House Proceeding 05-12-09 on May 12th, 2009 :: 0:40:40 to 0:45:15
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0:40:35 to 0:40:55( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Inglis: sign in south carolina that the price has in fact gone up here recently. but i'm here to say, madam speaker, that, you know, gas at $2 a gallon or so is cell waiting to detonate in the united states. and i'm also here to predict for you that within two years, i'll

0:40:40 to 0:45:15( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Bob Inglis

0:40:56 to 0:41:17( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Inglis: make the bold prediction, within be $4 a gallon. and so the question is, what do we do about that? do we wait for it to happen and just sit here and assume that we've got to absorb that kind of hit, gas at $4 a gallon? or do we start taking action now to prepare for the energy

0:41:18 to 0:41:38( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Inglis: security of the united states? and, you know, madam speaker, i hear a lot of our colleagues saying that we need to do other things, we need to, for example, in the case of electricity generation, we need to do nuclear. and i'm very excited about that. i think it's a great way to make electricity. but the problem is that there's some economic challenges that

0:41:39 to 0:41:59( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Inglis: there and others say, well, let's move away from gasoline and move toward alternatives but there's a problem there. there are economic barriers and the economic barriers are that in both of those cases, the liquid transportation fuel and electricity generation, the

0:42:00 to 0:42:20( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Inglis: challenge is that the incumbent technologies have some freebies that they get and as long as those freebies continue to distort the marketplace, the free market system, as long as those digsers tos are there, we won't move -- those distortions are there, we wwon't move to alternatives for gasoline. we won't move to alternatives

0:42:21 to 0:42:42( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Inglis: for coal. what we'll do is we'll stick with the incumbent technology. as long as the incumbent technology gets thes freebies, they're basically bad things that come with those products, that aren't recognized by the market and as a result the market doesn't respond. so, for example, take the national security risks that we

0:42:43 to 0:43:03( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Inglis: run by being dependent on gasoline, on oil. right now in the straits, we have some very heavy metal going up and down the straits of hormuz, protecting a supply line of a product that we must have, because we are dependent, we are addicts, addicted to oil.

0:43:04 to 0:43:25( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Inglis: if you attributed some of those costs to the price per gallon of gasoline, it wouldn't be the $2.09 that i think i saw on the wal-mart markey in south carolina today. it would be a lot higher than that. and if it with were, if there were proper costs and those were really attributed to the gas of -- price of gasoline, right now

0:43:26 to 0:43:47( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Inglis: we'd be moving more rapidly toward alternatives. we'd be having plug-in hybrids coming very quickly to the market. we'd be having the chevy volt make its way toward the market. we'd be having hydrogen come much closer and much faster than it is coming now. so, madam speaker, what we got to do is figure out a way to

0:43:48 to 0:44:08( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Inglis: change the underlying commix because i believe that the solution here is not us in washington coming up with grant programs and maybe dolling out some money here and there, but it's rather harnessing the power of american free enterprise and entrepreneurship to deliver these solutions. the way they're delivered is if

0:44:09 to 0:44:32( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Inglis: we come together as a nation and say, listen, no more freebies. as long as they're underrecognized, there's a market distortion. we attach those to the prices of thproducts and i think the way to do that, by the way, is a revenue-neutral carbon tax where you reduce taxes elsewhere, say

0:44:33 to 0:44:53( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Inglis: on payroll, and then in an equal amount, propose a transparent -- impose a transparent tax on carbon. there would be no additional revenue to the government but a price signal to the marketplace that says, yo, the incumbent technologies aren't going to get their freebies anymored.

0:44:54 to 0:45:15( Edit History Discussion )

Bob Inglis: and if they're not, then those of us who have alternatives can make a buck selling them. and when that happens, madam speaker, we will change american energy dependence on the middle east and we'll be able to say to them, you know, we just n't need you like we used to. we can improve the national security of the united states,