[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 142 (Tuesday, September 9, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8173-S8175]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                IDAHOANS SPEAK OUT ON HIGH ENERGY PRICES

  Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, in mid-June, I asked Idahoans to share with 
me how high energy prices are affecting their lives, and they responded 
by the hundreds. The stories, numbering over 1,000, are heartbreaking 
and touching. To respect their efforts, I am submitting every e-mail 
sent to me through [email protected]
.gov to the Congressional Record. This is not an issue that will be 
easily resolved, but it is one that deserves immediate and serious 
attention, and Idahoans deserve to be heard. Their stories not only 
detail their struggles to meet everyday expenses, but also have 
suggestions and recommendations as to what Congress can do now to 
tackle this problem and find solutions that last beyond today. I ask 
unanimous consent to have today's letters printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

       Thank you for this opportunity to express my concerns 
     regarding the escalating price of living in Idaho due in 
     large part to the ever increasing cost of energy.
       I work for Alaska Airlines in Boise, Idaho. My gas bill to 
     cover my commute has gone from $100 to $300 per month. My own 
     industry has been heavily affected by the obscene rise in the 
     cost of aviation fuel. Alaska Air is a profitable business. 
     They have worked hard at putting a lot of cash in the bank. 
     They never just spent their way into bankruptcy then emerged 
     a few years later with

[[Page S8174]]

     all of their debts relieved. Now in order to stay alive, in 
     addition to raising air fares and reducing routes, they have 
     to charge seemingly ridiculous charges for the ordinary 
     services associated with travel. And still the cost of fuel 
     rises. Just today we received the second corporate letter, 
     advising us that Alaska Airlines is doing all it possibly can 
     to reduce costs, that each of us needs to be conscious of 
     everything we do and be as profitable as we can with each 
     service we provide. I work in a call center. Are those the 
     voices of Pakistani call center agents I hear at Alaska 
     Airline's front door? So not only are some of the finest 
     American customer service agents in danger of losing our 
     jobs, but the least respected of all call center personnel 
     will smudge the heretofore finest airline service in the 
     world.
       I read that you have worked on alternative fuels. This is a 
     fine aspiration, but with what result? At present alternative 
     fuels can not even begin to touch the huge volume it would 
     take to replace gas and oil energy. As a result of corn-based 
     fuels, corn-based commodities around the world have also 
     escalated in price. Cereal, tortillas, breads, dog food, 
     chicken and beef feed, the list goes on, are all affected by 
     increased prices I pay every day. And in third world 
     countries, where such commodities are staples, people are 
     facing shortages and starvation. When the farmer cannot 
     afford to cultivate his crops, the trucker cannot afford to 
     pick up the crops and bring them to market, and the market 
     has to raise the prices of staples, how far behind are we 
     from becoming a society of haves and haves and have-nots?
       Senator Crapo, for far too long we have let the 
     environmental movement intimidate our energy policy in this 
     country. It started with a little bit of this and that. We 
     stopped drilling for oil and gas off our scenic coasts and 
     large inland tracts of land deemed environmentally sensitive. 
     We stopped approving refineries and thereby reduced our 
     domestic supplies of fuel, relying instead on ever-increasing 
     foreign sources. One of the biggest environmental accidents 
     happened near Valdez, Alaska. Environmentalists blamed big 
     oil. Ironically the oil spilled was imported from the Middle 
     East. Accompanying all this was the slow rise in the price 
     consumers pay to run their cars and heat their homes. 
     Government has played both sides of the isle with C.A.F.E 
     standards that have not improved gas mileage so much as to 
     drive the price of cars to the same price as a good house in 
     the 1960's. Refineries further increase the price of fuel 
     required to manufacture multiple blends. All of these 
     products are heavily taxed by our government. If the oil 
     companies are accused of making obscene profits, then can we 
     not say the same thing about the never-mentioned windfall 
     profits our Federal government collects?
       What would I do? I would ask you to start plans to find and 
     develop our best sources of domestic oil and natural gas 
     resources. I would ask you to find places in this country 
     that would just love to refine petroleum and encourage their 
     communities to do so. Just getting the plans on the board 
     would burst this bubble of inflationary speculation. (These 
     suggestions, if started today would take at least 10 years to 
     get up and running).
       I would also ask that we start plans to build safe and 
     efficient nuclear power. France and Germany possess marvelous 
     examples we can emulate and exceed. And further we need to 
     fend off the environmentalist's incessant legal maneuvering 
     that subvert inflate the price of energy development.
       Well, this is more than two paragraphs. But it contains in 
     my opinion, the elements we need to address today and with 
     haste.
           Thank you.
     Robert, Boise.
                                  ____

