[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 51 (Wednesday, March 25, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3779-S3781]
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 a Meridian resident, who works in Boise, an 8-mile 
     commute for me. I own a 2003 Dodge Dakota, and it was my 
     commuter vehicle until a couple months back. It has a fuel 
     capacity of 23 gallons. Before I stopped driving my truck, it 
     was costing me about $160 per month in gas . . . just for me 
     to get to and from work--8 miles away. That is before gas 
     went over $4/gallon. The reason I do not have to drive my 
     truck anymore, is because my wife got a new job in Boise, a 
     mile from my workplace, and we are now able to carpool 
     together in her car, a 2003 Mazda 6. Previously, she worked 
     in Meridian, just a couple miles from our home. My wife hates 
     driving the truck, which is why I drove it, instead of her.
       Since my wife got her new job nearly two months ago, my 
     truck has just sat in the garage. I filled it up 6-8 weeks 
     ago--and it still has the same full tank of gas. It hasn't 
     moved an inch. How can I afford to move it, when it only gets 
     12-16 mpg, and gas is now hovering between $4.10-$4.15 a 
     gallon? If I was still driving my truck to work, it would now 
     be costing about $200 a month just to commute back and forth 
     to work. Ridiculous. So my truck sits and waits for something 
     to cause fuel prices to go down.
       Now for the possible solution I read about the other day. 
     SwiftFuel: I saw a blurb on it on the website, http://
slashdot.org, which had a link to a full article by Robert X. 
     Cringly on PBS' website. Basically, SwiftFuel is made from 
     ethanol, but contains no ethanol. It is currently being 
     tested by the FAA as a replacement fuel for the current lead 
     based aviation fuels, which must cease to exist in 2010. It 
     has a higher octane rating (about 104); has more energy per 
     gallon, which results in a 15-20 percent increase in fuel 
     efficiency; can be run on existing engines without 
     modification; can be stored in the same

[[Page S3780]]

     tanks and shipped in the same pipelines as gasoline; and 
     since it is a biomass, has a net 0 carbon footprint on the 
     environment. Oh, the ethanol used to make it--it is not 
     produced from corn. It is produced from sorghum which 
     produces six times more ethanol than corn, per acre. No 
     higher food costs from the production of its ethanol. 
     Currently, SwiftFuel costs about $1.80 to produce, and we can 
     make it right here, in the good ol' U. S. of A.
       Obviously, this is just one article, and one side. But if 
     most of what this article claims is true, this could be a 
     very viable, quick remedy to breaking our addiction to oil. 
     Everyone could benefit from it immediately, without having to 
     buy new cars, or paying for expensive modifications. I think 
     it deserves a very serious look from the Government, and I 
     hope you will encourage other lawmakers to look into it.
       If it makes it to our local pumps, my Dakota can come out 
     of the garage and play.
     Jared.
                                  ____

       Thank you for all you are doing to keep energy prices, 
     costs, and options open.
       Our family is spread all over the country because we gave 
     them wings to fly. Giving them independence sometimes means 
     higher costs for visits. When my husband and I married in 
     1967, the Viet Nam War was the countries overseas 
     involvement. Since then so many, many more overseas events 
     have affected our society.
       Being part of a world economy is a challenge. I think our 
     country will be challenged beyond our wildest dreams and 
     people from all over the world will be meeting our 
     expectations of being like us. That is not all good. One of 
     the things is energy and high cost of traveling. Staying 
     close to home will be the only option for most people in our 
     world and probably not a bad thing.
       I would hope that other energy options will finally come 
     out and be fully embraced by the government with incentives 
     and with financial responsibilities that all Americans can 
     understand and live with.
       We will need another post World War II plan of some sort to 
     put people to work, give them self esteem to continue to work 
     things out.
       With our medical crisis, overseas wars, and societal 
     morality issues we face a time of great challenge!
       I hope that you and others in Washington will take the time 
     off and spend time at home and have smaller salaries so we as 
     Americans can have examples of sacrifice and fiscal 
     responsibly.
       Thank you for your service to our state and our country. I 
     look forward to the next four years and hopefully we will 
     have a more responsible White House and legislative sessions!
     Nancy.
                                  ____

