[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 19 (Friday, January 30, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1122-S1124]
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:

       You are asking Idahoans to write about gas prices? You mean 
     you do not know? I think Washington D.C. may as well be 
     registered as another planet because I think your colleagues 
     are so far from reality of the rest of the people it is 
     absolutely outrageous.
       [Some of] your colleagues [suggest that] Americans use 
     alternative [modes] of transportation and that it is a good 
     thing that gas prices force people to take the bus, ride 
     bikes, or walk to their destination because it helps reduce 
     global warming.
       I have something [for you to share with your colleagues]:
       I am a driver for a living. I deliver products right here 
     in Boise. I have to drive I have no choice. I am also a 
     salesman, and a night supervisor. I live in Idaho. I do not 
     have the option of riding the bus. I cannot walk my 
     deliveries or ride my bike with my products.
       I find it absolutely insulting [to think this suggestion 
     can be taken seriously. Too many liberals] love these high 
     gas prices because they want to use it as an excuse to make 
     us live how they want us to live to fight so-called global 
     warming, while [they make no sacrifices in their own personal 
     travel behaviors.] That is eco-socialism in my opinion.
       Senator Crapo, I have three jobs!! Three jobs, and I am 
     still having problems fueling up. I have had to open credit 
     card accounts for the first time in my life, and my debt is 
     still going up!
       You would think with three jobs and three paychecks for one 
     person! I am not married, no kids. I would be starving with 
     fuel prices if I had a family. I am just barely paying my 
     bills on time as they are, to about $1,500 a month, not 
     including gas prices!
       Starting in 2005 till 2007, I did very well financially. I 
     was saving up and putting money away in my savings account. I 
     loved myself for putting money away. This month [June 2008], 
     I had to take one-quarter of my life savings out of my bank 
     to pay for bills, including gas because the price skyrocketed 
     from $3 to $4 a gallon in one month. This is outrageous!
       I think it is 80 percent the government's fault for this 
     and 20 percent the oil companies. The only thing the oil 
     companies are doing wrong is speculating the price of oil for 
     really dumb reasons.
       Congress has done this because [legislation to drill for 
     oil in ANWR has been blocked because of environmental 
     concerns that do not exist.] Congress is more worried about a 
     stupid deer than they are about [the lives of Americans]? 
     More worried about the mating season of the caribou than they 
     are about the economy? My jobs? My gas prices? My bills? My 
     lifestyle?
       You will not allow drilling off shore? Well, did you know 
     that China is drilling for oil off the coast of Florida? But 
     we cannot. Why? This is outrageous!
       Do not listen to those radical environmentalists. They were 
     wrong about the second Ice Age in the 70s. When I was kid in 
     school in the 1980s, my teachers told me by the year 1999, 
     New York would be underwater and Los Angeles would be a bunch 
     of Islands. It has not happened. Of course, the earth's 
     temperature changes and jumps over time. The earth's climate 
     changes all the time, has been since the earth cooled and 
     formed. The earth's temperature does not stay the same all 
     the time. There are so many scientists and people who 
     disagree with Al Gore, but if we disagree, we are labeled 
     ``flat-earthers'' and ``Holocaust Deniers.''
       My question for [conservatives] is this. Why did you not 
     approve drilling for oil when you [controlled Congress and 
     the White House]?
       You want to help me? A person with three jobs and 
     struggling with gas prices? I have not had a vacation since 
     March of 2007. I cannot even take a one-day vacation to 
     Jackpot anymore. I work all seven days a week, get no 
     weekends and I still struggle to pay gas prices of about $15 
     a day, not a week, a day!
       Drill here, drill in ANWR, drill in America!
     Aaron, Boise.
                                  ____

