[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 39 (Thursday, March 5, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2825-S2826]
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:

       Thank you for soliciting our opinions regarding the energy 
     crisis. I truly value this opportunity to communicate my 
     concerns to you.
       Gas prices have certainly been on the rise and like most 
     Idahoans, I have been affected by this increase. I also 
     remember the words of President Bush when he stated that we 
     as a nation are ``addicted'' to oil. I am a psychologist and 
     I know that when an addict is feeling the pain of their 
     addiction (as we are with gas prices), it is not helpful to 
     find them a cheaper way to get a drink.
       What I am saying by that analogy is that I do not think 
     increasing exploration for oil in Alaska or off the coast of 
     Florida will help us in the long term. Fossil fuels are a 
     limited resource and we'll feel the pain of those limitations 
     sooner or later. I do not support further exploration to 
     temporarily fix this problem. I do support the idea that we 
     invest heavily in renewable, environmentally sustainable, 
     energies.
       For example, rather than giving huge tax breaks to oil 
     companies to promote more gas production, let us give those 
     tax cuts to the car manufacturers to produce cars that run on 
     less gas or better yet, run on non-fossil based fuels. 
     American companies are way too far behind Japanese companies 
     in this effort and to remain competitive, I think we'll have 
     to invest in the technologies of the future rather than 
     scraping the bottom of the barrel for what oil remains.
       Thank you.
     Rick, Pocatello.
                                  ____

       Why are we saving the oil in the United States? The oil 
     fields in the lower 48 could alone make us self-sufficient; 
     that is without the biggest oil field in the world which is 
     in Alaska. Why are we being so dependent on foreign oil when 
     there is no need to be? Our economy is going the wrong way 
     and can be fixed by getting the price of gas back down where 
     it should be. My wife and I are retired and live in the 
     country outside of Midvale, Idaho. It is a long ways to the 
     grocery store and department stores. I hope you can get 
     something started in the Senate that will open some eyes. 
     Most of the members of the Congress and Senate are 
     financially set so the price of gas does not affect them. 
     However, they have a lot of constituents that are hurting. 
     Thanks for your time.
       God Bless America.
     Brent and Peggy, Midvale.
                                  ____

       I have a very sincere feeling that the Congress has been 
     waffling on the oil and gasoline price rise. It is my hope 
     that they will soon begin to realize they are hurting the 
     complete economy. We are all hurting because of the higher 
     gasoline price but it trickles down to everything we buy. It 
     burns me up to hear people complain about President Bush and 
     how he has started the whole thing. Just yesterday he 
     explained to the public that the Congress has not given him a 
     bill to sign.
       I certainly wish Congress could stick its neck out and 
     demand that all new electricity generation plants be nuclear 
     plants. We are wasting our natural gas on firing electricity 
     generation and coal is causing emissions which I believe are 
     not good for the world. Nuclear plants are so efficient and I 
     wish we had not allowed France and Germany to outdo us with 
     the technology to make safe atomic plants.
       Next, I would wish that Congress would mandate a term of 
     time that would allow us to get weaned from oil and give us a 
     good alternative engine for automobiles, for example. We are 
     a wide ranging country and traveling from one area to another 
     is necessary. We do not have anything but busses to move us 
     in most areas. I do not like the fact that corn is getting so 
     high priced because of the ethanol push. I know that I cannot 
     use ethanol because it will ruin all the components in my 
     autos I presently own. I do not think enough thought has gone 
     into ethanol use and I feel it is going to ruin our food 
     product prices. I have been associated with agriculture all 
     my life and I cannot believe the prices some the these crops 
     were bringing last year.
       Right now we need to be drilling off shore and ANWR for 
     oil. I believe an oil company or two needs to build a new 
     refinery or two to help out in the meantime. I think the oil 
     companies have held us hostage all my life and they still 
     are!
       God Bless you and your good work.
     Gordon, Twin Falls.
                                  ____

