[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 151 (Tuesday, September 23, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9270-S9271]
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 well over 1,000, are 
heartbreaking and touching. To respect their efforts, I am submitting 
every e-mail sent to me through an address set up specifically for this 
purpose 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 your vote to stop the cap and trade thing, 
     but it will come back with [a new president. We would be 
     better off to be] drilling the deep reserves of the Williston 
     Basin (more oil than Saudi Arabia in Dakota farmers fields) 
     or the ANWR 5,000 acres or 5 million acres, or off shore 
     where the Chinese will soon have rigs. We would be gearing up 
     like the moon landing to get oil out of our coal whose 
     estimated reserves are five times all the oil ever pulled out 
     of the Middle East. . . . or the even more vast oil shales of 
     Colorado or the tar sands. We would be building nuclear 
     reactors and starting up those on moth balls right now . . . 
     or better building refineries or making the hydrogen car that 
     GM already has. Or how about this: All Of The Above.
       But we are stuck [because of money influence] and nothing 
     will change.
     Dennis.
                                  ____

       Will It Ever End?
       I have several examples of how the energy cost is driving 
     my life.
       1. High propane cost has increased my heating cost to an 
     increase of over $600 more this year. Propane has had a large 
     increase and now is over $3 per gallon. Five years ago it was 
     under .60 cents per gallon. Propane is a by product of gas 
     exploration. I feel this is a very large price for a by-
     product.
       2. The government rating for mileage rate is at 50.5 per 
     mile. Why have they not raised this? Gas prices soar, but the 
     rate stays the same.
       3. Thanks for the stimulus check. I just wish I could have 
     used it to buy something extra.
       4. Diesel prices are out of control. Why is diesel almost a 
     dollar more a gallon than gas?
       5. Just about the time you feel you are getting somewhere, 
     someone takes more of your income. It is no wonder people are 
     losing houses and entering into get rich adventures. 
     (Lottery, gambling)
     B.
                                  ____

       This is the third email that I have sent over the past few 
     months on this subject, and my message this time will be 
     short and succinct--reducing speed limits is among the 
     quickest solutions to help us in addressing the current 
     issues with fuel pricing. Highway fuel consumption can be cut 
     considerably (perhaps by as much as 20%--depending on the 
     engine) by lowering speed limits. This is only a part of the 
     solution. We also need to step up efforts on many fronts 
     including utilizing more domestic resources, pushing the 
     development of renewable energy sources and providing 
     incentives to reduce energy consumption (i.e.--building 
     smaller, more energy efficient homes that utilize solar/wind/
     geothermal energy). It is a complex challenge requiring 
     strong leadership.
       This brand of leadership will require some to act without 
     regard for political ramifications (courage)--We are looking 
     to you to provide your share of that leadership.
     Rich.
                                  ____

       You and your fellow congressman are a little late to help 
     with this energy problem as we are at peak oil and prices 
     will continue to rise. I am totally amazed at Congress's lack 
     of action on coming forth with a sensible energy program.
     James.
                                  ____

       Thank you for this opportunity to discuss my concerns. 
     Higher gas prices have forced my family to reduce times spent 
     together. We have to drive, because of very little public 
     transportation. I would support your efforts for the oil 
     companies to build more refineries. Every time one goes down 
     for ``maintenance,'' we get burned. Let them use their 
     profits to build them. I think we need to force auto 
     companies to build more efficient cars. We need more good 
     choices for higher mpg autos, not just one per auto company. 
     As a side note, we need to start a federal public works 
     program. Get people employed and get our bridges/roads, 
     schools, libraries, etc. rebuilt. This would stimulate our 
     economy more than Bush's tax break plan. We need authority to 
     install toll booths on our interstate highways to help keep 
     them maintained. I think we are ready for nuclear energy at 
     INL. The time is right. We need leaders in Congress, not 
     Republicans or Democrats. Can you be one? Thanks again for 
     this opportunity.
     John, Boise.
                                  ____

