John Shimkus: “more than 80 percent of the area in the Outer Continental Shelf is off-limits to energy development, while the…”

“more than 80 percent of the area in the Outer Continental Shelf is off-limits to energy development, while the Department of Energy estimates that maintaining U.S. economic growth through 2025 will require a 40 percent increase in natural gas. I rise in support of H.R. 4716, the Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act-- a vote for H.R. 4761 is a vote for agriculture. Currently, natural gas makes up 90 percent of the production cost of anhydrous ammonia, a nitrogen fertilizer and the chemical building block for all other nitrogen fertilizer products. Nitrogen fertilizer is used on all crops produced in this country, but it is a key plant nutrient to produce corn a critical crop to Illinois farmers. Since 2002, thirty-six percent of the U.S. nitrogen fertilizer industry has been shut down or slowed. This loss of U.S. production has had a significant impact on the American farmer. The continued loss of production from the domestic nitrogen industry would force U.S. farmers to rely on a highly uncertain and highly volatile world market with no assurance that they will be able to obtain enough product to meet their full demand. This is particularly important when considering the importance of nitrogen to farmers. For example, according to the University of Illinois, 30-50 percent of corn yields can be directly attributed to nitrogen fertilizer. Farm input prices have not gone down but have escalated at a record pace.…”