[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 101 (Wednesday, June 18, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5746-S5747]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
IDAHOANS SPEAK OUT ON HIGH ENERGY PRICES
Mr. CRAPO. Madam President, a day or so ago, I asked Idahoans to
share with me how high energy prices are affecting their lives, and
they responded by the hundreds. The stories, now numbering close to
800, are heartbreaking and touching. It is not just filling the tank;
these high energy prices touch every aspect of our lives--family time,
food prices, work commutes, the list goes on and on. Many Idahoans have
taken efforts to cut back on the niceties to accommodate the
necessities, but now far too many face the choice of which necessity to
ignore--gas or food, job or family. For years, Congress has
unsuccessfully grappled with a national energy policy; now we are at a
point where decisions must be made, compromises must be negotiated if
we are to finally be forward-thinking. This isn't only a question of
what we are handing future generations; it's affecting families right
here, right now. It is not just Idahoans. It is an issue that touches
the live of every single American, no matter their socioeconomic
status.
In an effort to seek solutions rather than focus only on the trouble,
I have also asked Idahoans to share how they want Congress to resolve
it, and the suggestions are voluminous and wide-ranging. Some start
simply with conservation efforts, something that I have long supported,
while others encourage increased offshore oil drilling and increased
domestic production, more sustainable alternative and renewable energy
sources, stronger support for nuclear energy options and more efficient
transportation options. Nearly all have expressed concerns for not just
their future, but for the future of their children and grandchildren.
And they are adamant about Congress moving beyond half-truths and
partisan politics to find solutions. While I may differ in my opinions
on some suggestions, I am thrilled that so many have taken time to
share their thoughts with me. Some have shared research, videos and
book recommendations. To respect that effort, I plan on submitting
every e-mail sent to me through energy [email protected] to the
Congressional Record. And to keep attention on this matter, I will be
submitting them a few at a time every day until every one has been
submitted. This is not an issue that will be easily resolved, but it is
one that deserves immediate and serious attention. I plan to continue
working to find other ways to bring these stories to the attention of
my colleagues in Congress. Today, I am starting this process with the
following comments from Idahoans.
I ask unanimous consent to print in the Record comments from
Idahoans.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Dear Senator Crapo, I am very interested in the debate
concerning rude oil and energy prices. I am a wheat farmer by
profession and have been excited about the increased wheat
prices, however, all of the input costs have significantly
increased due to the fact that all inputs have either direct
or indirect links to the price of crude oil. Freight costs
have significantly increased across the board. Manufacturing
costs for steel have soared, partly due to the energy costs.
Pivot prices have increased by 20% this year and are expected
to significantly increase next year also. Fertilizer prices,
which were already unrealistically high last year have
tripled from last year's prices. Although the price of wheat
will likely be more than commensurate with the input costs
this year, if commodity prices fall before the decline of
input prices, (including and especially energy prices)
farmers throughout the country will be in serious trouble.
In addition to the difficulties associated with farm input
prices, my family's household income has not increased in
proportion to the costs of household goods such as food,
clothing, and family items. The relief check from the
government will not come close to compensating for increased
pricing, and will also decrease the value of the dollar and
hence cause more inflated pricing, as well as increase our
national debt.
Most Americans would agree that caring for our environment
is important, however, a relatively small group of radical
environmentalists have been using their screaming lobby to
set policies which are extremely detrimental to the economy
as well as the environment. How is it that oil drilled from
the Middle East and freighted across the ocean is less
harmful to ``mother earth'' than drilling in a single square
mile in Alaska? I am adamantly opposed to the idea that we
should be dependant upon the Middle East for oil when we have
enough to last for at least one hundred years in reserve here
in the United States. We are likely to have alternative
technology to decrease our demand upon oil and most likely
oil will be obsolete as an energy source within less than 50
years. Please listen to the less vocal majority who are
pleading for drastically decreasing the restrictions and
regulations on drilling and refining our domestic oil.
Sincerely,
Lloyd Ward.
____
Dear Mike Crapo, We live on Robie Creek out side of Boise.
My husband commutes to Nampa 2 days a week to work. We are
also Ushers for Boise State University and have to commute to
Boise for work. With the increase in Gas Price, our fuel
costs have risen 148.00 in the past three months. It was
already way to expensive. We are in our 70's so this is a
hardship for us.
John McCain stating he will not drill in Alaska makes me so
mad. I live next door to a lady who spent years in Barrow and
the North Slope of Alaska. She said drilling would not hurt
anything because there is nothing there. I have suggested Mr.
McCain make a trip and check this out personally instead of
listening to the environmentalist who has put us in this
position in the first place along with the Socialist who want
this country destroyed. I also think it is a shame to listen
to the Stupid people who are costing us Billions to prevent
global warming. The last I knew, God was in-charge and has
been thru thousands of years of climate change. Who is going
to pay back the tax payers when this is proven to be a
political sham?
It would be so refreshing if we the people could ever get
the truth about anything and have all of the agenda bleeped
out.
