Lynn A. Westmoreland

Let me say this, that it is a shame that we are having to limit so much of the travel. We need to conserve, but we can't conserve our way out of this. The real shame of this is when winter comes and natural gas is twice what it was. Mr…

it's good to be here tonight, and I wanted to come and talk about something that's concerning Americans all over this country, and that's the price of gas and what we're doing about it here in this body, this decisive body that's supposed…

It's good to be here this morning and to be back to work on a good Tuesday morning, Madam Speaker, to let the American people know that we are on the job and that we're here to, hopefully, this week work on the price at the pump. We are…

And to my friend, reclaiming my time for just a moment. That is the reason that I came up with the petition because there were so many people that were signing petitions on the Internet, drill here, drill now, lower prices, other…

If I could just interrupt, claim back my time for just 1 minute in the fact that they want us to use alternative fuels. They want to go to alternative fuels and we do to. We think that is something that we need to be developing. But this…

I had been contacted by several of my constituents... the American people were doing everything that they could... to let us know, Members of Congress, the people who are sworn to take action to help our constituents... But there was no…

Thank you, sir. You know, I want to just show the American people: We're not going to immediately drill ourselves out of the spot, Mr. Speaker. But in 1995, the Congress passed drilling in ANWR. President Clinton vetoed it. Had he not…

And can I read one comment? This was from Greenpeace. They say, Let's end fossil fuel use. For decades, we have relied on oil, coal, and gas to meet our ever-increasing energy needs. And now we are facing the consequences for our actions…

it is great to be back tonight to address some of the concerns that most Americans have today, and that is the cost of energy. Let me start out by saying that I have gotten numerous calls and e-mails concerning the price that the average…

Thank you. And let me just close with saying this: You're probably going to hear later on tonight that there are 68 million acres out there to drill on. Keep this in mind, Madam Speaker, we don't go to the hardware store to buy groceries…

See, this is a picture of it. It's a frozen tundra. It goes back to the fact that we are continually getting further and further behind. I think the American people, Madam Speaker, are at a point where they're saying we are wanting some…

And they're celebrating. I saw in the paper where they found that big oil reserve offshore, and the Brazilian people were celebrating over finding it, and we know it's there and can't even get our country to drill.

So if they think the price at the pump is painful, wait till they start trying to stay warm.

Isn't it true that we have a 54 percent tariff on ethanol brought into this country? Fifty-four cents a gallon on ethanol brought into the country, and already right now corn is at $7.

To the point the gentleman makes, if we had started back in the seventies or the eighties or the nineties, we'd be further down the road. I don't want my grandkids to say, ``Pa Pa, why didn't you start it in 2008?''

And with the devastation that we've had in Iowa, in some of the corn-producing States, it would be nice if we just give a temporary halt to that tariff to get this ethanol in.

Well, Mr. Peterson, let me say this. We have that technology, and there was a push in the late 1990s, mid- to late-1990s to convert gasoline engines to propane. Then the EPA put such testing regulations on the emissions testing for these…

We need to be doing something about it, and that's what we're trying to do. And to my friend from Pennsylvania, and thank you for coming down tonight and helping Mr. Burton and myself with this because we know that you are an expert on it…

I don't want to have to answer that question to my grandkids. If you will remember, this Congress in 1995 passed drilling in ANWR. President Clinton vetoed it. Today, we would be getting 1 million barrels of oil a day from ANWR. The…

Last month we had a motion to recommit that demanded that within 90 days we recognized three bases that had been under the BRAC, or the base realignment, to start looking at refineries and it was voted down by the majority.

To the point that you're making, and I think that's what, Madam Speaker, the American people don't understand, the reason the majority is failing to act on our ability to drill in our own lands is that their base wants gas to be $10 a…

I want to take just a moment, before I start with any of my energy remarks, to welcome President Chen, Joy and Sean Chen here with General Protecht that is opening up a business in my district in Barnesville, Georgia. It's great to have…

I want to just address a couple of things that have been brought up; use it or lose it, drill it or lose it. That is already the law. That's already the law. We have 68 million acres out of 2.5 billion. Now we talked about common sense, at…

This might be a long-term plan, but you have to start some time. There has been a proposal by Senator McCain to give some temporary relief with a gas tax holiday during the summer to allow some people some extra spending money. It is not a…

Thank you, and it is real simple, too. It can't be confused with anything else. American energy solutions for lower gas prices simply reads, ``I will vote to increase U.S. oil production to lower gas prices for Americans.'' It is real…