       I had to take a medical disability from my job of 24 years 
     as my health was getting so bad. My husband is 69 years old 
     and I am 64. We find when we go to the grocery store we have 
     to decide whether we should buy groceries or put gas in our 
     tank so we can get home if we can buy groceries. We cannot 
     afford to sell our house and move into town. We have no 
     public transportation for five miles, I am trying to help my 
     daughter with her children as she had to go back to work and 
     I can get them to the Mall on public transportation but we 
     would have to walk the five or six miles to get the rest of 
     the way to my house. Our utilities are getting out of sight 
     also and just the necessities in food are more than our 
     Social Security and other bills allow. And then they want to 
     give our Social Security to illegal aliens who have never 
     worked and paid into it. My Grandmother had worked for years 
     and when she applied they told her she was a quarter short to 
     collect S.S., but we can give it to people who have never 
     worked or paid into it? What are we supposed to do when we 
     have our hands tied and no one wants to help back there and 
     you are our only hope because you pass the laws and we have 
     to live with them. Please help us as there are so many things 
     they can use as alternative fuel and they seem to drag their 
     feet about it. We have all kinds of weeds we will donate for 
     the purpose of alternative fuel.
     Nancy.
                                  ____

       The cost of energy is devastating to seniors on a fixed 
     income such as me.
     Jerry, Idaho Falls.
                                  ____

       I want to thank you for the opportunity to address my views 
     on the situation we are in, not only in Idaho, the United 
     States but the entire world. The affects of high energy 
     prices will continue until Wall Street speculators are 
     stopped. The auto manufacturers here in the United States and 
     abroad have been given every opportunity to produce high 
     efficient automobiles for decades. They have failed. Congress 
     has [not acted to create] mass transit high speed 
     transportation from coast to coast. The technology has been 
     here for many decades with nothing being done in Washington 
     D.C.
       What are we to do with the waste from nuclear energy 
     plants? I believe that technologies for coal, wind and solar 
     should be explored. We should be exploring technologies of 
     our ocean's salt water as a useful solution to our energy 
     situation. We need qualified people to manage our water and 
     other natural recourses here in Idaho and throughout the 
     world.
       If Congress would only work together for the betterment of 
     mankind. These are but a few of our hopes and dreams for the 
     future of our existence.
       Thank you, Senator Crapo, for your efforts in Congress and 
     for this consideration.
     Greg, Pocatello.
                                  ____

       Sorry Mr. Crapo, but I do not agree with you about your 
     vote against the climate change legislation.
       In 2000, I recall paying between $.99 and $1.09 for gas for 
     many months in Boise, occasionally a little more, but in that 
     range. Now, eight years later, we are paying 400% more. The 
     administration has refused during this time to get involved 
     in the Kyoto agreements and only just in the last year or so 
     acknowledged that climate change was even real, but attacked 
     and prevented the science that warned us of it throughout his 
     term. Gasoline prices going up 400% in Boise in the past 
     eight years is painful, but it is caused by many factors, 
     mostly, I believe, due to rich people getting insanely richer 
     at the expense of the rest of the world. Meanwhile, we still 
     do very little to protect against the disastrous consequences 
     of global warming.
       So, if we are going to be subjected to 400% increases and 
     do nothing but make the rich

[[Page S9271]]

     richer, how can you be unwilling to vote for a bill that 
     might make us pay 12.5% more, but will take huge strides 
     toward protecting the future of our planet and safeguarding 
     against additional enormous energy costs in the future. Penny 
     wise and pound foolish. What we should do is get to the 
     bottom of exactly why prices have gone up 400% in eight 
     years.
       I feel angry that our society is willing to mortgage our 
     future almost completely for slight increases in personal 
     luxury and benefit in the present (consider the gas tax 
     reprieve that [was] proposed this summer as one tiny 
     example). Where are our values for providing for the future 
     of our children and our planet? I believe we need to 
     prioritize much greater efforts on green and renewable 
     resource R&D. I believe that if we put our innovation behind 
     solutions that the entire world needs, we can more than 
     offset the upfront costs. This is the strength of capitalism 
     and I believe we ought to focus on our strengths. I do not 
     want us to emphasize further oil exploration and drilling and 
     opening up of our protected public lands (such as ANWR).
                                                      Scot, Boise.

