STATEMENT FOR THE RECORD - MICHAEL C. BURGESS

ENERGY AND COMMERCE HEARING

“Department of Energy's Fiscal Year 2007 Budget Proposal”

May 9, 2006

Mr. Chairman,

Thank you for convening this hearing today.

One of my most important responsibilities as a Member of Congress is to ensure that my constituents' tax dollars are being spent wisely. It is for that reason that I look forward to the ongoing debate about our national funding priorities.

Secretary Bodmin, thank you for appearing before us this morning. As we begin the Fiscal Year 2007 appropriations cycle, it will be helpful to hear from you about the President's Budget request for the Department of Energy, particularly as this is the first budget year after enactment of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

I am especially interested to hear your testimony on the DOE's oil and natural gas research programs. One of the best ways to decrease our dependence on foreign sources of oil is to make the most out of our domestic oil resources we do have. Research funded through this account, such as enhanced oil recovery using carbon dioxide, can help to increase domestic supply.

We've seen that in North Texas with the Barnett Shale -- thirty years ago, the Barnett shale was nothing but rock. Since that time, with the help of a DOE grant, George Mitchell was able to develop the technology to recover the natural gas in the Barnett shale. In 2004, it produced 370 Billion Cubic Feet and total reserves for the Barnett Shale are estimated to be over 500 Trillion Cubic Feet.

Now, companies using the technology developed by Mitchell and in North Texas are looking at tapping into several other shale natural gas plays around the country. What began as a small expenditure by the Department of Energy has already brought trillions of cubic feet of natural gas into our domestic supply and has the potential to allow us to tap trillions more. As we face increasing prices for oil, gas, and other petroleum products, this will be extremely important in keeping the prices down.

Secretary Bodmin, thank you again for appearing before us this morning. I yield back.