C. W. Bill Young: “my friends who are opposing the Putnam-Capps amendment would like us to believe that in the Gulf of Mexico there is an…”

“my friends who are opposing the Putnam-Capps amendment would like us to believe that in the Gulf of Mexico there is an unlimited supply of nice, clean, cheap natural gas just waiting for someone to punch a hole and it will come flowing out. That is really interesting because Mr. Peterson's effort last year was to create an inventory to see if there was any natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico. There is something wrong here. That is not really consistent. Last year we did not know if there was or not. This year we are prepared to violate environmental concerns. Is there gas there or is there not gas there? And what about the high cost? I learned something interesting at the Appropriations Committee the other day, that no matter what it costs to produce a barrel of oil domestically in the United States we still pay the same price that OPEC charges. Why? I do not know. One Member told me that his State produces oil for $30 a barrel that has to go through Canada, and they sell it back to us at 70 some dollars a barrel. There is something wrong with that. And then this afternoon I learned that natural gas is priced the same way. So is it going to be less expensive to produce in the Gulf of Mexico, where the environmental issues are real and the national defense issues are real, or should we allow, as Mr.…”