IN FOCUS: Oil Addiction
We have a serious problem. Our nation is addicted to oil. Oil companies make record profits while the rest of us pay record prices at the pump. Global warming grows worse. And our security remains at risk. Soaring oil prices are hurting consumers and the entire economy -- from drivers, to the airline and trucking industries, to the cost of food.
President Bush and the majority of his supporters in Congress have one response -- drill for more oil off our protected coastlines. But that’s not a solution, it is effort to disguise this Administration’s failed energy policy, the result of having two men from the oil industry running the White House for the past seven and a half years.
Here’s one way to understand the President’s offshore drilling plan -- the average family in California would pay $140,000 for gasoline before they would see one penny in relief at the pump. That’s because new offshore oil production will do little to bring down gas prices, but it would jeopardize pristine and invaluable coastlines that are critical to the economies of California and other states -- and in the decades it would take for new offshore oil drilling to produce any oil, we would continue to pay ever higher prices at the pump.
According to a 2007 report by the federal Energy Information Administration, new offshore drilling “…would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030. Leasing would begin no sooner than 2012, and production would not be expected to start before 2017…Because oil prices are determined on the international market, however, any impact on average wellhead prices is expected to be insignificant.”
I support a comprehensive energy plan to provide immediate relief at the pump and long-term solutions through investments in new technology, new sources of energy and fuels, efficiency, and conservation that will help reduce our dependence on oil.
The President should release a small portion of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to immediately expand available oil supplies and reduce prices. There are 700 million barrels of oil in the reserve; the President could safely and easily release 70 million barrels between now and December.
The House just approved the “use it or lose it” bill to compel oil companies to drill on existing leases or lose their right to the leases. Oil companies hold leases to over 68 million acres of federal lands and offshore areas that are open for drilling right now but where no drilling is taking place.
I support legislation to curb oil market speculation that is partially responsible for price spikes. The Energy Markets Emergency Act, which the House has passed, directs federal regulators to use all available authority and emergency tools to curtail excessive speculation and other practices distorting the energy market.
We must continue to invest in renewables, efficiency and conservation. I voted to repeal $14 billion in subsidies and tax breaks for the largest oil companies and to invest that money instead in clean renewable energy and alternative fuels and energy efficiency. In one of the most hard-fought and significant victories of the new Democratically-led Congress, we forced the President last December to sign into law a bill that increases gas mileage standards for the first time in 25 years, saving American families $700 to $1,000 per year at the pump. The new law also ensures that buildings, homes, appliances, and lighting are more energy efficient, and makes an historic commitment to renewable fuels, with the majority of the biofuels expansion coming from non-food crops.
We cannot drill our way out of this crisis – just ask T. Boone Pickens, who made billions in the oil industry and is now backing wind power. But a combination of efforts – from changing our individual driving and energy consumption habits to bold policy changes and investments – can cut our energy consumption while simultaneously strengthening the economy, combating global warming, creating new green jobs, and lowering our energy costs. In the meantime, we should release oil from the strategic reserve and pursue drilling in the areas where leasing is already safely allowed.
Posted by Peake, Amy at 08:22PM | | Comments () | TrackBack (0)
