Senate Proceeding on May 1st, 2009 :: 3:23:25 to 3:48:35
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3:23:23 to 3:23:43( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: quorum call: mr. dorgan: mr. president? the pres senator from north dakota. mr. dorgan: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. dorgan have come to speak about the subject of energy, but before i do that in morning business, i w

3:23:25 to 3:48:35( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Byron Dorgan

3:23:44 to 3:24:05( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: speak about the issue of scene roxana saberi and the fact that since this morning a ten-foot cell just outside of tehran, iran. this is a picture of roxana saberi. roxana saberi was born and raised and educated in fargo, north dakota. her father came to this country from the country o iran about

3:24:06 to 3:24:26( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: 35 years ago. as a result, roxana, born and raised in this country american citen, but because her father was citizen, has iranian citizenship, this young woman is considered an iranian citizen as well. let me tell you just a her.

3:24:27 to 3:24:48( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: an all-star scholar, an all-star athlete. she graduated from high school in fargo, north dakota bachelor's degree, competed in the miss north dakota pageant and was miss north dakota. competed in the miss america pageant and was one of the ten finalists in the miss america pageant. went to northwestern university

3:24:49 to 3:25:11( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: and got a master's degree northwestern university. went to cambridge, england, and in cambridge received a master's degree worked a television station in north dakota all of that. because she was very interested in her heritage. and while in iran, she reported

3:25:12 to 3:25:34( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: for national public other in those entities and many others. and at the end of january of this year, she was arrested by the iranian authorities and put in prison. she was arrested presumably,

3:25:35 to 3:25:55( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: bottle of wine, threw her in prison. she was there unable to communicate with anyone for a good long while. she was later td that her arrest was not for purchasing a bottle of wine but, rather, for reporting without a license, being a reporter without a license. she was finally allowed about

3:25:56 to 3:26:17( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: one-minute telephone call to her parents in the united states. then she was allowed to see an attorney. then they did a very brief, closed-door trial in iran -- in tehran, by the way -- and judged her guilty and sentenced her to eight years in prison for espionage. so the iranian government went

3:26:18 to 3:26:39( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: from purchasing a bottle of wine which justified her arrest detention in prison, to reporting espionage and an eight-year prison sentence. today roxana saberi stits in a ten-foot by ten-foot cell with two other women in that p and i have. visited this week with the -- i

3:26:40 to 3:27:01( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: have visited this week with the swiss ambassador to iran who came to visit this country and stopped in to see me. the reason i ambassador is we don't have embassy in iran, we don't have an ambassador there, we don't have diplomatic relationship there. so the twist embassy is our protect rat and they have been working with us to talk to the eyiranian officials.

3:27:02 to 3:27:23( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: this is an unbelievable miscarriage of justice and needs to be rectified. the fact, is the iranian officials should understand the spotlight of the world they have detained this young journalist and thrown her in prison and then charged her with espionage and sentenced her to eight years in prison, the spotlight of the world i them, their credibility is at stake. and i hope the iranian officials

3:27:24 to 3:27:46( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: will do the right her from prison and allow her to leave the country of iran. it is past time, long, long past the time for them to make the right judgment. they've made a number of the wrong judgments in recent weeks and months. this young woman has been imprisoned since the end of january.

3:27:47 to 3:28:08( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: justice. for them to charge her with being a spy, guilty of espionage is almost unbelievable. they know better than that. and i call on the iranian government to release her from prison and allow her to leave the country of iran. most governments in the world have now communicated with the

3:28:09 to 3:28:29( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: country of iran about this and i hope that we won't have to be talking about this case much longer. i hope the iranian officials, authorities and the government will do the right thing. roxana saberi should not be prison. she's a very accompl woman who wa in the country of iran because she treasured heritage.

3:28:30 to 3:28:50( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: and because she was in iran, she said, and arrested on what i believe is trumped-up charges and has been sentenced in a way th reasonable sense of justice. so again, mr. president, my hope is the ira begin to do the rht thing and do it very, very soon: release

3:28:51 to 3:29:11( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: this young woman from prison and allow her to leave the crlt of country of iran. . president, i want to talk a bit about energy policy separate part of the record. mr. president, there are so many different issues that we nfront in this country, leapfrogging from one to another. we have a very serious financial

3:29:12 to 3:29:34( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: cris and financial collapse in this country. we have in the last month again, month after month after month, 600,000, 650,000 people losing that has substantially collapsed and we're hoping now ist bottom and we're hoping will -- we will begin to rebuild once again.

