[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 42 (Tuesday, March 10, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2961-S2963]
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:

       I am sure you are fully aware of the impact high gasoline 
     prices is having on Idahoans. A large portion of the 
     population are on fixed incomes that do not rise with 
     inflation or energy costs. Another large portion of the 
     population barely earned enough to feed their families when 
     gas was $1.25 a gallon. Many of those same Americans are 
     still earning the same or slightly better wages, though 
     inflation and higher energy costs have effectively caused a 
     net reduction in their incomes.
       Personally, it is hard to find work, I have turned in 
     dozens of applications without even a single interview. So, I 
     decided to get my degree online, since it was out of the 
     question to commute to a campus because of fuel costs. My 
     best friend commuted for his entire two years of community 
     college, roughly 60 miles round trip every day. However, it 
     is prohibitively expensive to do so now. I am also self-
     employed, doing whatever work I can find, though it never 
     amounts to much more than paying what expenses I do have. 
     Lately I have been selling firewood to help cover the 
     increases in gas prices, since I am a small-scale miner/gold 
     prospector and

[[Page S2962]]

     wish to explore some gold-producing regions in this great 
     state this year.
       I recall hearing that the government removed gasoline from 
     the Consumer Price Index in the 80s; if this is true, it was 
     a grave mistake. These gasoline and oil prices will cause 
     inflation almost as fast as the Federal Reserve having a 
     license to print money as fast as they can.
       As an American, and Idahoan, I want to state that we need 
     to lift the bans on offshore oil drilling. Norway, I believe, 
     has always drilled offshore, and they export quite a bit of 
     oil, as well as keeping their own energy costs down compared 
     to other areas of the world. I understand that we are not 
     drilling much offshore; however, I have heard that Cuba and 
     other Caribbean countries have been, which means if we do not 
     pump the oil ourselves, someone else will.
       Second, hydroelectric is the safest, cheapest, and most 
     superior form of electricity any country can harness and 
     possess. Instead of demolishing dams, we need to build more 
     if possible. Licenses need to be granted to all existing dams 
     if there is any possible way for them to expand their 
     generating capacity. Environmentalists cry we need more solar 
     power. Solar panels are inefficient given that it takes a 
     huge surface area to generate a small amount of energy. I 
     suppose if they could be installed in places that are rarely 
     used, and out of sight, so much the better, so Solar panels 
     should be installed on the roofs of city buildings, would not 
     take up valuable land that is so desperately needed for 
     farming, and other uses.
       As far as gasoline and alternative fuels, I would petition 
     Congress to reopen the investigation into the Ocean Thermal 
     Energy Conversion, which was experimented with during the 
     70s, but later abandoned after the oil crisis. It would use 
     the naturally-heated water, pumped through heat exchangers, 
     causing refrigerants to be evaporated in a closed system, 
     driving turbines, creating electricity which could then be 
     used to synthesize the ammonia fuel, which ammonia is not 
     combustible in normal atmospheric pressure, but when 
     introduced into a high pressure environment, such as a 
     combustion chamber, it will combust. In the early part of 
     this decade it was estimated that the fuel could be 
     produced and distributed with probably no higher than a 
     50-cent per gallon cost. Just a small fleet of ships 
     around the equator would be able to supply the entire 
     world's energy. Combustion of the ammonia would produce 
     only water vapor. I studied this in high school thanks to 
     being in the U.S. Academic Decathlon, and it grabbed my 
     interest so I did what research I could on the matter.
       Another main objective should be to get the oil fields in 
     Iraq back in production ASAP. I have read production reports 
     from before and after the Iraq invasion. I forget how much 
     Iraq was producing prior to the invasion, but afterwards, 
     there has been negligible amounts of oil being produced 
     there.
       I would also propose that tax incentives should be given to 
     wealthy landowners in regions that have historically been 
     productive for wildcatting. The incentives being to get the 
     landowners who can afford to, to explore their properties for 
     oil.
       There is also another solution which I feel the auto 
     industry purposely avoids telling people. It is a fact, that 
     I have seen, and rode in, never could find one for sale, 
     SUVs, small pick-ups and the like, with 4-cylinder diesel 
     engines that provided plenty of power, with a fuel economy of 
     anywhere from 45 to 60 miles per gallon. Rudolph Diesel, who 
     invented the Diesel engine had stated that his life's work 
     would be complete once it was used in automobiles. I firmly 
     believe the Germans have been at the forefront of technology, 
     efficiency, and precision, and that auto makers should 
     produce more vehicles with these 4-cylinder diesels.
       I know, the environmentalists have for the most part banned 
     diesel in many places. However, what makes it cleaner and 
     better for the environment to burn 2.5 to 3 gallons of gas 
     than to burn 1 gallon of diesel?
       I do believe it is wrong to say that America is addicted to 
     oil. We aren't addicted to oil; there is no alternative, and 
     nothing that we can put in our tanks has the same energy 
     potential gallon for gallon as gasoline or diesel. However, I 
     recall vaguely a quote I read that was said by Nikola Tesla, 
     basically saying it was barbaric for an nation to use up its 
