Congressional Budget for the US Government for Fiscal Year 2004

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET FOR THE U.S. GOVERNMENT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2004

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss America's national security and the need for American independence from Middle Eastern oil.

America's chronic dependence on foreign oil is a critical national security issue. It not only affects citizens and businesses nationwide, but also has a direct impact on our Nation's ability to fight and win wars. As we prepare to engage in military operations in Iraq, it is important to understand that our forces are highly dependent on foreign oil, much of which comes directly from Iraq. In other words, we are dependent on oil from Iraq to fight a war against Iraq.

During the 1970s energy crisis, America was 36 percent dependent on foreign oil. Today we are 56 percent dependent, and by 2010, we are headed for well more than 60 percent. For the military, it now takes eight times as much oil to meet the needs of each U.S. soldier as it did during World War II. The Department of Defense today accounts for nearly 80 percent of all U.S. government energy use. During the 1991 Persian Gulf war, our 582,000 soldiers consumed 450,000 barrels of petroleum products—four times the daily amount used by the 2 million Allied soldiers that liberated Europe from the Nazis in World War II. Since World War I, the outcome of every war has been influenced by the control of the energy. We are talking about a serious national security issue.

As a result of military operations in Iraq, we must prepare ourselves for the possibility of disruptions in the flow of oil from the Middle East. Iraq has been the fastest growing source for United States oil imports. Shockingly, in the year 2000, $5 billion of American money went to Iraq to buy oil. After September 11, when asked how U.S. dependency on foreign oil relates to our national security, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz said that U.S. dependency on foreign oil "is a serious strategic issue.    .    .    . My sense is that [our] dependency is projected to grow, not to decline.    .    .    . it's not only that we would, in a sense, be dependent on Iraqi oil, but the oil as a weapon. The possibility of taking that oil off the market and doing enormous economic damage with it is a serious problem."

It is critical that we develop our own resources and establish our energy independence. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has reviewed our national energy policy. He has warned that unless we act now, we will threaten our national security, damage our economic prosperity, and harm our quality of life. Likewise, in both 1995 and 1999, the Secretary of Commerce acknowledged, pursuant to a law directing his assessment, that our oil deficit poses a threat to national security. This threat has been acknowledged by both sides of the aisle.

According to Secretary Abraham, consumption of energy has risen sharply yet production continues to decline. In a report released by the Energy Information Administration, the Department of Energy estimates that oil and gas reserves totaling 1,166 trillion cubic feet are recoverable in the lower 48 states and Alaska. The oil we could recover from three square miles of Alaska alone would allow our Nation to replace the oil we buy from Saudi Arabia for 30 years.

The time to act is now—not for some immediate quick fix, but for the long-term security of America in the years and decades ahead. Our lack of an adequate long-term national energy policy is not a partisan matter. It is a supreme national challenge that cannot be continually ignored without posing an increasing danger to our security and our way of life. Sadly, our Nation has failed for three decades to address this issue properly.

The tired refrain that ANWR "will destroy the environment" is so out of date and out of touch with reality when we have the technology and the know-how to affirmatively protect the environment while meeting an important long-term national security challenge. Additionally, I wish it were required for everyone who is going to be voting on ANWR to take a trip up to the North Slope of Alaska to see what we are really talking about. It is not a pristine wilderness. We are only talking about a very small, a minuscule part of that area up there, and we are talking about an environment where the Eskimos, the local people, are begging us to come in and open it up.

They have estimated that between 5.7 billion and 16 billion barrels of recoverable oil will be found in ANWR's Coastal Plain—up to 16 billion. That equates to over $300 billion worth of American oil. The American people want our country to comprehensively rebuild our military, our defenses and our future security on all fronts. This was true before September 11. It is only more true today. It is time for the Senate to vote, for the Congress to act, and for America to move forward towards true and lasting energy independence.