3:29:35 to 3:29:55( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: but when we talk 3.7 million people having lost their jobs, out of work just since this recession began, it's a very serious so the financial crisis, the financial collapse, that's one on top of that, day after day we hear of other significant allenges.

3:29:56 to 3:30:17( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: a crisis now with what might turn out to be a dealing with swine f and a go quickly to address that. i just described the issue of iran, a country that wishes to build a nuclear weapon and imprisons innocent young women who are in the cou

3:30:18 to 3:30:38( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: north korea and their actions in recent weeks. we have no end of challenges, trying to figure out what we do with respect to afghanistan and pakistan. what do we do about iraq? how do we address the issue of terrorism. there's no end of issues. i have been in both afghanistan and in iraq, and that region

3:30:39 to 3:31:00( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: dealing with not internal issues of both countries are very difficult, but the issue of terrorism in the region is something very important us. so my point is we're working on many, many, many issues, all of them critically but let me describe one that if

3:31:01 to 3:31:21( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: something catastrophic happened some night about midnight would put this country flat on its back, and that is energy and the unbelievable depdence we on foreign energy, foreign oil. let me put a chart up that shows oil consumption. this oil consumers in the world. the top line is the united

3:31:22 to 3:31:43( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: states. the next largest is now we put little straws in this planet and suck oil out of the planet. we suck out 85 million barrels of oil every day out of the earth. 85 million one-fourth of it is needed for the united states.

3:31:44 to 3:32:06( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: think of that. one-fourth of everything that's taken out of this planet in the form of oil i in this country. we have for oil. another statistic: of the million barrels a day that we use in the united states, nearly 70% comes from outside country.

3:32:07 to 3:32:28( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: so we are 70% dependent on oil supplies from outside country. anot of all the oil we use country is transportation. we get behind the steering wheel, we put the ignition, get the seat real comfortable, put whatever you're

3:32:29 to 3:32:49( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: going to put in the cup holder, and and used in transportation. and nearly 70% of that which we use comes from outside of our country. now think through just for a moment. if somehow terrorists interrupted the supply of

3:32:50 to 3:33:12( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: this country, were able to destroy one of the major supply lines or one of the major facilities in saudi arabia or elsewhere. we would be in difficulty. we are unbelievably dependent on oil. i think we're going to continue to use oil in our future for a long, long time.

3:33:13 to 3:33:33( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: oil and natural gas and fossil fuels. we want to try to use them differently if we can by decarbonizing them and have less co2 emitted. the fact is we're continue t but much more important than that is how do we, even as we continue to use that, m less dependent on that which others produce?

3:33:34 to 3:33:54( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: the way we do me, is to define a different kind of that we're going renewable energy. and we're going to maximize the if we're producing a lot of energy from the wind and a lot of energy from the sun or biomass or other alternatives, it means we need to import less oil.

3:33:55 to 3:34:16( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: that's just a fact. now, we're going to h of debates. it wasn't too many months ago on the floor of the united states here with big old signs which said "drill, baby drill." the whole notion was you've got to drill more. you know what? i'm for drilling more. makes sense to me. and by the way, if you're going

3:34:17 to 3:34:37( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: to drill more, the place you'd go, it seems to me, is in gulf of mexico, eastern gulf of mexico where you have substantial op achieve more production. the only area that's been open in the gulf of mexico years, open newly, i should say, is something called lease 181, which four of us -- myself,

3:34:38 to 3:34:59( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: senator bingaman, therpb senator talent and -- then-senator talent and senator domenici -- introduced law to it became law. we now have the opportunity to get some energy from what is called lease 181, which is a reasonably small area in the eastern gulf. my point is we should drill more.

3:35:00 to 3:35:20( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: let's drill where it makes sense. let's add to our stock. the fact is that in itself won't solve our so, senator voinovich and i introduced legislation in recent weeks called the national energy security act of 2009. bipartisan. it addresses a wide range of issues of things that we have to

3:35:21 to 3:35:43( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: do to address this energy issue. we are right now in the authorization committee of energy natural resources, beginning torite a bill as well. and i'm pushing very hard to include those kinds of provisions in a new energy bill that will, floor of the united states senate reasonably soon. but here is the kind of things that this represents the

3:35:44 to 3:36:05( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: achievements i think that we have to strive for in a new energy bill. 's what we have included in the national energy security act. number one, reduce our dependence on foreign oil. number two, increase domestic prod and that is not just oil, but oduction of all sources of number three, elect phi and

