[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 32 (Monday, August 18, 2008)]
[Pages 1128-1130]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
<R04>
Remarks to the Coalition for Affordable American Energy
August 12, 2008
I want to thank members of the Coalition for Affordable American
Energy for joining me today. We just had a very interesting and
informative discussion. I heard from businesses, large and small. They--
these folks are representing a lot of workers, people who are really
concerned about the energy situation here in America, a lot of people
wondering why their Government is not doing something about the supply
of crude oil.
One of the things that came out in this discussion was, there's a
lot of folks in our country who understand we could be doing something
about the high price of gasoline, and we're not. Obviously, we need to
be wise about conservation, but we've got to be wise about increasing
the supply of oil here in America. If you're concerned about the price
of gasoline, one way to affect that price of gasoline is to increase oil
supplies.
And one of these things these workers know that I fully understand
as well, I'd rather our consumers be buying gasoline made from oil here
in America than gasoline from oil being made overseas. We want our
dollars, to the extent possible, to be here at home, staying here at
home.
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And so, we discussed a variety of strategies about how to affect the
supply of oil, and one way that we can affect the supply of oil is to
increase access to offshore exploration on the Outer Continental Shelf.
Congress has restricted access to key parts of the Outer Continental
Shelf since the early 1980s. Experts believe that these restricted areas
could eventually produce nearly 10 years worth of America's current oil
production. People have analyzed what's possible there, and they believe
that it's--we can find a lot of oil, American-produced oil, oil that
will mean our dollars are staying here and not going overseas. Advances
in technology have made it possible to conduct oil exploration in the
Outer Continental Shelf that is out of sight, that protects coral reefs,
and protects against oil spills.
Last month, I acted and I lifted an executive branch restriction on
offshore oil exploration. And then I called on Congress to join me and
to lift the legislative ban--to end the legislative ban. Unfortunately,
the Democratic leadership in Congress decided to go on a 5-week
vacation, a recess, rather than act on behalf of the American consumer,
the American small-business owner.
Members have now had an opportunity to hear from their constituents,
and if they listen carefully, I think they'll hear what I heard today,
and that is a lot of Americans from all walks of life wonder why we
can't come together and get legislation necessary to end the ban on
offshore drilling. And so, today I join House Republicans in urging the
Speaker of the House to schedule a vote on offshore oil exploration as
soon as possible.
Now, the way ahead is this: The moratorium on offshore drilling is
included in the provisions of the Interior appropriations bill. When
Congress returns, they should immediately bring this bill to the House
floor and schedule an up-or-down vote on whether to lift the moratorium
on offshore drilling. Our goal should be to enact a law that reflects
the will of the overwhelming majority of Americans who want to open up
oil resources on the Outer Continental Shelf.
And so, the Democratic leadership should bring up a clean bill, give
the Members a chance to vote up or down on whether or not we should
proceed with offshore drilling, and not insert any legislative poison
pills. Those would be provisions that they know will never be enacted
and are added only for the purpose of killing the effort to open up the
off--the Outer Continental Shelf to drilling.
Congress can do some more. Once they solve this problem, they can
allow us to drill in northern Alaska, which we can do in environmentally
friendly ways. They should allow us to tap into the extraordinary
potential of oil shale. And we need to expand our refining capacity here
in America. These are all steps that the Congress can take to show the
American people that we can move forward in a positive way to affect the
price of gasoline. And there's a lot of Members of Congress who want a
up-or-down vote. And the Democratic leadership has got to listen to the
people on this issue.
Now, this is part of a comprehensive strategy. Everybody in this
room understands that expanding oil and gas production is a part of a
comprehensive strategy. Obviously, we need to expand conservation
measures. We need to develop alternative energy technologies such as
advanced batteries, plug-in hybrids, hydrogen fuel cells. We need to
expand clean, safe, nuclear power, clean coal technology, solar, and
wind power. There's not a single answer to our energy problems. But a
part of solving the dilemma that our consumers are facing, that the
hard-working Americans face, and that is high price of gasoline, we need
to get after exploration here in America. And we can do it in a way that
protects the environment.
So, when Congress comes back, they need to act. And they don't need
to gimmick up the legislation; they need to allow there to be an up-or-
down vote, and let the Members express the will of their constituents.
I appreciate the--your work on this issue. I appreciate you
represent a lot of hard-working people, people who simply want to put
food on the table and be able to make it to work; people who are
concerned about the price of gasoline; people who have told you to tell
me that they want to see more oil drilled, more exploration on the Outer
Continental Shelf; people who told you to tell me they want to see us
drilling in Alaska; people
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who told you to tell me they want a commonsense energy policy right here
in Washington, DC. And I agree with them.
Thank you for your time. Thank you for our conversation. Appreciate
it. Thank you all.
Note: The President spoke at 1:57 p.m. in Room 350 of the Dwight D.
Eisenhower Executive Office Building.