       As you have heard from many sources, the high energy costs 
     are providing difficult choices: food or gas, rent or gas, 
     mortgage or gas, utilities or gas, medicine or gas, etc. I 
     just read the results of a survey that indicated that 76% of 
     respondents say that the country is headed the wrong way. 
     This is not only a White House issue. This is a White House 
     and Congress issue. All I see reported is finger pointing; 
     one party blaming the other or the White House. It is time to 
     put aside partisan bickering and seek for bipartisan 
     solutions. OPEC is creating a false supply shortage due to 
     lack of daily production. Oil companies must share the blame.
       Refineries are creating a false supply shortage by not 
     producing to their capacity. They post record profits but do 
     nothing to increase refinery capacity or build new 
     refineries. Oil production in the United States can and must 
     increase.
       Conservation by the American people is a must. A change in 
     my driving habits has resulted in a 3 miles per gallon 
     increase. I drive twenty miles a day to and from work. One 
     road posts 65 mph. I drive 55 mph. I coast up to stop signs 
     where safely possible. Where safely possible, I drive 55 
     miles per hour instead of 65, or 65 instead of 75. One can 
     only imagine what would happen if every driver in America 
     would increase their miles per gallon by changing driving 
     habits.
       Demand would definitely decrease which should have a 
     positive effect on supply. But, unfortunately, the American 
     people will not conserve on their own. The congress must 
     force conservation. During the early 1970s, America faced an 
     oil crisis. One of the measures the government instituted was 
     lowering the speed limit to 55 miles per hour. Not only did 
     this action reduce demand, it saved lives. This seems to be 
     an inexpensive option. The only cost to the government, as I 
     see it, is in putting up new speed limit signs.
       The interesting thing to me is that the American public 
     have driven one billion miles less this year compared to last 
     year, yet the price of gas continues to rise. It makes one 
     wonder what kind of coalition has be created to keep supply 
     down and prices up in spite of the minimal conservation 
     efforts of the American people. Does anything the American 
     people say really carry any weight with our government?
       I know that this is a complex problem. Some stop-gap 
     measures need to be put in place while long-term solutions 
     are reached. Now would be a good time for Congress to step up 
     to the plate and hit a grand slam to win the game for the 
     American people.
     R.
                                  ____

       Thank you for the opportunity to share my concern about the 
     rising energy costs in our country. I have a 2001 Toyota 
     Camry and when I first bought the car it cost between $12 and 
     $15 to fill the tank. Last Friday I filled it and it was 
     $56.03! From $15 to $56, and the news says the price of gas 
     is still rising!
       In the past, whenever something was totally out of control 
     in our country, we could count on our leaders to do something 
     about it. Gas prices have gone up before (but never to this 
     extent) and then came back down? I always felt safe and 
     secure in the United States but now things seem to be totally 
     out of control. Where are our leaders/Senate? What are they 
     doing to help us? With the extremely high gas prices 
     everything else is going up, too. So much so that we all are 
     being forced to cut back everywhere else--even in critical 
     areas such as food and/or medicine. Living in Idaho does not 
     give me an option on not driving my car to work and I have to 
     work in order to survive. I do not want to quit work and be 
     supported by welfare, or any other assistance, simply because 
     I cannot get to work. I am disabled and cannot ride a bicycle 
     to work (which will not work in Idaho during the winter, 
     either).
       After a horrific divorce, I struggled many, many years as a 
     single woman to get my feet on the ground and be self-
     sufficient. It terrifies me to think that security can easily 
     be taken away from me
       Where in the world did the United States ever get the 
     notion we could be dependent on foreign countries for energy? 
     That is absolutely ridiculous! We are supposed to be the 
     leader of the free world, not depending on other countries to 
     survive. We have resources on our own soil so why are we not 
     using them? What is happening with the reserve oil? As the 
     Senate, I implore you to please do something to stop the 
     rising gas prices and get them lowered again!
     Connie, Post Falls.
                                  ____

