Kent Conrad: “I rise today in support of bold action on energy policy for this country. I am pleased and indebted to the chairman of…”

“I rise today in support of bold action on energy policy for this country. I am pleased and indebted to the chairman of the Energy Committee for his leadership. I think all of us know our country faces serious energy challenges. The most pressing is the fact that our Nation is far too dependent on foreign oil. For example, we currently import roughly 60 percent of the oil we consume. You can see that in 2006, 60 percent of our oil came from imports; only 40 percent was domestic. Not only does this make us increasingly dependent on the most unstable parts of the world, but it is also leading to a financial hemorrhage. It is leading us to spend hundreds of billions of dollars abroad that could otherwise be deployed here at home. Imported petroleum accounted for $272 billion of the U.S. trade deficit over the last year, equal to 32 percent of our total trade deficit--$272 billion that we spend in other countries that could have been spent here at home. Imagine the difference in this country's economy if we were spending $270 billion in America securing energy here instead of shipping it to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Venezuela, Nigeria, and all of the other countries from whom we buy foreign oil. We know much of this oil is coming from the most unstable parts of the world. That puts us at risk, not only at economic risk but at national security risk.”