[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 177 (Thursday, November 20, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10729-S10731]
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 1,200, are 
heartbreaking and touching. While energy prices have dropped in recent 
weeks, the concerns expressed remain very relevant. To respect the 
efforts of those who took the opportunity to share their thoughts, 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:

       We are glad to hear that at least one of our politicians is 
     concerned about how the gasoline prices are affecting the 
     middle class. Most of us feel that our government is 
     extremely out of touch with the majority of the country.
       We are retired on a fixed income and we worked hard all our 
     lives and saved to get a motor home for vacations, but 
     unfortunately we now cannot use it because of the price of 
     gasoline and it just sits there. We try to go out shopping 
     for groceries and any other necessities just once a week, 
     making a list of items and stores, color coding so we do not 
     forget anything. The cost of energy also has increased the 
     price of groceries tremendously, so basic foods and produce 
     are the norm--doing away with any treats. We have never seen 
     the price of gasoline increase day by day and a nickel to a 
     dime at a time.
       We desperately need to have alternate sources of energy, 
     such as coal, windmills, solar and nuclear. We should have 
     been building new refineries and recovering oil off all of 
     our coasts since the 1970s when this same problem came up at 
     that time, but, to our shame, we did not.
       Automobiles should get a lot more than the 35 mpg that we 
     have heard mentioned for future vehicles. It should be at the 
     very least 60 mpg, and there is no reason in this world with 
     our technology that this could not be a reality. Something 
     should be done to increase the mileage on all of the vehicles 
     that are already on the road. This is never mentioned. We 
     cannot just go out and buy a hybrid or other fuel efficient 
     vehicle at the drop of a hat to help the situation. We drive 
     our 2002 Honda 4 cylinder between 55 and 60 mph on the 
     highway to increase our fuel efficiency and you should see 
     the bad looks we get. Highway mileage should be lowered to 55 
     mph like in the 70s to help conserve.
       We do hope that our government does something quickly to 
     improve this situation and that it is not handled like it was 
     in the 70s--all talk and no action. We need to be dependent 
     on no one but ourselves for our energy needs. No one is going 
     to take care of the USA and its citizens but the USA itself.
       We need some action now--Please.
     Robert and Roberta, Idaho Falls.
                                  ____

       Thanks for the opportunity to respond to your e-letter 
     regarding energy costs and gasoline prices. I agree that we 
     in the US are far too dependent on petroleum for energy. But 
     I think it is a selfish and short-sighted view to defeat the 
     climate change legislation. Our focus should be, as you 
     mentioned, on using less petroleum, not searching for 
     petroleum everywhere we can, no matter the ecological cost. 
     It is true; we do not have good mass transit in Idaho and 
     especially in the more densely populated Treasure Valley. I 
     think tax dollars would be well spent to improve the mass 
     transit situation in the Valley.
       We need to give tax incentives to clean, renewable energy 
     sources and rescind the tax breaks given to the huge oil 
     companies who have been reaping record profits at the expense 
     of all Americans. The answer is in conservation which 
     includes improved mass transit and in alternative 
     transportation where there would be improved avenues for 
     bicycling and walking.
       It is true. I will not be driving as far for vacation this 
     year, though I would like to explore areas in Idaho I have 
     not yet seen. It

[[Page S10730]]

     now becomes an expensive venture just to get to the Sawtooths 
     or White Clouds.
     Tim, Boise.
                                  ____

       I am contacting my Congressman about energy just as you 
     have encouraged your constituents to do. I am in dismay, 
     however, at the continued opportunism and political 
     grandstanding. That is, the only answer I see from many is to 
     drill more oil. Every credible energy scientist and economist 
     knows that this will do little or nothing to curb our foreign 
     oil imports and zero to reduce the cost of fuel. Yet, despite 
     this ever-predictable call for more domestic oil production, 
     you flatly concede that ``speculation [is] now driving up the 
     cost of oil.'' So I ask: why are you and your colleagues 
     still calling for more drilling when you know what it is you 
     can do now to reduce fuel costs? Why are you not regulating 
     ``the speculation now driving up the cost of oil''? 
     Commodities speculators are at the heart of extreme oil 
     prices, not supply and demand imbalances. We do not want to 
     hear any red herring arguments about the average Joe's 
     retirement portfolio owning the bulk of oil company shares. 
     The issue is speculation; the answer is regulation of 
     speculation.
     Jason, Moscow.
                                  ____

