Joe Barton: “I think you begin to get the point we are trying to put across this evening. America has got great energy resources. We…”

“I think you begin to get the point we are trying to put across this evening. America has got great energy resources. We are not using those resources right now. For various political reasons, we have put them off limits. We are not allowing any exploration or production in ANWR in Alaska. We are not allowing any exploration or production off the West Coast of the United States. We are not allowing any exploration or production off the East Coast of the United States. We are not allowing our shale oil resources to be developed in the interior of the United States. We are not developing our coal resources with the clean coal technology that the gentleman from Ohio spoke about. So we are a victim of self-inflicted wounds in this country. I would like to say that it can't get any worse, but it can. I was just on a congressional delegation that visited Europe. We went to Slovenia and to Italy to interact with the European parliament and then toured some NATO bases in Italy. They are paying the equivalent of $9 a gallon for gasoline, $9. So even though we think $4 a gallon is way too high, there are other parts of the world that are paying double what we are paying. If our energy prices continue to go up, there will be consequences. General Motors just announced yesterday they are closing four of their automobile assembly plants in this country.”