Chris Murphy: “we find ourselves with so many things happening now. We have increased gasoline prices, increased winter heating costs…”

“we find ourselves with so many things happening now. We have increased gasoline prices, increased winter heating costs, natural gas prices are up, manufacturing jobs are down, all because the cost of energy has remained high. Our demand for oil has grown, our production simply cannot meet demands, and this has caused increased prices. We have increased population, and we want more manufacturers to remain in the United States. That means that we have to do something. Mr. Speaker, we do not need another hurricane to remind us that our energy infrastructure is wholly inadequate. Had we taken action to prevent our energy problems years ago, we would not have been vulnerable to natural disasters. For 30 years, we sat back. We did not want to study it. We did not want to take inventories. We did not want to explore. We resisted drilling for oil or gas. We did not build refineries. We did not move to develop clean coal technology. We did not build nuclear power plants over those 30 years, while demand grew. And eventually the system snapped. We did the same thing over and over again and expected different results. Until our refining capacity and production capacity expands, our oil markets will remain vulnerable to disruptions. We have to have increased conservation measures. We have to have the car-pooling measures in this bill. We have to have energy-efficient cars, but we have to have more refineries.…”