       I am a non-traditional student at BSU. I depend on grants 
     and loans to attend college and only work part-time as a 
     tutor on campus. I live relatively close to campus so I can 
     walk or take the bus if need be, but so far I have not had 
     to. The real story I wanted to share is why I am not bothered 
     with the rising prices of gas as much as everyone else seems 
     to be.
       I was in the US Army from 1968 to 1972 and served in 
     Germany from the fall of 1968 to the spring of 1970. Gas 
     prices in Germany, at that time, after converting from the 
     old Mark to US dollars, were about $3.65 a gallon. We have 
     been very fortunate to have cheap prices for as long as we 
     have. Now it is our turn to pay up.
       I would say to Congress: Shame on you for not allowing the 
     drilling of more oil reserves in those areas of our country 
     that have it, for you are keeping us dependent upon OPEC and 
     keep us at the mercy of their pocket book needs. I also would 
     ask Congress to seriously consider tholium research to 
     replace uranium in our reactors, for it is considerably more 
     economical, safer for the environment and would go a long way 
     to promote anti-proliferation by terrorists.
     Kermit.
                                  ____

       My husband works in construction. The good news is: He has 
     had job after job out at the nuclear site west of Idaho 
     Falls. The bad news is: Construction workers do not get to 
     ride the buses. They have to drive out themselves, unless 
     they are lucky enough to work for a company that carpools 
     their men in a company truck. That is not happening right 
     now. Gary drives out to work every day. Even with a fuel 
     stipend to offset his gas purchases each week, we are going 
     in deeper and deeper because of the rising fuel prices. I am 
     sure construction companies can only afford to offset just so 
     much for their employees. It will cap out and we will be left 
     making up the difference. After all, we have to keep Gary 
     working. For my job, I travel the upper Snake River Valley, 
     making visits in the homes of adult clients with 
     developmental disabilities. I am required by the state 
     Medicaid to make these monthly visits. I drive a fairly fuel 
     efficient vehicle, but again, our miscellaneous expense 
     budget has been hacked by increases expense at the fuel pump.
       I am so hoping the government will explore and implement 
     domestic oil production. Get these foreign countries off our 
     backs! They are grinding the faces of the American citizen 
     into the pavement. Of course, I am in favor of expanded 
     nuclear energy research. We here in southeast Idaho have 
     grown up with the nuclear site in our backyard. Incentives 
     for conservation may help, but do not let too much red tape 
     bind the effectiveness of the incentive or companies will not 
     feel it is worth it. I repeat, the environmentalists have had 
     their day and now we are suffering for it. They need to quiet 
     down and let business address the issues of the American 
     family trying to survive in the United States.
       Thank you for your interest in our story.
     Gary and Jana.
                                  ____

       The increase in prices caused by an increase in demand is 
     not a valid cause for increasing the pressure put on the 
     environment by our society's increasing demand for high 
     quality energy. The price increase is a result of 
     capitalism--imagine that, the U.S. has promoted a change in 
     world economy to be more like ours and it has worked. More 
     demand translates to higher prices. The stock brokers are now 
     speculating on energy futurs.
       So the solution is efficiency. Start carpooling. The demand 
     could be reduced if people rode together to work and school 
     in their current vehicles. As new vehicles are purchased, 
     energy efficient machines could be

[[Page S3781]]

     purchased instead of the CAFE loop-hole SUVs that the current 
     federal government still subsidizes. Also the speed limit 
     could be reduced. Yes, all the machines on the freeways are 
     more efficient at lower speeds. It is just physics. Then 
     reduce the need for energy by reducing the demand for AC and 
     Heating because of the unrealistic size of homes. Start 
     programs to subsidize development of solar electric to AC 
     systems in the sunbelt of the U.S. Such a program would 
     significantly reduce the electric grid demand.
       The answer to the impact of energy prices could be altered 
     immediately through conservation, not 5 years from now by 
     increases in exploration.
     Dale, Coeur d'Alene.
                                  ____