       Last week I heard on the news that you have received many 
     letters and e-mails related to high gas prices. Hence, I have 
     decided to write in and give you my two cents on the matter.
       I believe that the primary culprit that is causing high gas 
     prices is globalization; particularly in the emerging 
     economies of China and India. The rapid growth of their 
     economies has drastically increased their demand for 
     petroleum.
       Along with developing a comprehensive energy policy, the 
     executive and legislative branches of our federal government 
     need to re-examine our economic policies, particularly in 
     areas of foreign trade. During the past two decades, the 
     American middle class has gotten the short end of the straw 
     when it has come to previous trade policies. One does not 
     have to look farther than our orchard industry in the 
     Treasure Valley. These trade policies have really only 
     benefitted the very wealthy in our country. When I was in 
     college ten years ago, we talked about globalization in one 
     of my classes and how if China copied the U.S.'s consumption 
     then we would be paying a premium for gas. This is now 
     reality.
       In conclusion, too often our government fails to look long-
     term. It is time for a change. We need to do in-depth 
     independent analysis on our trade policies to determine what 
     the long term effect will be on the average American. 
     Government policies need to benefit society as a whole rather 
     than a few. Our society is too self-centered on the ``me'' 
     rather than on the collective ``community''. We also need to 
     have a comprehensive energy policy. This policy needs to be 
     long term and address conservation, efficiency, alternative 
     and renewable sources of energy, and possibly take into 
     consideration additional domestic production of oil with 
     stringent environmental safeguards and firm consequences for 
     those companies that fail to comply with those safeguards.
     Brent Danielson, Boise.
                                  ____

       I am a single father of two sons, 3 years and 13 months 
     old. I am a truck driver. I make decent money and have good 
     benefits. But these fuel prices have gone too far for our 
     society! I am lucky I work at a place where I can get a free 
     bag of potatoes every once in a while because I cannot go 
     grocery shopping because it is all too expensive! Wages have 
     not changed a bit. I am sick of it and I am losing almost all 
     of my faith in our government and the people representing the 
     common people like me. One of my best friends who was an 
     owner-operator had to quit because diesel got too high for 
     him to profit much at all. Now it is been three weeks and 
     they just got their phone shut off two days ago and their 
     power shut off today. My stimulus money has gone to my power 
     bill, gas bill, rent etc. Sure you do not like to fill up 
     your gas tank but does it cripple you financially like it 
     does many, many people?! I think not. I have always stuck up 
     for our local and federal government on many issues and 
     criticized them on other issues, but this time I as well as 
     many people are fed up. Seriously this time, I am to the 
     point now where I am struggling to make ends meet. I have 
     spent over $60 in the last three days in gas just to get to 
     work and back--that is it! And I am close to empty again and 
     I have to get diapers for my son before I go to work 
     tomorrow. The diaper money is coming out of the power bill 
     money I had put back. You need to sound off and be heard. At 
     least make it known to us that you are voicing our concerns!
     Cameron, Boise.
                                  ____

       My husband and I are retired, he is military retired and we 
     recently purchased a small travel trailer since he can no 
     longer ride his motorcycle and our maiden voyage with it cost 
     $300 in gas to go 200 miles round trip! Between gas and food 
     prices, we cannot afford to go anywhere, much less eat out. 
     We have changed our daily living dramatically, and it is not 
     a happy way to be in your retirement years.
       We urge you and all of Congress to start drilling in our 
     nation and bring back more nuclear power plants. We must 
     relieve ourselves of dependence on foreign oil ASAP. Lord 
     only knows what our grandchildren have to look forward to at 
     this insane rate!
     Angelo, Hayden Lake.
                                  ____