     crude oil reserves. But I say it is equally barbaric to use 
     food crops to produce alternative fuels, AKA ethanol. Why 
     cannot we turn noxious weeds such as knapp weed and bull 
     thistles into ethanol? Why does it have to be corn?! People 
     are starving, and here we are gassing up with food that 
     should be used to feed people. People cannot eat oil or 
     gasoline. It is my understanding that the U.S. government 
     pays subsidies to farmers so they do not plant hundreds of 
     millions of acres of land to keep prices up on certain crops. 
     If corn must be used, it should be from the land that the 
     government is paying them not to plant, since the other corn 
     crops are sufficient for food needs.
       It is also my understanding that the world's largest 
     deposit of oil shale exists in the United States. It amounts 
     to almost double the proven recoverable crude oil reserves in 
     the world. Why are not we mining and processing this oil 
     shale? Further, I do not see how the oil companies are making 
     record profits.
       The one thing it has been politically incorrect to talk 
     about is inflation. If you adjust the oil companies' incomes 
     for inflation, everyone will find that in real wealth, their 
     earnings are breaking no records. When gas was 25 cents a 
     gallon, it was a silver quarter that was being paid. The 
     amount of silver in a silver quarter is worth now 
     approximately $3 to $4. So in terms of REAL wealth, 
     constitutional money as per Article One, Section Ten, the 
     price has gone from, what, 25 cents a gallon to 30 cents 
     maybe? It is not that prices are going up; it is that the Fed 
     is printing too much money driving the value of the dollar 
     down faster than wages can go up, and this usury needs to 
     stop.
       They used to claim that there was not enough silver to 
     maintain a silver standard and supply enough money for 
     everyone. Hmmmm. . . Guess what that causes? Deflation! The 
     money would increase in purchasing power, and the same amount 
     of silver would continue to be sufficient for the needs of 
     the economy.
       Sometimes I feel like I am the only American who 
     understands this problem.
       I would like to point out: Heads should have rolled after 
     we abandoned the gold and silver standards. I am sure you 
     know what debasing currency is. This is what helped bring 
     Rome to an end. They figured out that most people would 
     accept a coin for face value regardless of content. So, 
     instead of say, 90% gold, the Romans started to debase their 
     coinage, so they could make more money with less gold. The 
     coins dropped in purity. More and more copper was added until 
     their gold coins contained almost no gold. This is what 
     happened in this country in the 60s when we abandoned silver. 
     Our Founding Fathers understood the problem, so I would like 
     to point out the one capital crime that no one has been 
     sentenced for.
       According to the Coin Act of 1792, those who debased the 
     currency, ``or otherwise with a fraudulent intent'' were to 
     suffer the death penalty:
       ``Penalty of Death for de-basing the coins. Section 19. And 
     be it further enacted, That if any of the gold or silver 
     coins which shall be struck or coined at the said mint shall 
     be debased or made worse as to the proportion of the fine 
     gold or fine silver therein contained, or shall be of less 
     weight or value than the same out to be pursuant to the 
     directions of this act, through the default or with the 
     connivance of any of the officers or persons who shall be 
     employed at the said mint, for the purpose of profit or gain, 
     or otherwise with a fraudulent intent, and if any of the said 
     officers or persons shall embezzle any of the metals which 
     shall at any time be committed to their charge for the 
     purpose of being coined, or any of the coins which shall be 
     struck or coined at the said mint, every such officer or 
     person who shall commit any or either of the said offenses, 
     shall be deemed guilty of felony, and shall suffer death.''
       America is not being held hostage by the gas pumps, or the 
     oil companies. Probably the greatest mistake any civilization 
     could make was breaking up Standard Oil. As soon as Standard 
     Oil was broken up, fuel prices went up quite a bit history 
     records. America is being held hostage by the monetizers of 
     debt, printing instead of legal tender, promissory notes 
     which take a perfectly valuable commodity like paper and ink, 
     and make them truely worthless, as stated by Ludwig Von Mises 
     when he was talking about fiat currency.
       Economist John Maynard Keynes, who was chief architect of 
     the fiat currency system, had stated ``The best way to 
     destroy the capitalist system is to debauch the currency. By 
     a continuing process of inflation, governments can 
     confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the 
     wealth of their citizens.'' And indeed that is what is 
     happening.
       Patrick Henry had stated ``This great nation was founded 
     not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but 
     on the Gospel of Jesus Christ!''. I agree with this 
     statement. However, our government has gone from the wise 
     ways of a Republic, with the Biblical honest weights and 
     measures, to a corrupted system that is now based almost 
     entirely on the system of usury.
       There is no shortage of oil, and people are willing to pay 
     the prices they are paying for it now. They have no choice, 
     and those prices being paid now, are the result of a paper 
     currency that is constantly being inflated. A barrel of Oil 
     is always worth a barrel of Oil, and an ounce of silver is 
     always worth an ounce of silver. A dollar is not always worth 
     a dollar.
       So, while I still have the 1st Amendment rights, I am going 
     to send this letter, and pray that it does not fall on deaf 
     ears.
     Adam.
                                  ____

