1:34:17 to 1:34:31( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: fact, the president of the united states, on june 15, said -- quote -- "i readily concede that, you know, it's not going to produce a barrel of oil tomorrow, but it is going to change the psychology."

1:34:31 to 1:34:46( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: so he's saying, "i readily concede that, you know, it's not going to produce a barrel of oil tomorrow, but somehow it's going to have a psychological impact. my colleague who'sho running for president

1:35:03 to 1:35:18( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: beneficial." well, i think other people have seen -- in fact, senator mccain later said, or a senior advisor to him acknowledged in a news conference and call to reporters that new offshore drilling

1:35:32 to 1:35:47( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: been very explicit about that from the beginning. so i think it's safe to say that many people are confused about what's being discussed here on the floor. another white house spokesman said anyone out

1:36:00 to 1:36:14( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: and somehow advocating that maybe there's a psychology advantage here, that somehow supply that we won't see until 2030 could have an impact and that maybe it would have a psychological impact today.

1:36:30 to 1:36:47( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: attend. two expert witnesses: daniel yergen, chairman of cambridge energy research associates and author of a very well-known book about oil; and roger darwin, an energy analyst at p.f.c. energy,

1:37:00 to 1:37:17( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: and basically laughed at the suggestion that somehow lifting the moratorium had caused a drop in oil prices. and for those who want to talk about somehow that it's going to have a psychological effect,

1:37:35 to 1:37:53( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: than we did this time last year. but that has not had a psychological impact on the price, and we've not seen a lowering of the price. and we know that saudi arabia, here in the middle, at 500 barrels

1:38:07 to 1:38:23( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: though these are so much more significant reduction in demand and increase in supply, some of my colleagues are arguing that by producing 200,000 barrels a day, which is what the outer continental shelf

1:38:41 to 1:38:56( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: barrels in 2030 that we are going to magically see a reduction in price. and i think what is clear is that it doesn't matter how many oil fields we have or how many holes we poke in the ground. it's

1:39:12 to 1:39:25( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: energy department has said similar things. in fact, they have said access to the pacific and atlantic and eastern gulf regions would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural

1:39:41 to 1:40:07( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: more things to worry about than the price of oil. scientists are now telling us there's a 75% chance within five years the entire north polar ice cap will be completely disappeared within the summer

1:40:17 to 1:40:38( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: what we're saying here is we're talking about all of this risk of drilling in the outer continental shelf. for what? what are we talking about? we're talking about something that is a fraction of the demand

1:40:55 to 1:41:11( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: barrels a day -- that the percent that we would get from the outer continental shelf drilling will be less than 1%. 1% of what the united states will need in the future. so we somehow are out here

1:41:27 to 1:41:43( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: outer continental shelf and lifting the moratorium, that under what the united states would need in the future for drilling, that these 200,000 barrels a day would have such a minimal impact on what the

1:41:57 to 1:42:13( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: only 200,000. it's not exactly as if this is i going to help us in the future. in fact, the energy information office continues to say, because prices are are determined on an international market

1:42:29 to 1:42:42( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: and any impact on average well head prices is expected to be insignificant. now, that's in response to the proposal of drilling in the outer continental shelf. so the math is simple. even if we drill in every

1:42:57 to 1:43:15( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: of opec. so as long as we use a quarterer of the world's oil and have less than 2% of the world's oil reserves, facts that no amount of drilling can change, our country is vulnerable. it reminds me

1:43:28 to 1:43:40( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: and pa sick is something that people will want to do. we've already heard that the risks are too great to various economies. ten billion barrels that are covered under the federal ban are off the coast

1:43:52 to 1:44:05( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: and i do not support lifting this moratorium on new drilling off of our coast." the governor added -- quote -- "we are in this situation because of our dependence on traditional petroleum-based oil. the

1:44:19 to 1:44:31( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: fuel costs and also protect our environment." i couldn't agree with the governor more. and, governor schwarzenegger is not alone in his straight talk because there are many citizens across the country

1:44:47 to 1:44:59( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: the exxon valdez. 6| some colleagues have made remarks that new technology makes spills from offshore platforms impossible. i mow the mr. president leader said recently -- i know the minority leader

1:45:14 to 1:45:30( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: the president's own report on lessons learned on the federal response to katrina. this is a copy of the cover of the report. it says "hurricane katrina caused at least ten oil spills, releasing the same quanity