       I would expect that I am an average Idahoan in means of 
     monthly financial resources. The average family in my valley 
     has 2 full-time incomes of $8/hr, totaling around $2200.00/
     mo. take-home after taxes. The average family also has to 
     travel 50 miles a day--5 days a week--just for that work. The 
     average vehicle does 20MPG. That alone is $220 in gas a month 
     ($30.00 over most people's monthly available gas budget). Now 
     figure that the nearest shopping mall is 50 miles away, and 
     the nearest shopping center is 15 miles away.
       The economy is and will suffer to make the difference. On-
     line shopping to the lowest bidder is becoming a necessity, 
     and activities of enjoyment are on the out. Some people find 
     themselves in a position where they can no longer afford the 
     job they have had for decades, and others like myself are 
     forced to close storefronts, and look for alternative methods 
     of doing business in order to make ends meet.
       I consider myself a Statesman; amateur as that may be. It 
     is near impossible to educate and influence the general 
     populace toward principles of freedom and free market if my 
     means of exposure to the people is severely hampered due to 
     extravagant and unnecessary fuel costs.
       If we want so much to be like Europe that we are willing to 
     take on their fuel costs, then we better be ready to downsize 
     our person per square foot ratios to match theirs, otherwise 
     we will desolate ourselves, and their 200 year wait for our 
     failure and re-absorption back into their kingdom will be 
     complete.
       We must learn to look at what is seen, and what is not 
     seen. We must be able to see all the impacts, and not just 5-
     10 years down the road. We must have 20-30 and 50-80 year 
     plans that will cause freedom from debt and servitude to 
     others, or we will weaken and eventually fall . . . even if 
     that fall may take a century, we will fall if we do not 
     change the current direction of events. Gas price recognition 
     is merely a baby step.
       We must set up forms of governing that will ensure freedom 
     for generations, and not get caught up in the mere momentary 
     crisis.
       I beg of you . . . as do many I know . . . be true to your 
     positions of civil servants; handle all situations with no 
     thought for self, and every thought for generations of 
     freedom for those you serve and represent, not bondage and 
     slavery and misery.
       Be astute in your history. Civilization has repeated cycles 
     of growth and downfall. Must we make the same mistakes? Or is 
     ours truly wise enough, not pompous, to overcome the 
     challenges that face our day? Our day is truly the greatest 
     day in history . . . for we have yet to write its annals. 
     Victorious or victored. After all, only a small degree, or 
     percentage caused the great chasm that made two nations of 
     one in 1776 . . .
       You are the warriors in government for us, the people. I 
     commend every effort on your behalves to maintain and support 
     the principles upon which our nation was founded. Be true, 
     and be courageous. Do not let lost lives be in vain, lest 
     that blood lie on your shoulders. I know you can, and will to 
     help our Nation be great again. Press on!
     Jason, St. Anthony.
                                  ____

       It is a national security issue for our country to be 
     energy independent. The issues outlined in the piece on your 
     website are exactly the ideas and means I would try to 
     implement. I feel that the environmental movement and 
     powerful lobbyists have had too much power and influence over 
     many Senators and Congressmen. I wish the names of the 
     lobbyists could be widely broadcast and the bills that have 
     been shot down could be widely circulated so people could see 
     the total dishonesty and power grab these environmental 
     groups have taken. It is a real disaster that we do not have 
     more nuclear energy, more domestic oil production, more coal 
     and of course more refineries. The massive amount of lawsuits 
     and cost of defending many annoyance suits has cost the 
     government and utility companies hundreds of billions of 
     dollars if not into the trillions. We have a small business 
     and a huge increase in cost in transportation shrinks the 
     profit and makes cuts in other important areas necessary.
     Lew, Idaho Falls.
                                  ____