       In response to your email requesting some stories about the 
     rising oil costs, I would like to contribute the following. 
     This will not be a simple paragraph or two and, for that, I 
     apologize.
       I grew up in Helena, Montana, and crawled around in mines 
     and mills as a kid and young adult. I have seen firsthand, 
     the long-term effects of mine waste and tailings piles where 
     nothing would grow on the waste for 100 years, the small 
     streams and creeks ran orange in Butte and the banks were 
     brown for up to 10 feet on either side. Now, I also 
     understand back then, this was not seen as damaging and there 
     were plenty of open spaces and clear skies for the infant 
     country of the USA and, without these mines and mills, the 
     U.S. would not be what it is today.
       I worked for almost 27 years in the oil exploration 
     industry and almost 16 years of that was working and living 
     in Brasil so I have firsthand exposure to the shortcomings 
     and failures of alcohol fuels and the damage it has done to 
     the economy of Brasil.

[[Page S2963]]

       Further, I have seen what the U.S. has done to destroy the 
     drilling industry in the states as well as driving out any 
     U.S. Coast Guard licensed personnel, U.S. flag vessels and 
     shipyard work done in the U.S.
       Now let us consider alcohol fuels and blended gasoline:
       As a developing country, Brasil needs oil, they do not have 
     a large export economy and until recently, did not have a 
     large internal oil supply. To offset the cost of importing 
     oil, they mandated the use of alcohol as a fuel for their 
     automobiles. Since labor is cheap and technology was not, 
     Brasil had a huge labor intensive industry of raising sugar 
     cane for the purpose of making fuel. In fact this was nothing 
     more that rum!
       Sugar cane derived fuel is still recognized as the 
     ``hottest'' fuel as compared to corn.
       Brasil mandated that alcohol fuel be the same price as 
     gasoline and forced Petrobras to manufacture and distribute 
     alcohol to do so.
       Even at $50/ month average worker wages, sugar cane growing 
     almost unattended, IE no need for irrigation or fertilizers, 
     the cost per liter of alcohol was 4 to 5 times that of the 
     cost the same liter of gasoline! This resulted in an enormous 
     tax base to Brasilian citizens, up to 60% and a horrid 
     inflation spiral you cannot imagine, inflations of 100% per 
     month!
       In my opinion, alcohol is not only a stupid idea; it 
     accelerates the consumption of oil and the earth's resources 
     and causes MORE pollution. Here is why:
       (1) Alcohol loves water and will absorb water while in 
     storage and in use. This causes any iron or steel parts in 
     the engine to wear out faster. This means more parts and or 
     more engines are needed sooner. These parts can only be 
     derived from metal which means more mining, smelting and more 
     heavy metal pollution.
       (2) Alcohol does not give as much power per unit of liquid 
     as gasoline, no matter what! Anyone can do this and it does 
     not need a scientific degree for real average Joe results. 
     Drive in South Dakota where it is mandated to have 10% 
     alcohol/ 90% gasoline blended fuel. The interstate is flat so 
     you can set your cruise control. I did this in my Mazda 
     pickup and have seen similar results by being forced to use 
     alcohol fuels in Washington in other vehicles. By driving say 
     320 miles on the interstate with gasoline only, you can 
     achieve say 20 miles per gallon which would use 16 gallons of 
     gasoline.
       Now, blended fuel decreases the fuel efficiency of any 
     internal combustion and lowers its economy. This same vehicle 
     with the blended fuel gets anywhere between 20 to 25% less 
     MPG. In our same example, this vehicle would get 15 to 16 
