[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 53 (Monday, March 30, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3983-S3985]
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:

       The rising cost of fuel along with the slow-down of the 
     housing industry has had a big effect on my family. My 
     husband is a residential contractor who builds homes all over 
     the valley. There are days when he spends

[[Page S3984]]

     more time in his vehicle than at the office. With the housing 
     market slump plus the rising cost of gas we have already had 
     to take pay cuts which will now put us in jeopardy of being 
     able to pay all of our bills. We have also reduced the 
     comfort level (temperature) of our home so that we can 
     continue to pay our electricity and natural gas bills.
       The most difficult thing I encounter is to my weekly trips 
     to the grocery store. We have four growing children and it is 
     not cheap to feed them and ourselves. Each week I purchase 
     fewer groceries, yet my food bill does not diminish. Because 
     of the interest in bio-fuels, essentials like vegetable oil, 
     flour, and wheat are skyrocketing. The cost of vegetable oil 
     has more than doubled in the last six months.
       My biggest source of frustration is the lack of action the 
     government is taking. It upsets me to no end that as a nation 
     we are paying trillions of dollars every year for oil to 
     nations that would very much like to destroy us. I believe 
     that other methods for fuel need to be looked into, but first 
     we need to be independent from outside oil. Let's use our 
     resources and pay Americans to find, drill, and to refine our 
     own oil! Let's help our economy by keeping the trillions of 
     dollars we are pouring into the Middle East inside our own 
     country. Not only would we keep our money here, but we could 
     employ thousands of Americans as well. I feel like the 
     leaders of this nation have lost sight of what is important 
     to the people. Get rid of the laws that are restricting our 
     prosperity, remember that the well being of human beings is 
     more important than animals, fish, bugs etc. and accomplish 
     something that will bring relief to hard working families.
       Thank you for your time and for this opportunity to express 
     my feelings and concerns. I have felt so powerless for so 
     long when it comes to what is happening in this world, and I 
     have prayed to know how I can make a difference. I hope that 
     this will help you and that it will be an answer to my 
     prayers as well. I appreciate the service you give to our 
     State and Country.
     Sarah, Meridian.
                                  ____