       Thank you, Senator, for your sincere concern for Idaho 
     residents. I am 58 next month and on disability from a very 
     severe fire I was trapped in several years ago. Though I do 
     get an income, this is where it goes:
       I receive $625 a month.
       1. $200 a month mobile home space rent.
       2. $156 a month mortgage payments for my mobile home . . . 
     which without the owner of the mobile home, I would not be on 
     my way to being a first time home owner!
       3. $48 a month mobile home insurance.
       4. $40 a month vehicle insurance . . . it is a 1988 
     Plymouth Voyager van that I have had since 1988.
       5. $39 phone bill. which was supposed to reduced several 
     months ago through my social worker, and still remains at the 
     normal price and I do not have long distance.
       6. $30-40 electricity monthly; I do not have an air 
     conditioner for summer but do open my windows and use my 
     ceiling fans that helps.
       7. $125 and up in winter for gas to run my heater monthly. 
     That is after I receive fuel assistance which for some reason 
     only lasts 1-2 months and only use the heater to warm up the 
     area so can start my wood stove which is usually one-half 
     hour.
       So, if I am lucky, all I can afford to do is put up to $20 
     a month in gas, which gives me almost 1/4 tank and that has 
     to last the month. I have medical problems that mean many 
     trips to the doctor and pharmacy, and with such a low amount 
     of gas I have to depend on others for rides when I run out of 
     gas. Thank you for your sincere concern and we are all hoping 
     and praying that gas will once again come down to where 
     people like me can afford to purchase more.
     Loretta, Nampa.
                                  ____

       From your letter on gas prices that you sent me, you are 
     starting to understand that the Congress holds most of the 
     blame for high oil (and thus gas) prices. Congress has failed 
     to act in the thirty years since the last gas crisis, 
     continually failing to take responsible action to make sure 
     domestic supplies are developed and used to reduce dependence 
     on foreign oil.
       It should be clear that the single most deleterious action 
     of Congress over the last forty years was the Environmental 
     Protection Act. It has desperately needed revision since the 
     early seventies and because it was not, the economic impact 
     on America has been extreme. The inability to build domestic 
     gas refineries, increase domestic oil production and take 
     advantage of resources in ANWR are only a few of the 
     unintended and disastrous impacts of that act. An 
     environmentalist has only to write a single letter to cause 
     the price of any such proposal to escalade exponentially. The 
     latest case of the proposed nuclear reactor in Idaho is an 
     example. One man writing one letter can cause the waste of 
     hundreds of thousands of dollars to ``prove'' the lack of 
     environmental

[[Page S1123]]

     impacts of such a proposal. The price of a house in Idaho has 
     risen by 10-15 percent, for instance, because of the 
     ludicrous and technically flawed environmental studies and 
     reactions on the spotted owl.
       Still, no action in Congress to alleviate the situation. We 
     simply need someone to stand up and take the actions 
     necessary to replace political correctness with what used to 
     be common sense.
       So the bottom line, Senator, is that Congress bears the 
     responsibility to stop passing stupid laws and start reigning 
     in those that are hurting the nation's ability to do the 
     right things rather than the politically correct things. Do 
     you have the courage to start?
     Robert, Meridian.
                                  ____

       You asked what the high gas prices are doing to me. It has 
     become very difficult to even do normal things. I cannot 
     afford to go up town and buy necessary things. Since I am on 
     Social Security Disability, my sister and I have been living 
     off my money. Since my sister does not have a car and I 
     cannot afford to buy one for her, nor could I afford the gas. 
     She would love to go to work. How would she get there? Idaho, 
     and particularly this area has a really horrible public 
     transportation system. It truly is a disgrace to our state. 
     My sister walks as much as possible. Our nation needs to stop 
     depending on foreign oil. I love all the animals and have 
     tried to protect them as much as possible, but we need to 
     start taking care of our families first.
       The oil companies are making over the profit margin; that 
     is disgusting by itself. I do not trust one thing they say or 
     do. Therefore, we need to have alternative fuel. The wind can 
     run electricity. The air can fuel a car, water can do both, 
     after seeing the pictures of a car that runs on air. America, 
     the greatest country in the world needs to step up to the 
     plate. Oil companies need to step up to the plate before they 
     become the dinosaurs. Therefore, we need to drill. Do it. 
     Many families like mine are being devastated by the high 
     gasoline prices which makes high food prices we cannot 
     afford. Thank you for your time
     Marian, Nampa.
                                  ____