       Thanks for the opportunity to respond to your request for 
     energy stories. I do not have a sad one of not being able to 
     heat my house or whether to put gas in my SUV so I can get to 
     work (I drive a car that gets 27 mpg and I walk a lot) or put 
     groceries on the table. But, I have sympathy for folks who do 
     have to make hard choices. I'm glad you are looking for 
     answers. I think I can offer some insights for you.
       My background is this: I travel a lot and have spent 11 
     years living abroad and 5 of those years living in various 
     places in the Middle East. I understand our energy needs very 
     well, having personally negotiated the delivery of $500 
     million dollars worth of free fuel for US/Coalition forces 
     going into Iraq in 2003. I have spent a lot of time with guys 
     in the petroleum industry in Kuwait. They are cranking out 
     more than 2 million bbl a day and they consider U.S. needs 
     their highest priority and have since 1991. From my 
     experience I know there is not a fuel shortage, just an 8 
     million bbl per day shortfall in the needs of the U.S. 
     Personally I think raising gasoline taxes will reduce waste, 
     encourage conservation and utilization of mass transit and 
     that might help close the gap, but I understand this might 
     not be the popular option because we do like our power cheap 
     and plentiful.
       I have lived through the oil embargo in 1973 and the little 
     one in 1978. I've listened to the energy companies explain 
     that they would go after oil shale in Wyoming in 1978, but it 
     would not be profitable unless gas prices reached $2.00 a 
     gallon. I don't hear much about oil shale these days and gas 
     is at $4.00 a gallon.
       The EPA recently (last few years) opened new areas for 
     drilling on the North Slope of Alaska, off the California 
     coast and in the Gulf of Mexico that the energy companies 
     have been asking to drill in since 1978. Those areas were 
     protected but when an energy producer threatened to close a 
     profitable refinery in Santa Barbara a few years ago citing 
     ``lack of demand'' gas prices spiked to $4.00 a gallon in 
     Phoenix, Arizona and in the Chicago area so in the interest 
     of the national good, the EPA lifted the restrictions, so now 
     they can get oil that was profitable at $24 a bbl in 1978--
     must be really low fruit at $130 a bbl in 2008. This would 
     help explain some of the recent profits enjoyed by the energy 
     companies and make their complaint that finding new energy is 
     very expensive seem a bit hollow.
       A Halliburton country manager told me in 2002 that 
     Azerbaijan is awash in oil, has been for some time. A 
     pipeline was opened in May 2005 in Azerbaijan that runs about 
     a million bbl a day. There is more available but new 
     pipelines are held hostage to the political process in a 
     couple of those other countries. The Iraq fields are on the 
     mend and they went from 200,000 bbl a day in 2006 to a 
     reported 2 million bbl a day (but I don't believe that number 
     yet) and they have the capability of generating 6 million bbl 
     a day if that political situation ever stabilizes. Kazakhstan 
     and some of the others are likewise situated, the trick has 
     always been to

[[Page S8175]]

     get the oil out of there. Obviously there is fuel out there 
     and the energy companies are willing to get it--we just have 
     to be willing to pay the price or develop alternatives. The 
     energy companies have to spin ``doom and gloom'' so we give 
     them a pass and do not question their methods. Political 
     action committees and lobbyists are the point on that 
     challenge, but you know that part already.
       Sir, I don't understand the reluctance of our elected 
     representatives to make energy independence a national 
     priority, the same way President Kennedy made going to the 
     moon a national priority. I do understand there is a lot of 
     effort by the energy lobby to not encourage alternative 
     production.
       If the energy companies (gas/electric/coal) have no 
     interest in finding alternatives, that impetus must come from 
     the body politic.
       By the way, the inside news is that banks in the Middle 
     East are actively investing in alternative energy 
     development, so why aren't we? They know oil will not last 
     forever and they are getting ahead of the problem. We are 
     not.
       I will offer this. In Idaho we have a climate not unlike 
     Seville, Spain. There they are working on a project using the 
     sun's energy to eventually generate enough power for 600,000 
     homes. That would be the Treasure valley and beyond. Owyhee 
     County is a great place to set one up. In 2007 it was already 
     generating 11mw, enough for 6000 homes so we know the 
     application works. It is expensive, but those costs will come 
     down. The Spanish paid the big cost of R & D for all the rest 
     of us. This is a place with no carbon footprint. You can see 
     the BBC article about this effort at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/
2/hi/science/nature/6616651.stm
       So why is there only talk in Idaho of a nuclear power plant 
     (very expensive, does make some waste) or a new gas fired 
     electrical plant (very expensive, depletes resources and 
     leaves a big carbon footprint)? Why is the battlefield being 
     prepared by an Idaho Power rep saying recently ``the era of 
     cheap power is over.'' Why is Idaho power (and all the other 
     electricity providers) not championing alternative sources to 
     generate electricity?
       Why is the government not doing more to promote wind power 
     as a source of electrical generation. I heard a story that it 
     might affect birds. I studied a wind farm in Oklahoma 
     recently (along the interstate). Those blades turn pretty 
     slow and it would be a stupid bird who couldn't fly past it. 
     We have lots of wind in Elmore County and most of Idaho along 
     the interstate. For people concerned about birds or views, 
     the birds will be killed the effects of global warming and 
     the view is not worth much if our society collapses.
       As an elected official and guardian to protect America from 
     all enemies, foreign and domestic (it is in the oath) I am 
     surprised that you (and the other elected officials) are just 
     so stymied by this problem. It is not too hard a problem (we 
     did figure out how to split the atom some years ago) and it 
     cannot be too expensive since we have already spent a 
     trillion dollars in Iraq.
       You just have to want to do this.
       Thanks for asking for my story. I will send this off to a 
     couple of other Idahoans for them to share.
           Respectfully,
     Mike, Boise.

                          ____________________