       We are writing to express our complete exasperation with 
     the U.S. Congress' inaction on vital energy questions or 
     maybe it is a not so subtle attempt to ruin our way of life. 
     We and our neighbors live about 70 miles from adequate 
     shopping and medical services. We spend about $30 for 
     gasoline for each round trip. Ours is a poor, rural community 
     where many people have to commute long distances to work and 
     whose budgets are being wrecked by the current cost of 
     gasoline and diesel fuel. Being a community of mostly self-
     sufficient, hardworking people who do not have time to 
     publicly complain or demonstrate, we seldom have the 
     opportunity to be heard. We appreciate your invitation to let 
     us express our frustrations.
       We believe that election year politics is important but 
     that an issue so vital as energy supplies should be something 
     that our representatives should agree upon. Have we reached a 
     point where the elite of our society are so powerful that the 
     pain felt by everyday citizens is of no importance when 
     balanced against their idealistic agendas?
       I am a retired engineer with adequate retirement reserves, 
     and $4 a gallon gasoline will not bankrupt me. Most of my 
     neighbors are not so fortunate and will be strapped to ever 
     achieve adequate retirement finances if fuel costs and the 
     increased cost of products due to fuel costs are not 
     addressed. The ability to save is being destroyed for the 
     average citizen by increased fuel costs.
       Again, thank you for the opportunity to state my opinions. 
     I hope that you will do all that is possible for you to do to 
     ease this burden. We are in favor of drilling for oil both in 
     ANWR and offshore. We are also in favor of nuclear energy. It 
     is the fuel of the future and again we are letting a few 
     loudmouthed elitists dictate policy and add to the hardships 
     of the people who make the country work.
     Karen and Roy, Orofino.
                                  ____

       I suspect that you have heard quite a few stories about how 
     rising energy costs have impacted Idahoans lives. I want to 
     tell you how mine has been changed. I work at the INL (Idaho 
     National Laboratory) for the CCP (Central Characterization 
     Project) on the ICP (Idaho Cleanup Project). I tried riding 
     the bus service that the site has provided for decades. At 
     the end of last year, the fuel prices prompted a change in 
     the cost of a bus pass from approx $11 a week--more than 
     doubling (I believe) to almost $23 a week. I no longer ride 
     the bus but ride with a co-worker who has been forced to 
     drive because it is cheaper for he and his wife who both work 
     on the ICP to drive than to ride the bus. He is gracious and 
     insists that I do not pay my share of fuel costs or the 
     maintenance on his car. I have filled the car's fuel tank 
     twice, and each time I was caught off guard by my upset wife 
     telling me that the lack of that money was going to cut down 
     on food and other things that we have necessity for in our 
     home. I have been very blessed by the hands of God in which 
     our country and state reside. My family has never gone 
     hungry, but I truly have to hope now that we never will. If 
     there can be a way to improve the value of the dollar, to 
     lower the price in gas (or even maintain it at the ridiculous 
     price that it is currently at), then myself and many other 
     Idahoans and Americans would be greatly appreciative. I 
     continue to support those who are making wise decisions for 
     the people of the United States, and continue to pray to God 
     that he will preserve me and my family from harder times.
     Stephan.
                                  ____

       My husband and I both are retired. We recently bought a 
     Silverado pick-up in February, almost $32,000. Do you think 
     we would have bought that had we seen the gas crisis coming? 
     Heavens no! We were going to buy a travel trailer for it to 
     hitch and explore our nation. That thought is completely 
     gone. We have six children, three of whom are married with 
     children, with double incomes to make ends meet. Now, that is 
     all we can do--make ends meet. We are all surviving and, 
     thank God, we are a resourceful nation. We bought a 32 mpg 
     Chevy, and one son bought a motorcycle to commute to work, 
     but we just do not go shopping. We are all making it, but 
     groceries and gasoline seem to be taking our checks. I am 
     worried about the other businesses of our nation who have 
     depended a bit on our incomes. What about them? Start 
     drilling! We are worth more than what we are being handed by 
     the radical environmentalists. God is the one who selects 
     plants and animals for extinction, not us. If he chooses, 
     they could be gone tomorrow no matter what we do. Start 
     drilling!
     Val.

                          ____________________