3:36:06 to 3:36:27( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: as energy is used in transportation. moving towards an electric drive future with respect to vehicles and then even beyond that, hydrogen fuel cells with respect to the long-term future. and then create a transmission superhighway and train the energy workforce of tomorrow. the transmission superhighway is

3:36:28 to 3:36:48( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: a critical part of this. because we don't have a transmission highway similar to the interstate highway system in our country. we have a transmission system that's kind of like an old inner tube with a lot of patches on it. much of it's old, some of i new. it is not a transmission capability america. what we need to do is maximize

3:36:49 to 3:37:09( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: the potential of renewable energy. how do we do that? the wind blows especially hard from texas to north dakota. what you need to do to capture that wind energy and move it to where it's needed because, for example, in north dakota, while it can produce a lot of wind energy, the department of energy calls it the saudi arabia of wind, north dakota doesn't need

3:37:10 to 3:37:30( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: the additional wind energy. but if it can produce it, it must move it to where it's need. from texas to california, in the heartland of our country where you can produce a lot of energy from the wind, you need to have a modern transmission grid that connects that to areas in the country that can use and must have the product of that wind energy. this is really simple.

3:37:31 to 3:37:51( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: you take energy from the wind and through a turbi, turn it into then you can do a lot of things with it. most notably, you put it on a grid and put it to where it's need. you can through separate hydrogen from water store hydrogen fuel from it. here's an example of an

3:37:52 to 3:38:13( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: interstate transmission system. we've all seen these actually there are new technologies now that would allowou to put all of that underground and perhaps be much more efficient and much less costly. in any event, if you don't modernize the transmission grid and create a superhighway of transmission capability connecting all of america, you cannot possibility maximize wind

3:38:14 to 3:38:34( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: energy or biomass or others. you can't pos so if we get a bill to the floor of the united states senate that is tepid respect to how we want to do this, or even whether we want to do it, we can talk until we're blue in the face, but we will not have done this country any favors in maximizing the

3:38:35 to 3:38:56( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: production of renewable energy. so, i mentioned transmission system. the transmissio necessary for wind and solar and so on. and most of us now understand what this wind energy means. i know it was fanciful many years ago to talk about getting energy from the wind. but with the new technology with

3:38:57 to 3:39:17( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: respect put a big old tower up and some very large blades, and you can grab energy from the wind and propose dues electricity -- produce you can make a few adjustments here and there. for the next 30 years you're going to be getting wind energy for v i'm saying that wind is free.

3:39:18 to 3:39:39( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: by the way, this comes from sun as well. as we know, the wind comes from different warming trends of the ea so that sun shines all the time, has an unbelievable amount of energy it focuses on the earth both on solar energy and wind energy. and so we need to harvest it. and we need to take advantage of

3:39:40 to 3:40:00( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: it with solar cells and a whole range of different approaches using solar and the only way it will work, however, is if we have, as i said, an interstate transmission and that has it that make it controversial: one is who's going to plan it. who's

3:40:01 to 3:40:23( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: who's going to pay for it? let me give a in the last nine years, we have produced 11,000 miles of natural gas pipeline i 11,000 miles pumping natural gas, moving natural gas all around the country. during the same nine years we've been able to produce -- build

3:40:24 to 3:40:45( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: only 640 miles of transmission lines. let me say that again. we have built 11,000 miles of natural gas pipeline, and during the same period we could only build 640 miles of high-voltage transmission lines. why? because it's hard to build transmission lines. nobody wants them to cross their state. interstate transmission lines,

3:40:46 to 3:41:06( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: i'm talking about interstate now, interstate transmission lines have proven very difficult to build because you have all differen have to give approval, and of them simply say not in my backyard. take a hike. so we have to address those issues. is it controversial? sure it is. but if we don't guarantee you this country can talk and talk and talk about

3:41:07 to 3:41:27( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: moving towards more renewable energy, and we will never get we just won't get there. now, if more renewab energy and put it on transmission lines to move it where it is needed, that allows to us move toward drive future for our vehicles,

3:41:28 to 3:41:49( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: which i think is very important. i have often mentioned my first vehicle as a young kid was an antique, it is i won't tell the whole story about my but i restored it in two years as a young teenage kid. loved to do when i got it running it painted and got it all fixed

3:41:50 to 3:42:10( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: up, you know, it was a car that was serviceable. it would run. the model t ran. and, however, the thing about vehicles is everything, everything in a vehicle has changed since they made a model t. everything. it doesn't matter what y talking about. you're talking about tires, the

3:42:11 to 3:42:33( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: radiator, spark plug, you name it all, it's all computer capability. but the one thing that hasn't changed is the gasank. the gas tank on that car that was built nearly a streupb ago was the same -- nearly a century ago was one.

