Political Quotes

“I have come to the floor this evening to discuss America's tremendous natural resource potential and to again highlight the fact that if we choose to, we can absolutely produce more of our energy to meet more of our Nation's needs. I also wish to address an argument that is often made in opposition to new domestic production, because I believe each and every Member of this Chamber needs to know the facts and the consequences of our current approach. Without a doubt, understanding how much energy we have is at the very foundation of an energy policy. The Presiding Officer sits on the Energy Committee with me and we talk about our Nation's energy policy. When we talk about an all-of-the above, balanced energy portfolio, it is important to understand what it is we have. For resources such as wind and solar, it is pretty easy. They are renewable, so theoretically we should never run out. But for conventional resources, which make up about 83 percent of the energy America consumes, it is a different story. Oil and natural gas and coal aren't located on the surface of the Earth, so we don't exactly know what it is we have and where we have it. We have to look around for it. Finding and quantifying our resources is a tough enough task. Adding to the complexity is litany of technical terms used to describe them. There are proved reserves, probable reserves, possible reserves, unproved reserves, and our demonstrated reserve base.…”