Energy Policy Act of 2004

ENERGY POLICY ACT OF 2004 -- (House of Representatives - June 15, 2004)

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Mr. POMBO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole).

Mr. COLE. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time.

Mr. Speaker, I am here to talk briefly about the reasons that I support this particular energy bill. I think we ought to talk first about the need, then about the process and then about, finally, some of the important provisions in this bill.

In terms of the need, the President warned us 3 years ago what would happen if we did not have a comprehensive energy policy. He warned us that natural gas prices would go up and that would make American industry less competitive. He warned us that we would become more dependent upon foreign supplies, and he warned us that the price of gasoline was going to become prohibitive for many Americans. All of those warnings have been vindicated by the facts as we have frankly in Congress failed to act on I think a series of excellent recommendations by the administration.

So we have had the warning. We should have acted. I compliment this body for having acted in a bipartisan fashion. Frankly I am appreciative for the majority of our friends in the other body for having been supportive of this particular piece of legislation. If it were not for a technicality that prevents us from getting the legislation to a vote, we could have had the energy policy that this country needs months and months and months ago, and it would have resulted in more natural gas, lower prices at the pump and more security for the United States of America.

That is something we ought to think about. This bill is the product of an intricate negotiated compromise that will lead this country down the path toward energy independence, something we have needed for many, many years. Particularly I am pleased, Mr. Speaker, in the fact that it allows for the construction of a natural gas pipeline from Alaska's North Slope to the Lower 48 States. That would open up a tremendous new source of energy for this country. It allows for more natural gas exploration development by providing royalty relief for deep and ultradeep gas wells in the shallow waters off the Gulf of Mexico. I would have liked frankly to have seen those same provisions extended to deep gas drilling on land but as one of the compromises that was not included in the bill. I hope we can do that later. It authorizes and encourages more nuclear power, more energy.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation which is genuinely bipartisan and move this country toward energy independence.

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