       I will get right to the point--my wife and I are out of 
     money. Our incomes have not changed and our incomes used to 
     pay our bills with money to spare. We have a 91 Honda wagon 
     and a 99 minivan, we pay $50 and $70 to fill them up. Grocery 
     prices are up 100% in the last couple years because gas 
     prices are killing the trucking industry. Expensive gas has 
     made almost everything else expensive. Today, after filling 
     both our cars with gas and grocery shopping, (with a list, 
     mind you), we ran out of money. For the first time ever, we 
     put groceries on a credit card. We are not credit card 
     people, so this is anathema to us.
       When I turn on the TV or radio I hear some politician 
     telling us that drilling will not make a difference for ten 
     years. As an engineering student, I cannot stomach that level 
     of [deception]. First of all, I do not believe that is true 
     and second, if it were true, then we sure better get started. 
     What if every time an education bill were introduced, we 
     responded by saying that we would not see the results for 12 
     years so let us not do it. What if I told my child not to go 
     to college because they would not see a payoff for at least 
     four years so do not bother. We are financially dying and our 
     so-called leaders are regurgitating some of the stupidest 
     things I have ever heard.
       The bottom line is this: This planet does not exist for its 
     own sake, it exists for ours. We are not here by some cosmic 
     accident; we are here by design and our designer gave us the 
     tools we need to live and prosper. The failure to drill for 
     new oil and create new refineries is the result of 
     environmental philosophies, which are based on evolutionary 
     thinking. To the environmentalist, our purpose here is no 
     more significant than that of any other animal, and we, by 
     accident of evolution, happen to have the power to sustain or 
     destroy this environment. Without a cosmic caretaker, the 
     earth itself becomes our only god and the environmentalist 
     shows his worship by reducing or eliminating human impact 
     upon it and by treating humans as vermin. It is an old 
     religion and I am tired of suffering at the hands of it is 
     misguided priests.
       Please do your best to release energy, specifically nuclear 
     and oil, to the free market system. Irrational environmental 
     policy and regulation have prohibited natural market forces 
     from creating more supply and oil-pricing based on 
     speculation has prevented the market from determining price. 
     Imagine going to Wal-Mart to buy a t-shirt and finding that 
     they now cost $100; and when you ask the owner why this was 
     so, he replies that speculators determined that cotton crops 
     would fail next year, so in preparation they have raised 
     prices early. As you know, this is not how prices are 
     determined. The cotton producer charges as much as he can 
     based on his costs and competitors prices and Wal-Mart 
     charges a markup. If cotton crops indeed fail next year, then 
     the buyer pays more for the rare product and they pass the 
     increase to the consumer. When oil speculators set price, we 
     pay increases at the pumps whether those speculations came 
     true or not. There is no real connection to supply. Please 
     work to make this kind of price setting illegal and please 
     work to release drilling and refinement. The further we 
     remove a commodity from the free market grid by socialist 
     controls and uneducated environmental policy the more the 
     people, you claim to represent, are hurt. Make the American 
     dream possible by making it affordable.
     Jason, Boise.
                                  ____

       The rising cost of fuel has a tremendous effect on my 
     household consisting of my husband and myself. I am sole 
     support for our family. Senator, as you know, wages in Idaho 
     fall behind many other states. The cost of gas is outrageous 
     and I blame the Congress for a lot of it. Why are we not 
     drilling in Alaska? Why are we not building refineries away 
     from coasts where hurricanes have a tendency to hit? Why are 
     not all of our refineries running full bore?
       There was a Democratic senator from the South who retired, 
     I forget his name but he wrote a book, ``A Grand Party No 
     More''. Before he retired, he went to see for himself where 
     we would drill in Alaska. He said there would be no harm to 
     anyone or anything, it is so far out in no man's land. He 
     said if there was a leak it would be of no consequence as it 
     would freeze the minute it hit the ground. It is time we push 
     the environmentalists to the wall and out of the way. I 
     believe in saving trees and wildlife, but there is no danger 
     to any of these where we would drill. I recognize that we 
     need to become independent of so much oil but how do we do 
     that. I drive a `95 Forerunner and it is paid for. Not the 
     best gas mileage but it is paid for. I cannot afford any kind 
     of a car payment for one of those new hybrids. Rebates are 
     nothing, $2,000 in exchange for $26,000? The cost of a new 
     car buys an awful lot of gas. My income does not allow for 
     any car payment.
       Everything is going crazy! A loaf of bread that cost $2.89 
     last year is now $4.29. Anything with corn or wheat is gone 
     out of sight. We pay farmers not to grow wheat and now I hear 
     we have to import it? How sad for America. America has sold 
     its soul to China, Mexico, Japan. If we were ever to go into 
     another world war, we could not even build what we would need 
     to fight it. Is there a steel mill left in America? Is there 
     a textile mill left in America? You would be pretty