Bess, Boise.
____
Dear Senator Crapo: We have noticed a big difference in
prices in the past year. Instead of taking two vehicles to
work five days a week, my husband and I have traveled
together this past year to save on the gas. We leave our home
in Firth, (our work hours are different), and he drops me off
at work and travels to the other side of Idaho Falls to get
to his job. I stay at work during the lunch hour and an extra
hour after work until he comes to pick me up at night.
It used to cost us $320.00 a month one year ago taking two
vehicles to work. Now with one vehicle we are spending a
minimum of $340.00 just to get to work.
We also have the added concern of my husband's elderly
parents. They will need our help more and we try to go see
them once a month. We are spending $100.00 per trip to get
from Firth to Wendell and back.
1. Why isn't anyone concerned about the high oil
consumption of container ships that bring goods from other
countries?
2. Why are we allowing China and other countries to drill
off of our shores when we can't drill off Florida?
3. What about all the wells that were drilled and capped in
the Western Wyoming area and other areas of the U.S.?
4. Why are we not pushing harder for nuclear energy and
other options and also expanding refinery capacity that could
free us from dependence on other nations? They have us under
their thumbs.
5. Why are the minority environmentalists controlling so
much of our lives? We believe they are not being realistic
and subjecting us to other nations' whims. Global warming, it
snowed here last week, second week of June. Where is the
global warming? There is more global warming controlled by
the sun and not man. The earth has always had ups and downs
in its weather patterns. Why doesn't anybody ask an
environmentalist what they live in, what they wear and how
they get to their protests? It seems they are protesting
everything they use.
Thank you for work you are doing and asking for our
opinions.
Michael and Susan, Firth.
____
Dear Senator Crapo, thank your for giving me the
opportunity to write to you on this issue and also for your
efforts on our behalf.
I have a PhD in Aerospace Engineering and more than thirty
years experience.
I can only address the engineering aspects of this
question, not the political aspects, though I am afraid that
the problem is largely a political and psychological one, not
a technical one.
The technological facts are these: We can have energy
independence and a 75% reduction in air pollution at the same
time and it
[[Page S5747]]
wouldn't cost the taxpayers a dime. In order to achieve this
we would have to convert our power generation from fossil
fuel to nuclear and hydroelectric, and switch to electric
cars, trucks and trains. The technology for this exists now,
although some of it is still in the laboratory. What is
preventing its implementation is government regulation.
After World War II, the utilities put forward a plan to
convert all of this country's power generation to nuclear and
hydroelectric. The plan was eminently feasible, but was
blocked by government regulation. During the 1970s, congress
passed what was popularly know as the ``small hydro bill''.
This excellent piece of legislation sought to encourage
cities and towns to take advantage of their local rivers and
streams to generate power. This would have given local
communities a reliable source of clean, low cost power, and
reduced the need for long distance transmission lines and
dependence on the grid. Implementation of this plan was
blocked by the environmentalists.
Solar energy and wind power are not practical alternatives.
Nuclear power is safe. In more than fifty years of
generating power in this country, not a single person has
ever been killed or injured by a nuclear accident. So far as
I am aware, not a single person has ever been killed or
injured by a nuclear power plant with its reactor in a
containment building. The accident at Chernobyl was possible
only because the reactors there were not housed in a
containement building.
Nuclear power is inexpensive. What is making nuclear power
plants expensive is excessive and irrational government
regulation, based not on sound science and engineering, but
on a desire to appease the environmentalists. This was true
as far back as 1967. The effect of this government regulation
is not to make nuclear power plants safer, but to make them
impossible.
Government regulation, especially NHTSA, is preventing
entrepreneurs from making electric cars. There is not a
single company manufacturing electric cars in this country
for sale to the public. That is a disgrace. The FMVSS
(Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards) are nonsensical
gibberish. NHTSA needs to be abolished and the politicians
and the bureaucrats need to stop interfering in car design.
In summary, the whole huge body of excessive, irrational
government regulation which has piled up over that last 60
years needs to be repealed.
Government is the problem. The solution is for government
to get out of the way.
Most respectfully yours,
Stefan, PhD (aerospace engineering).
____
Senator Crapo, I couldn't possibly disagree w/you more with
respect to the current energy situation. I think that the
high prices for gas/diesel that we're experiencing are a
necessary evil. It is time for this entire country, but our
politicians in Washington (yes, this means you!) especially,
to wake up & realize that the amount of petroleum on this
planet based is finite. The current problem with prices
should not be dealt w/by some half-assed politically
motivated Band-Aid.
The United States has a chance to be at the forefront of
research into whatever technology will ultimately replace
petroleum-based energy. Rather than subsidizing ethanol
production from corn (absolutely no advantage in terms of use
of petroleum--it's merely at a different phase of
production), why not step up to the plate & provide
incentives for research into alternative energy. Instead of
the U.S. depending on foreign oil, why not make the rest of
the world dependent on U.S. company patents for whatever
ultimately replaces petroleum as the leading energy
technology?
