Senator Conrad's Floor Speech on his BOLD Energy Act 4/06/06 I rise today to introduce a comprehensive energy bill, one that I call "breaking our long-term dependency" or the BOLD Energy Act. As President Bush has stated, our nation is addicted to oil. Our economy requires over 20 million barrels of oil a day to fuel our cars, our trucks, heat our homes and bring goods to market all across the country. And 60 percent of our consumption -- 60 percent is from imports. Many of these imports are coming from the most volatile parts of the world, the most unstable parts of the world, and we've got to take serious steps now to reduce our growing dependency. That's what this bill is all about. This legislation, which is comprehensive in nature, which we have worked on for over six months, I believe is a serious contribution to the discussion. Let me make clear, this is not tepid steps. This legislation is bold because that's what the situation requires if we are to seriously reduce our dependence. This legislation invests approximately $40 billion over the next five years to meaningfully reduce our dependence on foreign energy. Much of our imported oil comes from unstable parts of the world. Forty-five percent of our oil comes from Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Nigeria, and Iraq. A major disruption to oil supplies in any of those areas could send oil over $100 a barrel. Threats to oil supplies and surging demand have contributed to a 95 percent increase in oil prices over the past two years. Imported oil now accounts for $266 billion of our trade deficit. That's more than a third of our total trade imbalance. Our nation faces other challenges on the energy front as well. Fluctuating natural gas prices threaten the livelihood of our nation's farmers and manufacturers. Electricity sales are projected to increase by 50 percent over the next 25 years. Transmission capacity constraints prevent development of power production in many parts of the country, including North Dakota. Fortunately, the United States has the domestic resources and the ingenuity to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and meet our energy challenges. It's time, I believe, to look to the Midwest rather than turning to the Middle East for our energy resources. We can turn our farm fields to produce more ethanol and biodiesel. Brazil shows what can be done. Thirty years ago Brazil was 80 percent dependent on foreign energy. They have reduced that dependence to less than 10 percent. At the same time, our country has gone from 35 percent dependence to now 60 percent dependence. We've been going the wrong way. Brazil has demonstrated what can be done to dramatically reduce one's energy dependence. How did they do it? They did it by aggressive promotion of biodiesel, by aggressive promotion of ethanol and by creating a fleet of flexible-fuel vehicles. We could do that here. And Brazilian officials are now predicting they will be completely energy-independent this year -- this year. We can use our abundant domestic reserve of coal to produce clean, clear fuel as part of a plan to reduce our dependence, in addition to the use of those renewables. Coal to liquid fuel technology has tremendous potential. Converting America's 273 billion tons of coal into transportation fuel would result in the equivalent of over 500 billion barrels of oil. That compares to Saudi Arabia's reserves of 262 billion barrels. Why are we continuing to be dependent and vulnerable to foreign sources of energy? It makes no sense. And it's time to do more than talk about the threat. It's time to act. And that's why I'm introducing the BOLD Energy Act today. My legislation would accomplish the following: it would increase production of renewable energy and alternative fuels; it would reward conservation and energy efficiency; it would provide more research and development funding for new energy technologies; it would promote responsible development of domestic fossil fuel resources; and it would facilitate upgrades to our nation's electricity grid. First the BOLD Act takes aggressive steps to increase alternative fuel production and use. It extends biodiesel and ethanol tax credits. It requires ethanol use in the United States to increase from 4.7 billion gallons in 2007 to 30 billion gallons in 2025. It creates a new biodiesel standard. It promotes alternative fueling stations and it establishes a 500 million dollar grant program for the expensive front --end engineering and design of coal to liquid fuel plants. These steps will allow us to substitute homegrown fuels for foreign oil, dramatically reducing our dependence on imported oil. Second, the experts tell us the single most important thing we can do to reduce our reliance on foreign oil is to improve the efficiency of our cars and trucks. My legislation provides a new rebate program for cars and trucks that achieve above-average fuel economy. The most fuel-efficient vehicles would qualify for rebates of up to $2,500. This will encourage consumers to buy and manufacturers to produce more fuel-efficient cars. We don't do this with the command and control structure of CAFE standards. We do it with incentives for the marketplace. My bill also requires that all vehicles sold in the United States by 2017 must include alternative fuel technologies, such as hybrid-electric or flex fuel systems. Automakers will be eligible for a 35 percent tax credit or retiree health care cost relief to make this transition. We have had extensive discussions with the automobile industry on how to design these incentives so they would be effective. North Dakota E-85 fueling systems will allow drivers to dramatically reduce gasoline usage. And in urban areas like Washington, D.C., where most drivers commute fewer than 20 miles a day, new plug-in hybrids will allow most trips to be fueled by electricity rather than gasoline. Third, the BOLD Energy Act promotes environmentally responsible energy development here at home. It increases the existing enhanced oil recovery tax credit to 20 percent for any new or expanded domestic drilling project that uses carbon dioxide to recover oil from aging wells. Again, we have consulted broadly with industry on what would be the most effective incentives to seriously increase domestic energy production. It also includes language authorizing energy development in the lease sale 181 area in the Gulf of Mexico but prohibits this development from occurring within 100 miles from the Florida coast or interfering with military activities in the gulf. These steps will allow us to substitute American oil and natural gas for imports-- creating jobs here at home and improving our energy security. Fourth, my BOLD Energy Act promotes new technologies to improve energy efficiency ad develop renewable energies such as wind and solar. It extends the renewable energy tax credit for five years and establishes a national 10 percent renewable electricity standard. My energy bill also creates a clean-coal energy bonds program to allow electric cooperatives, tribal governments and other public power systems to finance new advanced clean-coal power plants. Finally, my legislation will improve the electricity grid in the United State by making it easier for state governments to finance the construction of transmission lines through the issuance of tax-exempt bonds. Again, we have consulted broadly with industry over an extended period to find the things that would make the greatest difference to dramatically reducing our energy dependence. That's what this legislation is about. That's why I call it the BOLD Energy Act. It is seriously designed to break our long-term dependency. That's why we called it the BOLD Energy Act. A few weeks ago I met with the President and a bipartisan group of senators at the White House to talk about energy policy. I told the President he was right to identify our addiction to oil as one of our challenges. I also told him it is time to be bold. No more tepid plans, no more plans that fundamentally don't make a difference. It is time for the United States to stand up to this challenge of seriously reducing our dependence on foreign energy. Make no mistake this is a bold plan. This plan calls for the investment of approximately $40 billion over the next five years. That's what it's going to take. If we're going to be serious about reducing our dependence, it's going to take more than half steps. It is time to put politics aside and assemble our best collective ideas into a new comprehensive energy policy. I ask my colleagues and I urge them to look at this bill, to examine it. I would urge them and hope that they could co-sponsor it. But if not, I would welcome their constructive criticism about what could be done to make it better. I don't think we have any time to waste, no time to lose. We need bold action. We need this BOLD Energy Act. I send it to the desk for its assignment to the appropriate committee. I thank the chair. I thank my colleagues. I thank very much the dozens of organizations that have contributed to our writing this legislation. As I indicated, we have spent six months in preparing this legislation. We have consulted with literally dozens and dozens of organizations across this country. We have consulted with members in both the House and the Senate. We have consulted with governors. We have consulted with every relevant energy group in the state of North Dakota and in the Midwest. And I am delighted that so many of them have already endorsed this legislation. It is time for us to get serious about reducing our dependence on foreign oil. I am delighted today to be presenting this BOLD Energy Act. I believe it is the direction we should take. And I, again, ask my colleagues to give it their close consideration. I thank the chair and yield the floor.