people simply cannot afford it. The way out of this is innovation and invention, and these very same companies should not throttle that invention in this country. In fact, they should be investing in it themselves.

This government needs to take a lead in helping every American, if they so choose, to become a producer on the roofs of their houses and in the fields in their regions. We could have wind farms, geothermal, fuel cells, biofuels, cryogenic hydrogen. All of these are a part of America in the 21st century.

Mr. Speaker, it's really difficult to be a Member of Congress and to see the future and yet not be able to gain a majority of votes in both Chambers and the real leadership of the President of the United States to meet this critical national need. America's energy dependence is our largest strategic vulnerability. It's time that we stopped trying to bring in oil from every place else on the globe and, rather, become energy independent here at home.

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