       Like all Americans I am disturbed by the current state of 
     affairs in this country that are due to energy costs. There 
     are a number of things I believe the federal government can 
     do to either ease the burden in the short term, or to urge 
     the country forward to a much more independent state.
       Short term suggestions:
       Let us allow oil exploration in the currently prohibited 
     coastal areas, the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, the Rocky 
     Mountains etc. A policy which ensures reasonable protections 
     for the environment yet provides the energy the American 
     people need, cannot be beyond the capacity of Congress to 
     develop.
       Encourage President Bush to direct all Executive Agencies 
     to allow work shifts of four 10 hour days per week, for as 
     many employees as possible. He and Congress should further 
     encourage all employers in this country to do the same where 
     possible. A 20% reduction in commuting fuel use for employees 
     will help not only them, but reduce congestion, and therefore 
     fuel use, for everyone else as well. Those employers who can 
     shut down their operation for a day per week as well, will 
     save substantially in overhead energy costs. If it is 
     possible to implement an incentive for employers to do this 
     the federal government should provide one.
       Longer term suggestions:
       The US Postal Service has a very large fleet of vehicles 
     which would benefit from regenerative braking systems. I'm 
     specifically speaking of the Grumman Long Life Vehicles 
     (LLV's). They are on the road six days a week, for a 
     substantial portion of the day, and spend the majority of 
     that day stopping and going repeatedly. Eaton Corporation is 
     currently in partnership with Peterbuilt to produce garbage 
     trucks with hydraulic regenerative braking systems (http://
www.greencarcongress.com/2004/10/eaton_and_peter.html). A 
     group from UCLA has made substantial progress in using 
     compressed air as a storage medium in passenger cars. As the 
     USPS LLVs are all basically the same, a system could be 
     retrofitted to them at a reasonable cost, and it would 
     substantially lessen their fuel consumption. The Eaton system 
     is designed for trucks in excess of 7000 pounds, and UCLA's 
     system is not fully flushed out at this time. Nevertheless, I 
     see this as an area the federal government can take the lead 
     in, assisting in the proving of the technology, and in 
     getting to the necessary economy of scale needed to bring 
     these systems into the mainstream. I believe the USPS will be 
     able to break even on the investment in a short enough period 
     of time to make this viable.
       The fleet of vehicles used by most government agencies is 
     diverse. Including a choice for full electric vehicles is 
     appropriate. While clearly a BLM ranger in Idaho won't be 
     able to function with an electric car with a 100 mile range, 
     I'm sure there are a number of applications for that same 
     vehicle in the DC area. GSA's vehicle contracts should bring 
     these vehicles into being within a few years.
       We have the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS), law on the 
     books now, but it is not as good a law as it should be. It is 
     written to reward industry for per gallon production of 
     biofuels. The easiest fuel for them to produce is ethanol, 
     which has about half the energy of gasoline, cannot be run in 
     unmodified engines, and has such an affinity for water that 
     we cannot use the existing fuel pipelines to transport it. 
     (It absorbs any water it encounters so it must be reprocessed 
     to remove that water.) This law should be modified to reward 
     industry for the production of readily usable fuels, and do 
     so on a gasoline energy equivalency scale. This will 
     encourage more production of biodiesel, and butanol. Butanol 
     is a 4 carbon alcohol (ethanol has two carbon atoms), it can 
     be run in unmodified engines in much higher concentrations 
     than ethanol, it is energy density is close to that of 
     gasoline and it has nowhere near the affinity for water that 
     ethanol has. Biodiesel is roughly equal to petroleum based 
     diesel in energy, and requires very little if any 
     modification of standard engines.
       My understanding is that part of our gasoline price problem 
     is due to the limited number of refineries in this country. 
     Further the oil companies are not building new ones due to 
     the onerous environmental regulations which apply to new 
     facilities. (The older ones being grandfathered in with lower 
     requirements.) I'm having difficulty separating the truth 
     from the propaganda on this issue. If the preceding 
     statements are indeed correct, we need to reevaluate the 
     standards which a refinery must meet, and produce legislation 
     which encourages the creation of new facilities. As an 
     example, allow one refinery to be built which meets a lower 
     pollution standard for each two new ones which meet the 
     current requirements. Or allow a new refinery to meet lower 
     standards for the first three years of operation, before it 
     must be brought up to the higher standard. Or allow a new 
     refinery to meet the lower standards, but require it only 
     be built in areas which can tolerate the impact more 
     readily.
       The Federal Government needs to initiate an effort on par 
     with the Apollo program or the Manhattan Project to relieve 
     us from dependence on foreign oil. We need research into 
     better batteries, capacitors with higher energy density, 
     hydrogen storage systems with higher energy density, more 
     efficient solar cells, inexpensive cellulase enzyme 
     production, and other technologies which will allow this 
     country to declare our independence again. I wouldn't mind if 
     the financing came by reducing the foreign aid to countries 
     which are not acting as our friends at this time. I sincerely 
     hope that you, and your fellow Senators and Congressmen can 
     help move the country forward from this untenable state,
     Steve, Boise.
                                  ____