       Thank you for the opportunity to let you know how energy 
     prices are affecting me. I was forwarded your email from a 
     friend who is on your mailing list.
       I am a 56-year-old widow. My husband has been gone for 6 
     years. We lived a middle-class lifestyle, but now that he is 
     gone, I am struggling to make ends meet and be able to remain 
     in the home that my husband built for our family. Even though 
     all my children are gone from home, I still have one child in 
     college that I need to help. I live 7 miles west of Rigby, 
     and 10 miles north of Idaho Falls, so I have to do a lot of 
     driving just to get anywhere. I have drastically reduced my 
     driving, and I still pay way more than I used to for gas.
       One of the biggest areas I have been affected is with my 
     heating costs. Natural gas is not available where my home is, 
     so 10 years ago we put in a propane furnace, thinking it 
     would be fairly inexpensive to operate. At the time propane 
     was 65 cents a gallon. Last fall I filled my tank for $1.69 a 
     gallon. When I went to refill it in February, the price had 
     jumped to $2.40 a gallon in just a few months. I cannot 
     afford that price to heat my home. I decided to turn my heat 
     down to 62 degrees on my thermostat, and just wear a sweater. 
     If I want to work in one room I run a small electric heater 
     to stay warm. I never thought I would have to be cold in my 
     own house because I cannot afford to run my furnace.
       I think it is time to drastically increase our own 
     production of oil. We need to drill in Alaska, and wherever 
     else it is feasible. Is the environment more important than 
     people's well being? I do not think so. It is time we told 
     the environmentalists to be quiet. I think the oil companies 
     need to be putting their huge profits into finding more 
     sources of oil. And let us get busy and find alternatives to 
     oil. It is about time.
       Thanks for letting me express my views.
     Phyllis, Rigby.
                                  ____

       First of all, I am glad to see that your head is screwed on 
     correctly. I am sick and tired of our Congress saying that 
     oil companies must pay ``wind-fall profit'' taxes. As if this 
     will fix the problem. Why are so many of our lawmakers 
     ignorant of how economy really works? Why is supply and 
     demand so hard to grasp for some?
       Now, how is the current price of gas hitting me and my 
     family. Rather hard, I must say. Now, I grew up in a rural 
     area and, for that reason, I live outside of Boise. I do not 
     care for crowds and I like to have space (though, honestly, 
     where I live still does not have enough space). For this 
     reason, I spend a good deal on gas. This is not the fault of 
     the government, nor am I looking for the government to solve 
     my problems. (They have not solved any yet, and now they're 
     talking about universal health care, HA! do not make laugh. 
     But I digress.)
       In an effort to curb the fuel pain, last year I purchased a 
     gas-sipping 4-banger that gets 45 mpg (I bought that when I 
     anticipated gas @ $3/gal.). However, my wife and I have a 
     large family and a large vehicle is a must. We have a 
     Suburban to cary our family of 7 (including my wife and I). A 
     large vehicle is simply a must, and given where we live, a 
     vehicle with 4wd capability is a must too. This Suburban gets 
     17 mpg, and with a 42 gallon tank, it is getting rather 
     painful to fill this beast. Assuming an empty tank, it would 
     take $168 to fill that behemoth, but I need it and we keep 
     the driving on that to a minimum.
       Some of our circumstances are due to where we live and we 
     chose to live there. I do not seek empathy for this. However, 
     compassion for our people would be good. Congress could make 
     significant strides forward if they would stop catering to 
     special interest groups and drill in our oil reserves. There 
     is no reason not to. Drilling in ANWR is not going to make 
     extinct the animals that live there.
       Also, there is no reason we cannot make more refineries. We 
     cannot refine the oil we import fast enough, to say nothing 
     about the oil that we could be drilling from our own soil and 
     water. We should make more nuclear power, or cut our thirst 
     for energy. It is one or the other, and since we are not 
     cutting energy, we have got to produce more.
     Andy.
                                  ____

       I am the Service Coordinator at Community Action 
     Partnership in Clearwater County. We are the agency that 
     distributes the Energy Assistance Funds (LIHEAP) for North 
     Central Idaho. I must tell you that I am extremely concerned 
     about our low income people this coming winter, especially