       This is in response to a solicitation from Senator Crapo 
     regarding personal stories on how high energy prices are 
     affecting lives. Greed is the source of most of the world's 
     evil. I know I sound like an ideologue, but please read on.
       It is hard to disaggregate the effects of the high cost of 
     energy from other economic hits our family is experiencing. 
     When construction activity slowed in Valley and Adams County, 
     wage earning families left our valleys looking for jobs 
     elsewhere.
       The resulting reduced school enrollment (now compounded by 
     the end of Craig-Wyden) in our districts led me to being one 
     of the teachers RIF'd from the Council School District. 
     Fortunately, I found work part-time in the McCall School 
     District. Unfortunately, this 70-mile, round-trip commute (in 
     my 2000 140,000+ mile Dodge AWD Caravan--needed for 
     unpredictable roads) costs me $9.00-$12.00 a trip! I would 
     like to buy a more fuel efficient Subaru--but I cannot afford 
     to.)
       My school-age children suffer because programs are being 
     severely reduced--shop and art are gone. Some high school 
     courses will only be offered every other year. Summer school 
     for poor learners is truncated. Field trips? Sports? Both are 
     severely reduced. How can our small-town children go out and 
     experience the world when there is not even money for gas?
       As consumers, our family lives so far from ``the source'' 
     that not only gas, but also milk and other basic commodities 
     seem to cost at least 25 percent more than they did a year 
     ago. Last year I was able to find milk for $2.29 gallon; now 
     milk costs close to $4.00/gallon. Healthy bread costs close 
     to $4.00/loaf. As a family, we certainly have not received a 
     COLA to offset these price increases.
       As middle-class professionals (my husband is a forester) 
     and as parents, the drain on our budget means belt-tightening 
     for any of ``fun things'' like vacation trips. Additionally, 
     we have experienced a health crisis (and have met our 
     catastrophic limits). I now must commute to Fruitland (140 
     miles round trip) every 2 weeks for chemo; in the fall I will 
     need to commute 5 days a week for radiation for 6 weeks! (My 
     doctor cavalierly denied me two prescriptions for drugs since 
     they are also available OTC. ``They only cost a few dollars. 
     `` He casually shrugged off my request for RXs. Well, the two 
     drugs cost more than $30 altogether. I do not think that the 
     upper-middle-class and upper-class have a clue that there is 
     an exponential difference between a few bucks (a latte) and 
     $30 (a chance to visit a museum or movie, or halfway fill up 
     a gas tank to make it to a chemo session!)
       I believe that our tax system rewards the rich on the backs 
     of the poor and middle class. I believe that oil companies 
     and owners of stocks are making fortunes as the little guy 
     suffers.
       I believe we should take global warning seriously and allow 
     tax credits for the development of alternative energy. We 
     need to take recycling very seriously. We also need to be a 
     world economic partner on a fair playing field (Kyoto 
     convention), quit out-sourcing to countries that do not 
     provide the labor protections we do to our workers, and build 
     respectful relationships among all peoples and all cultures--
     as a first step to world peace and understanding and a step 
     away from the ugliness of war.
       I also believe that limiting population growth and sharing 
     the world's resource's equably is the only way we will ever 
     establish peace on earth.
       Locally, for our family, what have been the effects of high 
     energy costs? Higher food and medical costs, loss of job, 
     reduced school programs for my children, dwindled savings, 
     ``making do'' with older cars and housing needs, fewer 
     amenities, no vacation.
       Glad you asked.
     Lynn, Fruitvale.
                                  ____

