Over the last couple weeks the “use it or lose it” theory has dominated the Democratic leadership’s talking points. Unfortunately, their claims lack one important feature - the truth. Here are a few examples:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said:

“On the subject of use it or lose it, in terms of what the law is there, there is no statutory requirement that these entities, oil and gas companies, use it in a certain period of time, under certain protocols or else relinquish the ability to do so.  Yes, that is the condition under which they enter the lease, that they will use it, and if they don’t do it over a period of time, they would lose it, but that’s not what is happening.  And so, we’re making this the law, establishing the criteria and the time frame and then making it the law,” (News Conference, 6/25/08).

In reality, federal energy lease holders are already required to produce oil or natural gas within five to ten years to meet the terms of the lease and the law. Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Hoyer and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall (D-WV) voted for this in 1992. Accordig to Title 30, Subsection 188(a) and (b) of the United States Code, “any lease…may be forfeited and cancelled….whenever the lessee fails to comply with any provision of this chapter, of the lease, or of the general regulations… Any lease… shall be subjected to cancellation by the Security of the Interior after 30 days notice upon failure of the lessee to comply with any of the provisions of the lease.”

Majority Leader Hoyer is saying:

“We believe that there are literally hundreds of millions of barrels available to us — matter of fact, billions; I said millions — hundreds of billions of barrels available in presently authorized leaseholds.  In addition, we believe there are trillions of cubic feet of natural gas available on already authorized leaseholds.” (News Conference, 6/25/08)

The truth is that No democrat, including Majority Leader Hoyer, has been able to explain where these figures came from. Even fellow Democratic Representative Green from Texas has said he thinks “those numbers come from people who don’t understand this business.” Also, the Department of Interior said Wednesday in a letter to Natural Resources Committee Republicans, that “the [Democrats’ report on using these figures] does not reference specific locations for much of the data and therefore we cannot ascertain where each of the numbers was derived.  It appears the report took raw data, some of which can be found on the Department websites, and then used various formulas to reach certain conclusions.  The report does not disclose the assumptions or formulas used.  The views contained in the report are based on a misunderstanding of the very lengthy regulatory process.  The existence of a lease does not guarantee the discovery of, or any particular quantity of oil and gas.”  Basically this means that the Democrats made up these numbers for their own benefit.

Finally, Democratic Caucus Chairman Emanuel is quoted saying:

“We do this, the `use it or lose it,’ with coal.  We don’t have that policy as it relates to oil and gas…  [Our hand-picked `energy experts’] have studied that 68 million acres, the oil and gas industry.  They didn’t just, willy-nilly, put a bid out on a permit.  They studied this.  They know what’s there.  Some people think our guesstimates are conservative.” (News Conference, 6/25/08)

Ironically, Representative Emanuel revealed the truth about “use it or lose it” in his statement. He admitted the Democrats’ figures were a “guesstimate.” What this means is that the main bill that is on the floor right now is based on the Democrats’ guesstimate while Americans are paying well over $4 for a gallon of gas. While Americans are voicing to Congress that they want to allow for more American Energy Production to help lower the cost of gas, Democrats are basing their bills on made up numbers and inconclusive math. In addition to all of this, Rep. Emanuel attempt to cover for himself by claiming that “use it or lose it” doesn’t apply to gas is unfounded and dead wrong. I would like to think that Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Hoyer would correct him since they both voted for it in 1992.

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