act would require the secretary of the interior to act on oil and natural gas lease applications and open up new reserves in alaska this legislation would restrict the strategic petroleum reserve from being tapped unless the administration develops a plan to allow more leases, to explore for adecisional sources of oil. let me put this in perspective right here. as a young army officer in korea, 1973 and 1974, there was an oil embargo, if you done remember. we cut off the -- opec cut off oil production and sending it to the u.s. we only got heat three hours a day, we had to keep the heat for our tanks and aircraft to protect this nation. so it is one of strategic importance and energy is a very important source of that. to obtain energy independence, it's not only a key component to domestic recovery, it's also an issue of national security, as i just mentioned. the coming energy independence is -- becoming energy