dr. hamm. mr. hamm. we'll call you doctor for now. mr. hamm. >> thank you. thanks, mr. baucus, it's an honor and privilege for me to be here today. i'll be speaking on my own behalf and not as representative of continental resources or not here on behalf of the romney campaign for which i serve as an energy adviser. it's been 20 years since i was here speaking before this committee, senator david born at that time was cochairing the committee, i believe, and i spoke to him about a couple of things that were mostly unknown and unconventional at the time and the other was the aspect of drilling into the trucks themselves and the shales that would produce a vast amount of natural gas and talking about a temporary trigger, tax trigger to advance that theory. well, that wasn't given. we didn't get a tax trigger and over the last 20 years, we've seen those technologies develop and thank god we've come a long way since then. continental is the top ten producer where 75% of all of last year's production we focus on since it started in montana and that's where we started with co

dr. hamm? mr. hamm? we'll call you doctor for now. mr. hamm? >> thanks, chairman baucus, ranking member hatch and members of the committee. it's an honor and a privilege for me to be here today. i'll be speaking on my own behalf, i'm not here on behalf of the romney campaign for which i serve as an energy adviser. it's been plenty of years before i was here speaking pfr this committee. senator david warren at that time was co-chairing of the committee, i believe, and spoke to him about a couple things that was mostly unknown, totally unconventional at the time. one of them was horizontal drilling and the other was the aspect of drilling into the source rocks themselves, or shales, that might produce a vast amount of natural gas and talking about a temporary trigger, tax trigger, to advance that theory. well, that wasn't given. we did get a tax trigger, but over the last 20 years, we've seen those technologies developed and thank god we've come a long way since then. continental is a top tens liquids producer. we're 75% oil with last year's prod

dr. jurgensen, i don't know or mr. hamm, but if you two are half as good as i'm hearing from my colleagues, this is a great panel. we're delighted that you're here today. in what the senator was saying earlier, i think it's optimistic to be about the future of our country. one of the reasons is, with saudi arabia, we having for sometime, saudi arabia of coal. we are now apparently the saudi arabia of natural gas. i understand that we have become that porter of oil. while we're not the top producer of oil in the world, i think we might be number three or so but we apparently have more drills going today. more wells producing today than i think maybe the rest of the world combined which is pretty amazing. i share subcommittee deals with nuclear safety, and we have four brand-new nuclear power plants being built in this country for the first time in 25 years. and i'm encouraged with the technology and the safety of the technology that it provides. cafe, we implemented -- adopted cafe legislation, fuel efficiency for vehicles i

dr. jorgenson, i don't know either you or mr. hamm well, but if you two are half as good as i'm hearing from my colleagues, this is a great panel, and we're delete that had you're here today. i want to follow up a little bit on what senator coburn was saying earlier. i think there's reason to be optimistic about the future of our country, a number of reasons, but one of those is, and he alluded -- we have been for some time the saudi arabia of coal. we are now apparently the saurd sawed of natural gas. i understand that we have become a net exporter of oil, and while we're not the top producer of oil in the world, i think we might be number three or so, but we apparently have more drills going today. wells producing today than i think maybe the rest of the world combined which is pretty amazing. i chair a subcommittee that deals with nuclear safety, and we have four brand new nuclear power plants being built in this country for the first time in 25 years, and i'm encouraged with the technology and the safety of the technology that it

dr. jorgenson, wise man. fortunate to have somebody of your quality and character before the committee. mr. hamm, thank you for what you've done for the country. thank you for what you've done for our state. i just want to point out what's happened to dependence on foreign energy. since 2005 we have gone down from 60% dependant to 45% dependant last year. we believe we'll be 42% dependant this year, so we have seen a dramatic reduction in our dependence on foreign energy. still, we are spending $1 billion a day to foreign sources, and it's incredibly important to the economics of the country we make further progress. let's go to the next slide and show what's happened to domestic production, and, again, i thank mr. hamm. thank you for making the investment. thank you for taking the risk. thank you for having faith that what you and your people saw as an opportunity was worth pursuing because you've helped turn around our domestic production in a very dramatic way. and i believe it's entirely in our nation's interest, in the national security interest, in the national economic interest, and we've