Energy Policy Act of 2003

ENERGY POLICY ACT OF 2003

Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I, too, am pleased to join my colleagues, Senators Landrieu, Specter, Bingaman, and Alexander, in offering this amendment to reduce our consumption of oil by a million barrels a day by the year 2013. This is a very reasonable and achievable goal, and I congratulate the Senator from Louisiana for coming up with this initiative and reaching out to those of us who share her concern that our Nation is too dependent on foreign oil.

Increasing energy efficiency is the single most effective way to reduce our reliance on foreign oil. Without a greater focus on energy-efficiency measures, the Energy legislation before us, which has many valuable provisions, will not be effective in reducing our dependence on foreign oil. As long as we continue to guzzle foreign oil, we will be at the mercy of those nations that control that oil. We are already nearly 60-percent reliant on foreign sources, and the Energy Information Administration projects that our dependence will increase to 70 percent by the year 2010 if we do not act. If we do not do more to improve the energy efficiency standards, America will only grow more dependent on foreign oil and the price of gas and home heating oil will only rise accordingly.

Our amendment would help to reduce oil consumption by a million barrels a day by the year 2013. It would do so by giving the President the flexibility to decide among any number of simple energy saving measures to achieve these savings. For example, simply weatherizing homes which use home heating oil could save 80,000 barrels of oil per day. Using energy-efficient engine oil could save another 100,000 barrels per day. Just keeping our tires on our automobiles properly inflated could save 200,000 barrels per day. In short, by taking a few easily adopted measures, we could reduce our consumption of oil by a million barrels a day.

We currently use about 19 million barrels a day. So this would make a real difference. It would result in a reduction of consumption of imported oil. Reducing our consumption by 1 million barrels per day will also help to keep energy prices down and will keep billions of American dollars at home where they belong. In fact, this proposal we have advanced could save American consumers upwards of $20 billion each year.

I call upon my colleagues to join us today in supporting our commonsense measure to reduce our reliance on foreign oil by reducing our consumption of oil by a million barrels a day. It is right for our environment. It is right for our economy. It is right for the American consumer.

I yield the floor.