       P.S. Please have the courage and honesty to include 
     critical comments like mine as well when you compile comments 
     from the public. Thank you.
                                  ____

       Our farm has been severely impacted by high energy prices 
     and the price of corn, which is a by-product of the energy 
     crisis. We have gone from 100 employees down to 34. We are 
     currently liquidating our calves because we can no longer 
     make money raising them. We will soon be down to 12 
     employees. We could hang on a little longer if Congress would 
     do something about drilling in ANWR and Bakken. We need 
     refineries! We need oil! Oil is 1000% more efficient than 
     these ``alternative'' fuels and drilling and refining our own 
     oil is proven to work, while these other fuels are not. There 
     is too much energy used to make ethanol to make it efficient. 
     I believe that the mere announcement of drilling and building 
     refineries will drastically help our economy. Just think of 
     the excitement of jobs. The excitement of better times to 
     come. Anyone can hang on if they have hope. There are no 
     downsides to drilling in our own country. Drilling is not 
     environmentally hazardous and even if it was, people come 
     first.
       Please, please get this message out. Call news conferences 
     with your fellow conservative Senators. Shout it from the 
     housetops. And for the sake of our economy and country's 
     freedom, [support conservative efforts to govern].
     Elizabeth, Kuna.
                                  ____

       You ask how the fuel prices are affecting us personally; it 
     is very simple--in every way.
       As fuel prices rise, food costs increase, the cost of every 
     basic need jumps up, the distances to functions become 
     critical, we all have to make choices about what is most 
     important. Unfortunately, for many of us, our lives become a 
     struggle to get the dollar to buy the foods to keep going, 
     pay our property taxes for homes we cannot afford to sell, 
     get the fuel to get us to the place to make that dollar which 
     is worth less every day and employers cannot afford to pay 
     more in wages and the cycle goes on and on.
       Everyone says ``Oh, let us just raise the minimum wage. 
     That will fix it.'' Think again. The average small business 
     man is one step away from sinking in this quicksand himself. 
     He cannot afford health or dental insurance or retirement for 
     him or his family, but he cannot have much of a business 
     without employees, either. So he gives a raise to his 
     employees and has to cut somewhere else, quality or quantity 
     of goods sold and then the purchaser suffers. It all affects 
     every one of us.
       Transportation, fuel costs, value of the dollar, energy 
     costs, making ends meet becomes increasingly difficult and 
     our situations look increasingly dismal. Our society, like it 
     or not, is tied to the umbilical cord of fuel oil pricing and 
     something needs to be done to remove the grip on that cord 
     that is choking out the life-giving fluids our nation needs 
     to function. We need to control our own supplies of energy, 
     provide for ourselves everything this nation needs to not 
     just survive, but to thrive. We have oil supplies of our own 
     under our own soil and off our own coasts; use them. That is 
     what they are there for. As you use them, develop new 
     sources, require more renewable energy implementation, but 
     use what you've got. Stop letting the nation get the life 
     strangled out of it. Make renewable energy more affordable, 
     for one thing. It was going to cost me over $40,000 to put in 
     a wind generator to power my home. That would never ever pay 
     for itself before it self destructed. It is ridiculous to 
     have solar power and wind power devices so overpriced to make 
     them unattainable. They would help the economy. Subsidize 
     alternative energy and educate people on ways to stretch 
     their dollar before it is too late.
       Things are bad everywhere, but if we do not do something 
     very soon, it is going to get much worse. Overcrowded, 
     underfed, unhappy people, unable to care for their loved 
     ones, will turn angry, bitter, and dangerous after years of 
     being taught ``me first philosophy.'' We have created a 
     monster and that monster drinks crude oil. You better keep 
     feeding it.
     Janelle, Hayden.
                                  ____

       Thanks for your interest in doing something about high gas 
     prices. Here in Rexburg, I have found that at age 56, I can 
     still ride a bike to work. I may even start doing groceries 
     and other errands with my bike. I am getting in good shape, 
     although I already was in good shape. My family and I find 
     that we consolidate errands. Instead of going to town for one 
     thing, we make sure it is for three or more things. If it is 
     not, we just wait until we have more to do downtown or 
     elsewhere. I have aging parents who need help, and gas prices 
     have not made getting to their house very easy, but what we 
     can do, we have to go. So we go without a lot of things. We 
     pass by the treats and other not so important purchases (we 
     were doing that before anyway). I think where this really 
     hits us the hardest is in going to see our grandkids far 
     away, or taking a simple trip like to Mt. Rushmore or even 
     Yellowstone Park. The gas prices have eaten those options up 
     pretty fast. It is too bad that we sit around as a nation and 
     let the oil rich countries dictate to us how we can live our 
     lives. We should have started doing something about these 
     fifty years ago, but apparently, nobody had that much far 
     sight into the potential problem. We'll survive and we do not 
     feel bad for ourselves, but it is not easy.
     Ferron.

                          ____________________