mr. chairman , this is truly a bad bill .  every day we have pictures on the screen of consumers pulling up to the gas pump , paying an arm and a leg for gasoline .  we have 150 , 000 young men and women over in the middle east protecting our country in that region , and largely as well the oil supplies coming into our country .  this bill does nothing in order to deal with that problem .  in fact , the department of energy analysis of an almost identical bill in the last congress concluded that changes to production , consumption , imports , and prices are negligible .  the bill would open the pristine arctic national wildlife refugee to oil and natural gas exploration even though there is such a small supply of oil and gas there that most of the oil companies have pulled out of the coalition trying to open it to drilling .  this bill contains a liability waiver for the big oil companies that would force cities and states to spend billions to clean up drinking water supplies that have been contaminated with the gasoline additive mtbe which is known to cause cancer .  this bill tramples on the right of state and local governments to protect their citizens from potentially dangerous energy facilities such as large liquefied natural gas terminals that would be sited right in the middle of densely populated cities in our country , even though we know they would be the number one terrorist target constructed in that city .  this bill allows oil and gas companies to pollute drinking water by granting them special exemptions from the clean water act .  this bill allows refineries and utilities to increase air pollution with special exemptions from the clean air act .  there is a special provision in this bill to protect halliburton from ever facing any federal regulation of a practice of drilling for oil using the hydraulic fracturing technique that actually injects diesel fuel into the water supply .  there is a special provision added that authorizes grants and other assistance to something called the dine power authority , an enterprise of the navaho nation .  who are the beneficiaries of that provision ?  why do they deserve our largess ?  we never had a hearing on it .  there is a special provision in the bill that provides a $ 1.3 billion subsidy to the idaho national laboratory to build a special advance nuclear reactor to produce hydrogen for the hydrogen car .  bad bill ; vote `` no. '' mr. chairman , i rise in opposition to h.r. 6 .  i have the greatest respect and affection for the chairman of the committee , the distinguished gentleman from texas ( mr. barton ) , but i must say in all honesty that this is really a terrible energy bill .  the chairman comes from texas , and i 'm sure that from a lone star state perspective , this looks like a pretty good bill .  but most of our constituents do n't come from oil producing states .  most of our constituents are energy consumers , and from a consumer perspective this bill is seriously deficient .  in fact , i would suggest that this bill is a bit like that old clint eastwood spaghetti western : `` the good , the bad and the ugly. '' there is a tiny bit of good in the bill -- like extending daylight saving time by a month in the spring and a month in the fall .  now , that was a good idea , it really was -- and i 'm glad that the gentleman from michigan ( mr. upton ) and i were able to get it in the bill .  but in all honesty i think i have to say that for the most part , what we have here before us today is one truly bad and ugly bill : first , let 's take a look at the bad : this bill does virtually nothing to address the current spike in crude oil prices or the price of gasoline at the pump .  in fact , a department of energy analysis of an almost identical bill in the last congress concluded that `` changes to production , consumption , imports and prices are negligible. '' this bill would open the pristine arctic national wildlife refuge to oil and natural gas exploration , even though there is such a small supply of oil and gas there that most of the oil companies have pulled out of the coalition trying to open it to drilling .  this bill contains a liability waiver for the big oil companies that would force cities and states to spend billions to clean up drinking water supplies that have been contaminated with the gasoline additive mtbe , which is known to cause cancer .  this bill tramples on the right of state and local governments to protect their citizens from potentially dangerous energy facilities , such as large liquefied natural gas ( lng ) terminals sited right in the middle of densely populated urban areas .  this bill allows oil and gas companies to pollute drinking water by granting them special exemptions from the clean water act .  this bill allows refineries and utilities to increase air pollution with special exemptions from the clean air act .  this bill gives utilities who dam the public 's waterways special rights to appeal and change conditions federal resource agencies placed on their hydropower license in order to protect fish , the environmental , irrigation , navigation or other public uses of our nation 's rivers .  this bill repeals the public utility holding company act , a consumer and investor protection law that restricts utilities from self-dealing and limits their ability to diversify into risky unregulated business ventures at the expense of utility consumers .  second , let 's take a look at the just plain ugly .  there 's a special provision in this bill for home depot that preempts several states existing or proposed energy efficiency standards for ceiling fans .  there 's a special provision in here to protect halliburton from ever facing any federal regulation of the practice of drilling for oil using the hydraulic fracturing technique that actually injects diesel fuel into acquifers .  there 's the special provision added that authorizes `` grants and other assistance '' to something called `` the dine power authority , an enterprise of the navajo nation. '' who are they ?  why do they deserve our largess ?  there 's the special provision added that provides a special exemption from our nation 's nuclear nonproliferation law for a canadian company named nordion , so that they wo n't be required to ever agree to convert their nuclear reactor to using low-enriched uranium fuel and targets , but can instead continue to use bomb-grade highly enriched uranium that is a potential terrorist target .  there 's the special provision in the bill that provides a $ 1.3 billion subsidy to the idaho national laboratory to build a special advanced nuclear reactor to produce hydrogen for the hydrogen car .  this is not what a national energy policy should be -- a tiny bit of good in a sea of bad and ugly provisions .  no .  we should try to seek a fair balance between the interests of consumers and producers , between the need for new production and the preservation of our natural environment .  we should take advantage of america 's strength -- our technological superiority -- and not play to our weakness ( the fact that we control only 3 percent of the world 's oil reserves , while opec controls more than 70 percent ) .  americans own more cars than there are licensed drivers , and yet this energy bill does nothing to address the fuel efficiency of cars .  instead this bill offers up the false hope that drilling in the arctic refuge will solve our energy problems , ignoring that the united state 's 3 percent of world oil reserves will never match our 25 percent of world oil consumption .  for some fuzzy math , we would sacrifice the last great wilderness in america , an area biologically unique within the american arctic .  it did n't have to be this way .  i lived through the energy policy battles of the late it did n't have to be this way .  it really did n't .  but the republican majority that controls this congress today decided to make energy policy partisan with a bill that is extreme and over-reaching .  so i would say to my republican colleagues , you may have the votes to prevail here on the house floor this week , but this extreme bill will not become law .  democrats in this body , along with our colleagues in the senate , will fight to ensure that the bad and ugly provisions that presently make up the bulk of this bill are deleted or revised .  and if they are not , we will fight to prevent this bill from moving to the president 's desk .  i urge my colleagues to vote against this bill .  we can and must do much better .  