Thanks for listening,
Todd, Boise.
____
Dear Mike, We appreciate this opportunity to share with you
how energy prices are affecting us and hope this will help
you convince your colleagues that something needs to be done
NOW!!
We are farmers in southern Idaho. We are helping to keep
this country fed. It is 40 miles to our nearest town where we
shop for all our needs--from groceries to supplies to run the
farm. Our fuel is delivered from 40 miles away as well. We
have no public transportation to rely on so we have no choice
but to keep driving our vehicles to supply our needs and to
try to conserve where we can. Just today, we had to drive 90
miles one way to obtain a repair part for our hay harvesting
equipment. That trip cost us nearly twice what it would have
cost this time last year. Diesel for our tractors is nearly
$5.00/gallon. If Congress doesn't act now, this country is
going to wake up to food shortages because we won't be able
to afford to keep filling our fuel tanks to keep the food
pipeline full. Trucks won't be able to afford to keep
transporting food to the stores and one day in the not too
distant future, the store shelves will be empty. What will
Congress do then about the riots and other violence that will
result? We want our energy companies to drill for oil NOW,
both on and off shore! We want our energy companies to drill
in ANWR, NOW!!! We want our energy companies to be able to
utilize Coal-to-Oil technologies NOW!!! We want to be free of
our dependence on the Middle East for our energy needs. If
nuclear energy can be utilized safely, let's use it.
Let's use wind turbines. Let's utilize solar farms on our
vast acreages of public lands here in Idaho. We must act
before our economy is destroyed. It will take decades to
repair the damage if Congress doesn't act NOW!!!!!
Feel free to share our story.
Sincerely,
Kirt and Janet, Malta.
____
You've got this one about right.
Our problems as usual are the result of allowing political
expediency to make bad policy.
We can no longer afford to genuflect at the green altar. By
all means let's streamline the approval process for new
nuclear plants and begin drilling ASAP in ANWR and off both
coasts. THE STATES DO NOT HAVE SOVEREIGNTY OVER THEIR COASTAL
WATERS. If the federal government can tie up half of Idaho,
it should also be able to approve drilling off the coasts of
FL, CA et al.
In your letter, you skip over another aggravating factor
inflicted on our economy by Congress. I refer of course to
the ethanol mandate. The primaries are over. Iowa has once
again been shamelessly pandered to. Repeal the ethanol
mandate, eliminate tariffs on imported (Brazilian sugar
based) ethanol. Watch fuel and food cost drop simultaneously.
This should be a no brainer even for Congress.
Stu, Donnelly.
____
Senator Crapo: I first want to thank you for even being
considerate enough to ask my opinion. Not asking constituents
is a major problem with our politics these days but that
issue is for another email.
My family is fortunate enough that the rising energy costs
are, at this point, a frustrating inconvenience and not a
major issue as it is with many. What is of concern to me is
our country's willingness to be held hostage by others in the
world. We have vast reserves of our own fossil fuel that we
refuse to develop in addition to our refusal to develop
nuclear energy, wind and solar sources. As I understand it,
we do not want to ``damage'' the environment. I don't want to
``damage'' our environment either but GOD has blessed this
country with resources and the technology for developing
those resources has changed for the better in the last 50
years.
I am also tired of the rhetoric that `in Europe energy
costs have been much higher than here for decades'. Well, the
plain truth is I don't live in Europe. The USA has been,
until outsourcing became our corporate goal, the most
advanced, the most productive, the most ingenious, the most
prosperous, the most giving nation in ALL of history.
Besides, why don't I hear the cost comparison with Venezuela?
Gasoline there is $0.25 per gallon. Why don't we become more
like them? Not that I would want to, but you get my drift.
Not to belabor the issue, but the rising cost of energy is
only one of the visual symptoms of a much deeper problem. The
problem of being stripped of our national identity, of
falling victim to the erroneous global warming scam, of the
socialist philosophy of wealth distribution, just to mention
a few elitist liberal doctrines.
Anyway, I want to thank you again for your interest in my
thoughts. Keep up the good fight.
Russell, Hayden.
____
Fuel prices are devastating every section of our economy. A
family reunion trip from Nampa to Seattle and Return in my
diesel pickup and camper cost $460 for fuel alone. Idaho
Power has implemented two major price increases since the
first of the year. Intermountain Gas has raised their price
recently by nearly 9 percent. Our food prices are
skyrocketing while our government tries to substitute fuel
from food for ample resources of energy in the ground we walk
on but aren't allowed to drill for.
Congress and the administration should be ashamed that we
are not utilizing safe nuclear energy and expanding use of
our coal resources. You (collectively) have stopped the
development of nearly all natural resources available to us
and also stopped the building of refineries to keep up with
the U.S. demand for oil.
It has made life much tougher for those of us who aren't
depending on the public to take care of us.
Shame on all of you.
Larry, Nampa.
____________________