3:42:34 to 3:42:56( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: you look for the pump, drive up, fill it. nothing has changed about the way we fuel vehicles. we have to change that. if 7 of our oil is used in the vehicle fleet, transportation, in this country, then we have to decide if we're going to be less dependent on saudi arabia kuwait and venezuela and iraq and so on to change the way we fuel vehicles.

3:42:57 to 3:43:19( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: so, there's a picture of electric-drive vehicle. i don't quite know the form, but we've got electric-drive vehicles on the road more sophistication. the development of these vehicles. in my subcommittee, i put in $2 billion in the economic recovery program for grants for battery technology, because we want to lead the world in battery storage.

3:43:20 to 3:43:40( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: that's part of the key to an electric-drive future. we want to lead the world this storage capacity. some ofhe electric vehicles perhaps, whether you've got plug-in vehicles, plug-in hybrids, you'veot all kinds of different approaches, some will run on batteries. when the battery runs a bit low, there will be a little engine someplace that starts up and

3:43:41 to 3:44:01( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: provides some additional charging f there are all kinds of different approaches, but the fact is we need to move in this direction, and i believe but it will happen only if we decide as a country to embrace the policies that allow us to do it and that is substantial additional development of

3:44:02 to 3:44:22( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: renewable energy, the capability of building an interstate transmission system and getting it done, we do all that, we our energy future. that's just a fact. i mentioned a few moments ago about drilling. the fact that i want to maximize renewable energy tkobt -- doesn't mean i don't want to produce that which we need to

3:44:23 to 3:44:44( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: produce, and that is add oil and natural gas and continue to use coal as we decarbonize the use of coal. but in the legislation that sena introduced, we open up entire eastern gulf for expansion of drilling. this is a very important area where there is substantial additional opportunity for drilling.

3:44:45 to 3:45:05( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: now closed, by the way. by the way, this little area -- 181 -- is the area we got opened, the four of us, by legislation in recent years. it's the only area that's been opened. we need to do this, and we need to demonstrate we're serious about energy and all forms of energy. about production and moving it

3:45:06 to 3:45:26( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: to where it's needed. conservation is critically important. in the the legislation we have substantial conservation legislation as well. we, i believe, have great opportunity to conserve. you know, while i'm speaking,

3:45:27 to 3:45:47( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: there's a whole lot of folks that left their home to go to work today. and they've got appliances plugged in. it's true that those appliances are not at this point -- the toaster is not pushed down ando toasting bread. so many of the appliances are not triggered, but they're using

3:45:48 to 3:46:08( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: energy because they're plugged into the at midnight and at 2:00 and 4:00 in the morning, almost every home is still heating water. you tell me the name of someone who will shower at 3:00 a.m. thwhole country is heating water at 2:00 a.m. for we

3:46:09 to 3:46:29( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: better through conservation. that deals with smart grid, smart metering and a whole range of issues. mr. president, if someone wonders if all of importantle i want to show -- important, i want to show you a [spot on the -- a black spot.

3:46:30 to 3:46:50( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: you can see where the lights are used. over here is one b it i august 14th, 50 million people lt their electricity. you see that ohio t 50 million americans discovered the switch that they used to doesn't produce energy, the

3:46:51 to 3:47:12( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: toaster doesn't produce energy. no energy at all. all of a sudden you have a huge dark spot americans. if you wonder about the importance of all of this, i'm talking about reliability of a system for something that we all take for granted every single day. the reason i wanted to talk about a number of these issues

3:47:13 to 3:47:33( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: is we're we're drafting a bill right now in committee. there is great disagreement about the energy renewable standard, requiring 15% electricity be produced from renewabl that should not be controversial. in fact, i think that a couple of dozen states have gone beyond the congress on this issue. it

3:47:34 to 3:47:55( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: it's no. building a transmission system, there's going to be a lot of opposition. no country will get where it course. there is an old saying, if you don't care where you are, ye never lost. this country needs to set a course and say here's america wants to head for a decade. if at the end of the decade we're not dramatically less

3:47:56 to 3:48:16( Edit History Discussion )

Byron Dorgan: dependent on foreign oil for this country's energy need, our country can be held hostage for a whole lot of interest. we can do this, do do it soon. mr. president, i yield the floor.

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Byron Dorgan: will call the roll.