Energy Policy Act of 2005

ENERGY POLICY ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - April 20, 2005)

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AMENDMENT NO. 12 OFFERED BY MS. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

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Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

The over-reliance of the United States on imported petroleum creates a major strategic vulnerability for our Nation, with nearly half the energy supply of our country now imported, and that reliance grows every day.

My amendment has a goal of taking a small step toward energy independence in the following way: we have something called a Strategic Petroleum Reserve managed by the Department of the Interior, which has in that reserve about 700 million barrels of oil, allowing us to maintain a temporary shield from increased costs on oil.

The purpose of my amendment only allows, it does not require, the Secretary of Energy the discretion of including ethanol, biodiesel, and other alternative fuels in the Strategic Fuel Reserve. So it takes the word "petroleum" out, although petroleum will remain the major fuel; but it offers some encouragement, albeit mild, to try to get us to think differently about a new future for our country.

Every one of us has that responsibility, including the Secretaries of the Interior and Energy. This amendment is neutral. If the Secretary decided to secure alternative fuels, it would be paid for by the exchange or sale of crude oil from the existing reserve.

Ethanol and other bio-based fuels are two of the ways in which America can truly become more self-sufficient in fuel production and usage. This chart shows, just over the last 20 years or so, our petroleum consumption and how much more of it is imported, to now well over half.

It is projected in another 15 years our imported petroleum will rise to 75 percent. By 2050, most easily drawn-down reserves in the world will have been drawn down, not just by our country but by nations like China, for example, which are using more and more petroleum every year.

We simply cannot live in the 20th century any more. It is now the 21st century. If we look where we are importing our crude reserves, they are coming largely from the Middle East, followed by Mexico, Venezuela, Nigeria, many places that have difficulties politically.

Increasing use of renewable fuels will result in significant economic benefits to our Nation as well. For example, biodiesel production is dramatically increasing, going from about 5 million gallons in 2001 to five times that much this past 2003.

And Congress expanded the existing reserve in 2000 to include the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve. There is absolutely no reason that biodiesel cannot ultimately become part of that reserve and help us to transition off our increasing reliance on petroleum.

The use of biofuels makes environmental sense, allowing us to better preserve our natural environment. Biodiesel, for example, contains no sulfur, or aromatics associated with air pollution, and the use of something like biodiesel provides a 78.5 percent reduction in CO

2 emissions when compared to petroleum diesel.

Currently the SPR, the reserve, contains a number of domestic and foreign crude oils, and those fuels are stored separately. Adding additional storage capacity for other fuels could be planned very easily by the Secretary of Energy and the Secretary of the Interior.

The National Farmers Union, for example, is supporting this effort. People across this country really know America has to change. This is one small baby step. It is just encouraging language. It asks that those responsible for the current strategic reserve think more creatively, take the time to look at these alternative fuels, and help put America on a more energy-independent course.

Without question, the farmers across this country need new value added; and with the price of oil skyrocketing, and it really will not go down, it has not gone down in the last 30 years if you look at the progression of oil pricing in the spot markets, for example. And now these fuels are competitive.

There are many States taking the lead. Take Minnesota, take Iowa, take Nebraska, take the Dakotas. There are many places that have seen the future and are developing it. I think we here in Congress should respond to that inventiveness and that desire of the American people to invent their way to a new fuel future.

And, in fact, when you come to my part of the country and you look across the fields, you can see part of America's future in the fields of the future, and fuels of the future that will be produced on them and are being produced on them more and more every day.

Why should the Departments of Energy and the Interior not help us to move America forward. I would ask for favorable consideration of this amendment. And I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton) for allowing the amendment and the Rules Committee for granting it.

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Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.

If the gentleman and my colleagues could read the amendment, it does not prescribe any format for the Secretaries of Energy or Interior to use in creating this reserve. In fact, the reserve could actually be stored in the form of the raw material which is processed very easily and can be done immediately because the processing technology is on line.

So it literally could be the type of Commodity Credit Corporation booking that we use for other grains in our country and other material that we use in refining of alcohol-based fuels. So it does not say to the Secretary that they have to buy it in this form or store it in a given form. They could actually store the grain and use the powers of the Commodity Credit Corporation, for example, to broker those reserves. But nonetheless it would be available in the country.

We are talking about a process that actually is simpler than refining petroleum and refining crude and one that is much less dirty. So if I could beg the gentleman as we move towards conference, perhaps, I would like to move forward with this amendment in some form to find a manner in which it can work and with which the gentleman is comfortable.

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