     MPG, which means the same 320 miles would take 21 to 20 
     gallons of blend. Now, this blended fuel is 90% gasoline in 
     21 gallons of blend there is 21 0.9 = 18.9 gallons of 
     gasoline and 20 gallons of blend is 20 0.9 = 18 gallons of 
     gasoline.
       So, our blended fuel consumes at least 20% more 
     gasoline!!!!! In this journey that means an average of 3 
     gallons more of gasoline for the trip.
       These are real results I did myself!
       Even autos designed for alcohol blends get less economy and 
     consumes more fuel! You can check in Phoenix, Arizona, as 
     they mandate blended fuels in the summer and the cars get 
     poorer economy.
       So, what does alcohol fuels do?
       (1) Consumes more oil
       (2) Consumes more of the earth's metals by wearing out 
     engines quicker
       (3) Consumes more of the earth's energy. You have to plant, 
     harvest, ferment, distill and purify corn to generate 
     alcohol. It costs about 6 times more per gallon to make than 
     gasoline and wastes water, electricity and fuel to make. 
     Since the government subsidizes this, we the tax payers loose 
     big time and the environment suffers at an even accelerated 
     rate.
       (4) It takes food out of circulation and raises prices.
       (5) Who wins? Big oil for more demand, the automobile 
     industry, farmers and the government in the form of more 
     taxes.
       (6) Who loses? The American citizen.
       Now, what have I seen? Well, much of the U.S. does not have 
     public transport and we have to drive for food, work, 
     shopping and anything else. I have seen my gasoline bills 
     almost double in the past 6 months and I am driving much 
     less.
       Much of the U.S. does not have natural gas and we use 
     propane. Propane has jumped 50% in price the past 6 months 
     that means heating bills have jumped 50%. Even thought we are 
     mainly hydroelectric for electricity, my power bill has 
     increased an average of 25% due to pressure from fossil fuel 
     increases.
       I am retired and on a fixed income and cannot afford to pay 
     my bills any longer due to the significant increases!
       And please do not get me started on the fallacy of 
     fluorescent lighting and electric autos. Both are dangerous 
     and will cause tremendous heavy metal pollution as well as a 
     larger demand for mining and thus more toxic waste.
       Not to be a cynic but I know this will fall on deaf ears as 
     it is not politically expedient to take the correct position 
     instead of the one Washington currently has taken.
     Frank, Spirit Lake.
                                  ____

       We recently took a three-night trip to Yellowstone Park, 
     driving from Boise. Our VW Passatt station wagon, a roomy and 
     very comfortable car, uses about half the fuel of a pickup 
     truck (29 to 34 mpg highway). For this trip for four adults, 
     the cost of lodging and food (meals eaten in restaurants) 
     dwarfed the cost of gasoline.
       The higher price of fuel will spur both innovation 
     (www.aptera.com) and conservation. As Boise is close to being 
     under EPA ``supervision'' for air quality non-attainment 
     (ozone), the higher price of gas can only help as demand 
     slackens.
       Let us face it, most of us are not wise users of energy, 
     and with a little extra effort we all could reduce our 
     consumption by 10% to 25%. I see many more pedestrians and 
     bicycles on the streets, most of us need more exercise. Our 
     consumptive habits and the growth of said consumption is not 
     sustainable--innovation and conservation will have to happen 
     to solve our energy problems.
       In reading your email regarding this problem, I have to ask 
     you who is responsible for lack of public transportation in 
     this country?
     David, Boise.

                          ____________________