[[Page S2826]]

     the ones on fixed incomes, such as the elderly. If congress 
     does not increase the benefit amount of LIHEAP considerably, 
     I am seriously afraid that some people will literally freeze 
     to death.
       Of the 500 or so LIHEAP applications I do, about 300 of 
     them are elderly (60+). Of that 300, probably more than half 
     heat with oil or propane. Many of them were talked into 
     converting to an oil stove (such as TOYO) several years ago, 
     because they were considered very energy efficient, however 
     no one could have predicted that the price of oil would 
     quadruple in a few years time. To make matters worse, many 
     oil and propane company's require a minimum delivery of 100 
     gallons, that is over $400, and in many cases that could be 
     half or more of their monthly income!
       I intend to work with Clearwater County Social Services, 
     and our local churches to see what can be done at the local 
     level. I am hoping to be raise funds to purchase the most 
     efficient electric heaters I can find to give out to our most 
     vulnerable citizens. It certainly does not solve the overall 
     energy problem facing this country, but at least it might 
     keep a few people from freezing this winter.
       Thank you for your interest and concern in this matter, and 
     good luck!
     Barbara.
                                  ____

       The American public is lazy! We should be holding all our 
     elected officials responsible for OPEC and Big Oil's price 
     gouging of the country through its outrageous fuel prices. We 
     all should be continuously writing, emailing, and faxing our 
     city councilpersons, county supervisors, state legislators, 
     congressmen, and presidential candidates to make them support 
     a comprehensive, alternative energy program.
       It is OPEC and the Big Oil companies that are preventing 
     the development of ethanol. And they will continue to not 
     allow the development of ethanol unless they can monopolize 
     that, too. It is common knowledge that they contribute 
     thousands of dollars to congressmen so that our elected 
     officials will drag their feet and not push through a 
     comprehensive plan.
       Brazil became energy self-sufficient within five years by 
     converting sugar cane into ethanol. Sweden is also developing 
     plants to turn grass and hay into ethanol. There should be 
     laws enacted here, too, requiring every gas station to offer 
     at least one pump for ethanol. The construction of ethanol 
     plants should be subsidized by the government, and job tax 
     credits should be given to those plants for hiring new 
     workers. Our country should be ambitiously working to wean 
     itself off gasoline so we can tell OPEC where to stick its 
     oil.
       Auto manufacturers should be mandated to sell an increasing 
     percentage of flex fuel cars each year. Of course, it will 
     not do you any good to buy a flex fuel car if you cannot find 
     a station in your town that sells ethanol (I am told that 
     there is only one station in all of San Diego that sells 
     ethanol). And, forget it if you are traveling anywhere out of 
     town!
       You would think that with the internet, everyone would come 
     together, pool their ideas and resources, and actually get 
     something done. Instead, we just sit back and take whatever 
     is dished out to us. The American public has clout it does 
     not even realize! If this nation's work force banded together 
     and refused to go to work until the price of gasoline went 
     down, you can bet we would bring this country to its knees in 
     a week or less! I am tired of working for nothing! I am tired 
     of seeing my children not be able to make ends meet.
       When the working public goes bankrupt from channeling its 
     hard-earned money into fuel, we will be ripe for another 
     country to come in and take us over.
       Legislate ambitiously for off-shore drilling! Stop the 
     export of oil from Alaska. Enough is enough! Do something 
     about it!
     Josie, Nampa.
                                  ____

