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Gasoline for America's Security Act of 2005

Date: Oct. 7, 2005
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Oil and Gas Environment


GASOLINE FOR AMERICA'S SECURITY ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - October 07, 2005)

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Mr. BASS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding me time, and I want to thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton) for working so hard to accommodate those of us who represent the northeastern part of this country in this bill. I rise in strong support of this legislation, and I do so having worked hard to make sure that those of us who represent the northeastern part of the country are satisfied with what we have before us today.

I wish to make three points. The first is that the issue of new source review is gone. It is a debate for another day, and I think that is an enormous improvement to the bill. The issue of pollution in this country needs to be addressed, and the Clean Air Act definitely needs to be amended, but I felt for a long time a refinery bill was not the place to do that, and I commend my leadership for being able to work that out. As the gentlewoman from New Mexico mentioned in her speech, there is a wonderful provision on price gouging that will protect consumers against price gouging from the refinery on down.

The third point is that the only cost in this bill is the cost associated with increasing the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve from 2 million to 5 million barrels a day, which is critical to the northeast.

The bottom line is, if you are satisfied with higher gas prices, if you are satisfied with the concentration of refinery capacity in hurricane-prone areas, if you are satisfied with the fact that we have not built a new refinery in so many years, if you are satisfied with the status quo and if you think your constituents are satisfied with that, if you think that 2 million barrels is enough for the Northeast Heating Oil Reserve, if you think this bill is going to cost money even though it will not, then vote against it.

But this is your opportunity to support an energy bill that you can tell your constituents will help, over the short term and the long term, provide gasoline and heating oil to your constituents who need it badly.

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