EPW Blog
Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, gave a floor speech on America’s energy policy today. Selected Excerpts of Inhofe’s Energy Speech:
“I believe that America is not running out of oil and gas or running out of places to look for oil and gas. America is running out of places where the Democrats in Congress are allowing us to look for oil and gas. Again I ask, why should producing America’s own resources be a partisan issue? It shouldn’t be, but it is. The Democrats in Congress refuse to increase our supply of energy, and gas prices keep rising. I call on the Democrats to act to expand refinery capacity and to open the nation’s access to the Outer Continental Shelf, ANWR, and the Rocky Mountain oil shale, and preserve access to Canadian oil sands. Today’s American oil producer operates with the most sophisticated environmental technologies and policies on the planet. 67 percent of the American people recognize the need for development and support action. It’s time to end the Democratic Party’s obstruction. The American public must demand that the Democrats in Congress allow us to produce our own resources.
Americans are clearly embracing the need for expanded domestic production. Recent polling data from Rasmussen shows that 67 percent of American voters support offshore drilling - only 18 percent oppose. The same poll also found that 64 percent believe that if offshore drilling is allowed, gas prices will go down. Another poll from The Polling Company Inc. found that 81 percent of Americans support greater use of domestic energy resources
But even though the American public strongly supports expanded use of American resources, oil and gas exploration and production is currently prohibited on 85 percent of America’s offshore waters. The Pacific and Atlantic regions of the Outer Continental Shelf which hold an estimated 14 billion barrels of oil and 55 trillion cubic feet of gas are off-limits. 14 billion barrels of oil are equivalent to more than 25 years’ worth of our imports from Saudi Arabia. Looking to Alaska, ANWR is estimated to contain 10 billion barrels of oil - about 15 years’ worth of imports from Saudi Arabia. If President Clinton hadn’t vetoed legislation allowing environmentally sensitive exploration on the Coastal Plain of ANWR ten years ago, today we would have 1 million additional barrels of oil a day coming from ANWR. Turning to oil shale, the potential energy development from these resources is truly massive. But, once again, Democrats are blocking development. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2007 established a one-year moratorium on the necessary funding to complete the final regulations for commercial leasing of oil shale.
In an effort to hide their true record of blocking access to America’s own resources, the Democrats are engaged in a campaign of shifting blame claiming that there are 68 million acres in America where oil and gas companies have bought the right to drill and they are sitting on them. Very simply, not all leases contain oil. Sometimes at the end of the day there is no oil or gas found on a lease. For example, between 2002 and 2007, 52 percent of all the exploration wells and 8 percent of all development wells were dry.
By opening the nation’s access to the reserves of the Outer Continental Shelf, ANWR, and Oil Shale, we could cut our nation’s trade deficit nearly in half. According to the Energy Information Administration, the U.S. spent more than $327 billion to import oil in 2007. These oil imports accounted for 46 percent of the nation’s $711 billion trade deficit last year.”
Read the full testimony here.