Trent Lott: “But for 3 years the Senate has been trying to come to an agreement on legislation that could get through the conference…”

“But for 3 years the Senate has been trying to come to an agreement on legislation that could get through the conference and be sent to the President so we will have a national energy policy. I believe this is a very important issue for the future of this country. If we don't have a national energy policy and if we don't deal with these many areas of concern, the day will come when the lack of a national energy policy will cause national security or economic problems for this country. We could see that even this coming winter as we see a declining availability of natural gas. By the way, it is inexcusable that we are having a national gas shortage. It is because of our policies. That led to this shortage. If we don't have an adequate supply, it will affect the economy across the board. It is already affecting the chemical industry in my State, and the fertilizer industry. It is going to affect people's quality of life. This is so important. We need the whole package. We need more production. We need new technology. We need clean coal technology. That is just one example. We need more conservation of a responsible nature. We need to look at alternative fuels. I think a lot of these alternative fuels are, quite frankly, not very legitimate. But it is legitimate to try to find alternative fuels. I urge my colleagues, let us work together.…”