[[Page S10731]]

     hard pressed to find one, a sad statement on us.
       As to what I do? No trips during the week except to work 
     and back. If I can do any errand on the way, great, 
     otherwise, it waits till the weekend. I plan one trip, one 
     circle. If something is missed, too bad, it is missed. The 
     real clincher is this, I tithe to my church, I give the Lord 
     10% of my gross income. It costs me almost as much, $10 less, 
     to keep my car in gasoline between paychecks. Now I think it 
     is pretty awful when I have to give the gas company as much 
     as I give the Lord. He gives me everything I have, the gas 
     company gives me nothing except anger when I hear of the 
     profits they make. And I think that pretty well sums it up, 
     10% to the Lord vs. almost as much to the gas company!
     Dianne, Hayden Lake.
                                  ____

       I am a taxi driver here in Boise. In a year's time, the 
     cost to fill my tank has increased nearly 100% but my average 
     fare has remained static. If it were not for my military 
     retirement, I would no longer make enough to cover basic 
     costs and make a profit. I am 61 years old and am not 
     practiced in a marketable skill so the prospect of making a 
     move to another occupation is nil. My only reasonable hope is 
     that Boise will increase our per mile fees in the near 
     future; it is unlikely that fuel prices will decrease in the 
     near future.
       I have been watching your position on domestic drilling 
     with interest. Though alternative energy sources are 
     imperative for the future of America, I am pleased to see 
     that you share my position that energy self-reliance is the 
     immediate solution to our present crisis. I applaud you and 
     urge you to continue your good work and prosecute this agenda 
     with rigor.
     Earle, Boise.
                                  ____

       Not only is the fuel much too high but I cannot find 
     employment. I am over 60, have experience, but it seems I am 
     ``over-qualified'' or I need more ``experience''. What a lot 
     of rubbish! I call it age discrimination, but that is 
     difficult to prove. With the fuel prices so high, if I do 
     find employment, it will take a huge chunk of my pay just to 
     get back and forth to work. Are unemployment benefits going 
     to be extended for Idaho residents? My benefits ended this 
     week, no hope of a job in sight and my husband can not work 
     due to medical reasons. What is a person to do?
       Getting Desperate.
     Janet, Emmett.
                                  ____

       As Director of Gritman Adult Day Health which provides day 
     health care for elders who want to remain in their own home 
     in Moscow and Latah County, I am including an article from 
     the NY Times which talks about the cost of gas and how it 
     affects rural elderly. It is very sad that these folks who 
     often aren't able to drive are so affected by the cost of 
     gas. Please do everything you can to remedy this: http://
online.wsj.com/article/
SB121263496261947543.html?mod=googlenews_ wsj
     Barb, Moscow.
                                  ____

       Gasoline prices are now far too high for the average 
     family, and causing increasing rises in the cost of living in 
     many other areas. For instance, every time one goes to the 
     grocery store, an increase in pricing is noted on items, and 
     thus causing many to have to go without needed supplies. 
     Saving a percentage of income has become just a dream for 
     many, and others cannot make ends meet without going into 
     further debt.
     Beverly, Parma.
                                  ____

       Yes, gas has gotten way out of hand. Do what you can to 
     decrease the costs and return to a life with some normalcy.
     Diana, Kootenai.
                                  ____

       Thank you for at least noticing that we have a problem with 
     the cost. I do not believe, however, that anything can be 
     done with out us paying somewhere else. I make a good living 
     working for the military here in Boise but am still unable to 
     put any money aside. It is funny that every time we receive a 
     pay raise that the price of fuel goes up and our health care 
     premiums grow as well, so you never see any savings. Thanks 
     again; good luck with this effort.
     Clinton, Emmett.

                          ____________________