Building America's Energy Security

Floor Speech

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Mr. DUNCAN of South Carolina. I thank the gentleman.

I have stood on the floor many times in my short service in the United States Congress to talk about this very topic, and that's American energy independence.

We hear terms like all-of-the-above energy approach and energy policy. I like to think about an all-American energy policy where we utilize American resources to meet our energy needs in this country.

I applaud the House Republicans, and specifically the House Energy Action Team, for focusing on three things--jobs, energy security, and national security. And they go hand in hand.

By pursuing an all-American energy policy, we're putting Americans to work. Whether you're talking about voting the Keystone pipeline or talking about offshore drilling, putting Americans to work is what's important.

I think about North Dakota and an energy-driven economy in North Dakota, your great State. They give you a job when you get off an airplane up there whether you need one or not; that's how many jobs they have available. If you're looking for work, America, go to North Dakota. But let me tell you, that's a microcosm of what we could be in this great Nation if we truly pursued an energy policy utilizing American resources, putting Americans to work. That's really what it's about. And that's one thing that I think the House Energy Action Team is focused on.

The second thing is energy security: lessening our dependence on foreign sources of energy, utilizing the resources that we have in this country. God blessed the United States of America with the resources that we have here: oil, natural gas and coal.

We heard just this week that the Obama administration is going to wage a war on coal--not that they haven't already been waging a war on coal. But I think they're waging a war on American energy independence. Because by utilizing the resources that we have in this country, we could lessen our dependence on foreign sources and make certain parts of the world that seem hostile to American interests not so important. So American energy independence is the second thing.

The third thing segues right into that, and that's national security. In fact, I think it was Admiral Mullen that said there is no national security without energy security. Think about that for a minute. Energy security means that we do have national security, that we can meet our energy needs, not just to drive our economy and the engines of our economy, but also fuel the engines of our United States defense. Putting those airplanes in the air and the ships in the oceans and the tanks in the desert or in the forest, that takes energy. If we can meet our needs through American resources, then we do have true American independence. An all-American energy strategy is the right thing for this country.

Just this week, we're going to take up two very, very important bills. One of them deals with opening up all of the Outer Continental Shelf areas that are currently off-limits under the Obama administration moratorium--the moratorium that George Bush lifted. He said, you know what, we need to be energy independent; we're going to lift the moratorium for offshore drilling, and we're going to open up those areas for more utilization. And so we're going to do that.

Off the coast of my State, South Carolina, and Virginia and other places, we're going to go after those resources that we believe to be there. We're going to allow exploration. We're going to allow production. And we're also going to allow revenue-sharing back to those States whose economies are struggling now just like the U.S. economy when we're $17 trillion in debt.

Our State economies are struggling as well, But we can utilize and bring back revenue to the States through revenue-sharing. An example is Wyoming gets $1 billion a year in revenue-sharing for production on Federal lands. The Gulf Coast States get revenue back to those States. South Carolina would love to benefit from that as well.

The second thing--and I'll end with this--is a bill that I have on the floor that I authored that would implement an agreement that was signed by the Obama administration. Hillary Clinton--Secretary Clinton at the time--entered into this agreement with Foreign Minister Espinosa of Mexico that said, you know what, we have a maritime border, a border between the United States and Mexico. Out in the Gulf of Mexico in the water is a maritime border and, guess what, there are resources underneath that border. Who owns those? Does Mexico own those resources? Do we own those resources? They're shared resources.

So they entered into this agreement and said we're going to go after those in the Western Gap, not over near Cuba, but closer to the western side of the gulf. We're going to go after those resources, and we're going to allow exploration of those resources, production of those resources. And we're going to share those revenues with each country because we are co-owners of those resources.

They got this one right with this agreement. We're

going to implement that because we waited a year on Ken Salazar with the Department of the Interior to send us the implementing language so that we can go forward with a lease in that area of the Western Gap, but he failed to do that. So we took the bull by the horns in the United States Congress, and we authored this legislation and said we think this is important to American energy security; we think this is important to national security; and we're going to work with our southern neighbor in Mexico, and we're going to develop those resources in that transboundary area with a hydrocarbon agreement, and we're going to go forward with implementing that. That's what this bill does.

America understands that we've got the resources. America understands we can work with Mexico and safely and soundly harvest those resources using American safety standards and regulation standards. It is the right thing for America, and that's H.R. 1613. I look forward to passage of that.

I thank the gentleman from North Dakota for his leadership on the House Energy Action Team.

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