1:45:47 to 1:46:07( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: history. and the report goes on to say -- quote -- "all told more than 7.4 million gallons of oil pored into the gulf region waterways, over two-thirds of the amount spilled during" -- basically the same

1:46:26 to 1:46:40( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: in katrina september 2, 2005. it shows you the various areas of oil spills that did, in fact, happen. so all i'm saying about that is that although there are oil risks the fact of the matter is our

1:46:54 to 1:47:09( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: it is not to say that you can't have environmentally responsible oil-and-gas recovery. many of m senate colleagues did support in 2006 opening up more of the gulf of mexico waters after president

1:47:23 to 1:47:36( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: going to help impact the price. back when we opened up six million acres in lease 181, many oil companies promised this was going do have a dramatic effect for new production. it was going to be incredible

1:47:53 to 1:48:06( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: the price of oil and with the prices so high why did the oil companies bid on only 200 million acres of the 500 million acres recently put out forbid in the gulf of mexico? -- for bid in the gulf of

1:48:23 to 1:48:40( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: that is just sitting idle. this chart shows that 83% of the leased areas offshore are not producing energy and the oil companies are only choosing to use this area in the green. so why don't we hear

1:48:52 to 1:49:03( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: now and you can't go and drill when you dent have the equipment -- when you don't have the equipment and according to the house of representatives there are 100 billion barrels of conventional

1:49:17 to 1:49:33( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: believe it's in their financial interests not to utilize this vast amount of public lands they have. the fact of the matter depending on oil companies to get us out of this mess, i think, is exactly

1:49:49 to 1:50:05( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: into balance? last week, dr. yergin at the session said "if americans took aew precautionary steps within driving, including properly inflighting their tires, demand for oil would decrease by 600,000

1:50:24 to 1:50:40( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: tires is one at 300,000 barrels per day; keeping your car tuned and running efficiently, 400,000 barrels a day; including more commuting with other passengers; keeping tires properly inflated, 200,000;

1:50:56 to 1:51:09( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: things we should be working aggressively on. that's why these are solutions that are, in my opinion, low hanging fruit. drivers are desperately seeking any measurehey can have to lower prices at the

1:51:26 to 1:51:40( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: show consumers when they properly inflate their tires -- i'm forgiving away gas gages at the stations and to make sure there is an education program if in place, you can help consumers today. according to

1:51:56 to 1:52:10( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: do thousand that will help consumers to give them relief. the debate over drilling highlights generational change we actually need in congress. americans know it. they know that many of our institutions

1:52:22 to 1:52:38( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: our country desperately needs. for example, we cou wld have been investing more in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles that would have a tremendous impact on oil addiction. the pacific northwest lab

1:52:59 to 1:53:21( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: if we got plug-in hybrid into the marketplace and fully utilizing the grid would displace 6.5 million barrels of oil a day equivalent to 50% of what we import and cut our greenhouse gas emissions by

1:53:39 to 1:53:56( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: the savings of what the proposal for outer continental shelf drilling would be. that's 32 times the savings. obviously, i think, quite significant impact. the study also found that charging a plug-in

1:54:11 to 1:54:27( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: such an unbelievable impact on the american consumer and the economy a opportunity. well, obviously, we could have gotten a lot faster with plug-in hybrid in the last eight years. obviously there is

1:54:42 to 1:54:57( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: renewable energy projects in 45 states go forward. that's the equivalent to 75 baseload electricity generation stations. i hope we can see progress on that bill because by lessening the demand on natural

1:55:14 to 1:55:35( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: home. under the baucus extender bill consumers can utilize $500 in tax insentives -- incentives to make their homes more efficient lowering home heating bills by 20%. so that is a huge opportunity

1:55:49 to 1:56:03( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: cantwell: in wrapping up, the solutions i just talked about are solutions we can do now. they are near term, things that help us on thrg energy efficiency. if you look at what options we have

1:56:23 to 1:56:39( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: i described in the last few minutes can do in saving us on energy and oil consumption. so we have to get off of this 27-year debate and get on to an energy future that will help make america more

1:56:51 to 1:57:05( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: let's make sure we have learned the lessons from our global neighbors about the changes they made. let's commit to a real energy strategy on renewables. it's something that america deserves. it's something

1:57:16 to 1:57:36( Edit History Discussion )

Maria Cantwell: presiding officer: five minutes for the senator from virginia, the majority time. mr. webb: i will do my best. i wanted to speakor a few minutes today why i believe it is not only appropriate but