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“ENERGY INDEPENDENCE” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Agriculture was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H7843-H7844 on Sept. 13, 2005.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
ENERGY INDEPENDENCE
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Kuhl of New York). Under a previous order of the House, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I listened to the gentleman from Nebraska
(Mr. Osborne), and I wish to just add that many times people find their families breaking apart and experience a sense of hopelessness because of the pressures that come to bear.
{time} 2045
It is not that they necessarily have bad character, but, in fact, very bad things happen to them. And in fact, Hurricane Katrina showed us in another way how America's overdependence on imported petroleum leaves our families more economically vulnerable and leaves America strategically more vulnerable to shortages or other market disruptions.
If we look in the past year of 2004, the five major U.S. oil companies, Exxon, British Petroleum, Shell, Chevron, and Conoco, have almost tripled their profits from 2002, taking in over $50 billion more than they did just 2 years before. And guess where those dollars came from? Right out of our pockets, putting greater pressures on family life. In 2005, after months of suspected price gouging, these five major oil companies are on target to pocket over $100 billion more, nearly $40 billion more than Congress has appropriated so far to rebuild the entirety of our devastated Gulf Coast, which has taken generations to build. That is how much money these big companies are making.
According to the September 1 Wall Street Journal article, unleaded gasoline prices surged 36 percent in just 3 days, pushing the wholesale price to 132 percent above 1 year ago. This massive increase occurred despite the fact that in the same 3-day period, the price of crude oil went up just 4.25 percent. Over the past year, crude oil prices have gone up 64 percent. So that means the wholesale price of gasoline jumped nine times as fast as the price of crude in 3 days and is running more than double the increase of crude over the past year; and these companies are gaining a windfall benefit.
According to information provided by the Congressional Research Service, we suffered a gasoline shortage of 13 percent as a result of Hurricane Katrina. But in 2004, according to a Congressional Research study, 2.5 percent of motor fuel usage in our country came from ethanol, a fuel produced here at home. If we had moved to providing 10 percent of our fuel from ethanol, as some States like Minnesota do, we would have been able to replace more than half of this shortfall with ethanol and put the money in the pockets of our own farmers rather than dictators and kings over whom we have almost no control.
As of today, there are about 5 million vehicles on the road that will run on 85 percent ethanol, but most people do not know it, and it is very difficult to find the fuel because these companies do not want to really bring it on line.
We need to change this situation. The 2002 farm bill provided the first-ever energy title as part of a farm bill in American history, promoting the production and usage of ethanol, biodiesel, and other renewable energy sources. But in recent years, instead of moving to aggressively implement these provisions, the Bush administration has consistently proposed reducing funding for these energy programs. And this is after his own energy plan failed to provide a single one of its 103 recommendations directed at programs offered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. We have agriculture waiting, a lady in waiting, that this administration refuses to see to help America move toward energy independence.
The recently passed energy bill makes additional moves in that direction, but fails to take America in the direction fast enough to counter these massive price increases. Think about it. Oil shortages in the 1970s. Wars in the Middle East in the early 1990s and again now have the supply of oil looming as a prime motivator. Domestic shortages due to national disasters such as Katrina push up gasoline prices to a national average of more than $3 a gallon and local prices as high as
$6 a gallon. When will we learn? When will we take control of our own fate?
I have sponsored the Biofuels Energy Independence Act of 2005, H.R. 388, to advance research, development, production, and marketing of biofuels produced from renewable sources like corn, soybeans, cellulose, and other biomass supplies. I want to again urge my colleagues to break America's addiction to imported oil right now by taking advantage of technology that is available today. Literally, we could displace one third of imported petroleum with these renewable fuels that could be produced inside our borders. All it takes is leadership. Is it not time?
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