       I do not have much of a different story than many other 
     Idahoans. I work hard each day 11 to 12 hrs. I live in a 
     rural area of Canyon County so ride sharing or car pooling is 
     not a viable option for me. I have to drive 18 miles to work 
     so riding a bike is not an option especially after putting in 
     a 12 hr day. I drive a small pick up Chevy S-10 to help 
     reduce my gas usage (as I mow lawns and do small pruning jobs 
     on the weekends to make a few extra dollars), my wife in I 
     traded in our ford tarsus for a KIA Spectra last November to 
     help save money and protect our budget of the current (Nov 
     07) high gas prices.
       What I can say is that the only way out of our current 
     situation is for our congress needs to show OPEC, that we are 
     willing to take back control of our oil dependence.
       1. Congress must do something positive about drilling oil 
     in the U.S., no arguing, no debating, no pork added to the 
     bills, just action.
       2. We need to open up oil drilling anywhere that will have 
     minimal environmental impact, there is no place to drill that 
     will have no environmental impact, but we have the technology 
     to reduce any impact to the environment that will not cause 
     permanent damage. It is off the east coast, west coast, Gulf 
     of Mexico or Alaska we need to start drilling.
       3. We need to build refineries through the country, but 
     especially on the west coast. The west coast refineries need 
     to be able to process the high sulfur oil from Alaska. These 
     actions should put a halt to the escalating oil prices from 
     OPEC, but they are only the first steps.
       4. Big Oil Tax breaks for exploration and research, I do 
     not believe that these tax cuts are ever going to go away, 
     but I heard a news report over the weekend the Exxon Mobil 
     was exploring off the coast of the Philippines. This is 
     totally insane they are spending our money in tax cuts 
     outside the U.S.? If we are going to allow large profits and 
     tax breaks for exploration and research then they can do in 
     the U.S.
       5. One of the biggest projects big oil could be spending 
     our money on is research for liquefying oil shale to minimize 
     any environmental effects of this process, but again there is 
     no way not to have some impact on the environment, but as a 
     country we must give a little to survive in this world 
     situation.
       6. To reduce using our oil, coal and natural gas reserves 
     to generate electricity, we need to build Nuclear Power 
     Plants where the need is and where is will cause minimal 
     impact on the environment.
       7. Long term measures would be to develop wind, water and 
     solar and other alternative power satrapies, it is too late 
     right now to impact the strategies hold OPEC has on our 
     country, and in the long term these straggles could play an 
     important role in our overall energy policy.
       8. Please relay to your fellow Congressmen that if #1 and 
     #2 are not acted on immediately there will be a lot on 
     incumbents who will lose their seats in November. As the 
     American public and trucking industry can afford the daily 
     gas price increases. If the trucking industry falters then 
     our whole economy will collapse. This is not a idle threat by 
     one voter but a culmination of our elected officials doing 
     nothing about our energy policy for the last 30 years, and 
     within the last 6 years ignoring all the signs that OPEC now 
     has us by the neck in a strangle hold. The big oil companies 
     really do not care as they make money either way.
     Robert.
                                  ____

       Thanks for the opportunity to respond to your newsletter on 
     energy costs. My view, as expressed even before \9/11\, was 
     that we were subconsciously willing to sacrifice our children 
     due to our selfishness, NIMBY mentality, and uncompromising 
     positions regarding siting of energy facilities and 
     development of energy resources. Our inability to develop a 
     unified, effective energy policy is reflected in our 
     addiction to oil, and just like a drug addict, we are selling 
     out our country to those who least care about the future and 
     security of our children. Like street drugs, the demand 
     driven by our oil addiction is pushing up the price that 
     further enhances the wealth of many rouge nations that 
     support terrorism against us and would like nothing more than 
     to see our demise. I attribute the deaths of our beloved 
     service members on the battlefields in the Middle East to 
     this issue. The cost to me in terms of high gas prices 
     lowering my standard of living is nothing compared to the 
     sacrifice of their lives caused by our ineptness to come 
     together as a nation with a program for energy independence 
     with an urgency akin to President Kennedy's national 
     commitment to put a man on the moon in a decade. Anything 
     short of that is treating a symptom and not the disease.
       There are no quick fixes. It took several decades of 
     selfishness to get us into this predicament, and it will take 
     at least a decade of committed effort to fix it. We, as a 
     nation, have the intellect and the resources to achieve 
     energy independence if we unleash our federal and private 
     institutions from excessive regulation. Decisions of such 
     national importance must be based on sound technical and 
     economic evaluation, not on how we can siphon more tax 
     dollars to benefit our constituents and enrich our political 
     standing or how we can enhance our personal wealth. The 
     future of our nation and our children is in our hands.
     Noel, Idaho Falls.

                          ____________________