       I read your letter sent out today. Glad to hear that at 
     least one of our Senators in Washington gets it. I hope there 
     are more of you in DC that can support the policies you want 
     to support in your letter.
       We do need to start drilling again in the US and offshore. 
     We need to make sure that we take precautions to avoid damage 
     to the environment. We cannot sacrifice one for the other. 
     But we must start drilling again, and do so in a respective 
     manner of Mother Nature.
       And we are going to need some new refining capability. 
     Again, do it new technology and with respect to our 
     environment. Build it in Eastern Idaho--we have the space and 
     we could use the jobs and economic boost. Tough to get oil 
     here, but if they need a place for it, bring it here.
       We must start the nuclear programs again. We need to build 
     some new reactors soon. I do not know for sure, but I am 
     betting some of our older reactors are getting long in the 
     tooth, and if they go off the grid, then what happens? 
     Besides we need more power and money spent to renew our grid 
     system.
       We need to take a serious look at Ethanol. I am not sure it 
     is all it is being promoted to be. I am not sure the benefits 
     outweigh all of the costs. With the flooding in the Midwest, 
     I wonder what the cost of corn will be now? But it is not 
     just food issues, but the processing issues as well.
       Wind Power should be promoted as well. But a Nuclear Power 
     Plant is much easier on the eyes than 1000 wind towers, and 
     not as susceptible to the changes in the wind.
       Coal alternatives should be looked at as well. We need to 
     check if the benefits we can gain from technology like coal 
     gasification are valid and have low impact. Some of the 
     claims you hear and read about look promising. But as I am 
     learning with Ethanol, there may be some significant costs to 
     chase this type of technology.
       But the short of it--we need to develop our energy and 
     become more independent. The amount of jobs created would be 
     incredible in the process. You want a better health care 
     system and less unemployment and less government care 
     programs--just set the energy companies loose and see this 
     economy rebound in a heartbeat. These energy companies can 
     afford health care plans and benefits for their workers. Our 
     current policies are killing us--and I really hope there are 
     enough in Congress to turn this around. We have been shooting 
     ourselves in the foot for more than 20 years.
       Good Luck.
     Stephen, Rigby.
                                  ____

       Thank you for inviting me to share how the increased gas 
     prices has affected my daily life. I have begun carpooling 
     and eliminating unnecessary trips, and have really saved a 
     lot of money, not to mention reducing the pollution my daily 
     commute had been producing. Though it has not always been 
     convenient, I look at it as one small step that I can do to 
     help our world for future generations. You opposed the 
     proposed climate change legislation that would further hike 
     gas prices up, though I called and wrote your office to ask 
     you to support it. I feel that the higher the gas prices are, 
     the more people will look to limit extraneous trips which 
     will help reduce emissions (greenhouse gases). I also think 
     that the more you reduce the prices on gas, people will use 
     more gas and will choose not to conserve.
       Measures I want you to support would be to develop a 
     larger, stronger infrastructure of public transportation so 
     that people do not have to worry about getting to work the 
     traditional way of driving singly in their own vehicle. We 
     should encourage production and development of non-fossil 
     fuels, such as cellulosic ethanol, which does not take from 
     the food supply, but does give work to both the scientific 
     developers as well as the laborers necessary to move this 
     idea to fruition. Also, you should support solar, geothermal, 
     and wind production. If measures could be discovered that 
     would allow for the long-term safe storage of nuclear waste, 
     as well as safe practices of running plants on a daily basis, 
     no matter the weather conditions (i.e., drought), keeping in 
     mind the larger picture of our environment, including fish 
     and other natural resources, I would be supportive of that 
     method as well. I know these newer methods are not as easy or 
     convenient as just simply reducing gas prices, but your 
     legacy for truly caring about the environment would be 
     something that would be worth the extra work.
       Thank you for reading this, even though it probably goes 
     against what you are looking for.
                                                     Susan, Boise.

[[Page S1124]]



                          ____________________