       With the higher energy prices, we are allocating more money 
     for fuel and less to other items which in the long run will 
     slow different parts of the economy...we have less money to 
     use on discretionary items. We are becoming part of a nation 
     that will only be able to work and will no longer be able to 
     enjoy any free time to vacation or buy needed things that 
     wear out because we cannot afford them. Only work and work--
     nothing else.
       (1) I am for opening all aspects of drilling and we have 
     the technology and expertise to drill responsibly. Drill 
     offshore and open all venues to drill for the oil we have.
       (2) Suspend production of different blends of fuel, one 
     blend with different octane ratings for gas will free up 
     production. Pick a blend and stay with it throughout the U.S.
       (3) Streamline in months not years the application process 
     for nuclear plants.
       (4) This should be #1...remove all fuels and food products 
     from the hands of big speculators. These were developed to 
     hedge farm, and oil field production, let us get it back that 
     way and smaller speculators can still supply liquidity to the 
     market.
       (5) If #4 does not work, then have safety valves by 
     government intervention in order to keep undue hardship from 
     befalling most Americans from high food and fuel prices?
       (6) Urge Mr. Bernanke to raise interest rates to strengthen 
     the dollar.
       (7) Use monies sent overseas to other countries to pay off 
     national debt to strengthen dollar.
       (8) Raise taxes on people making over $200,000 to help pay 
     off national debt to strengthen dollar. We paid it off once. 
     Let us do it again the same way. No need to re-invent the 
     wheel; just get it done!
       (9) Quit [partisan] bickering. These policies can help 
     everyone; poverty knows no party. We need solutions and we 
     need them now!
       (10) Hefty windfall profits tax to companies that are 
     exploiting us and jail time to the people that are making 
     large profits from things that are necessities of life. Some 
     are not eating, some are not heating their homes, some are 
     dying because of it. Shame on them, and our seniors who are 
     lifelong taxpayers are being shunned and left to die.
     Jimmy.
                                  ____

       I am a large fish farmer from the Magic Valley. Our energy 
     costs have escalated over the past few years and 
     unfortunately we deal with very perishable food. Our trout 
     must be shipped directly to buyers without changing hands so 
     we must cope with the huge cost of fresh transport across the 
     nation. Idaho is a fabulous place to live and what makes it 
     so nice are the wide open spaces between us all. So, just 
     like having to send fish in a hurry, the citizens of Idaho 
     must travel large distances. I grew up in Iowa, and there is 
     a town

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     every five to ten miles. Here we must travel sometimes 50 to 
     80 miles between towns. Sometimes farther to purchase items 
     from larger cities.
       I think it is wise to look at the bigger picture and try to 
     figure out where we can save fuel and where we cannot. I 
     think that shipping products by rail is one very, very 
     efficient way to use fuel. Unfortunately for most shippers 
     the slow movement of products by rail discourages most of us 
     from using this efficient means of transportation. If our 
     government provided railroads with the funds needed to 
     improve their infrastructure by double, triple, or even 
     quadruple tracking the most efficient corridors, we may 
     divert the thousands of inefficient trucks from using so 
     much diesel fuel. It is possible to move products by rail 
     nearly as fast as trucks can. This may in turn reduce 
     demand and thus reduce the cost of fuel for the average 
     citizens of Idaho.
     Dirk.
                                  ____

       I think that the oil companies should increase the 
     production because it is putting our nation's truck drivers 
     out of business and without truck drivers who will carry our 
     freight.
     Charlie, Boise.
                                  ____

       I am from Burley, but am presently teaching English in 
     Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. I am sure you know that these gasoline 
     prices Americans are now paying have been this high, or 
     generally, much higher, in Europe, Asia, and Africa. We 
     Americans do not have any room to whine, but rather we simply 
     need to learn how to cope, like the rest of the world. Gas is 
     ten bucks a gallon in the UK. Thailand is around the same, as 
     is Japan. I say let us Americans experience what the rest of 
     the world has been experiencing for many years.
     Bob.
                                  ____

       I am a retired federal employee, after 40 years of federal 
     service as an air traffic controller, and six years military. 
     I feel I have a voice as to what should happen in my 
     retirement. My fuel costs have now exceed my food costs, 
     which means less food. Having a small retirement fixed income 
     means sacrifices in food, medical treatment, and other 
     necessary expenses. The irony of it all is it is not 
     necessary. Stop China's offshore drilling into our oil, 
     authorize ANWR, stop exporting our Alaskan oil, listen 
     intently to the Governor of Alaska and her solutions for some 
     of our energy problems. Get all of our alternative energy 
     systems up and running now, not next year, now. Just because 
     other governments have failed, is it just fashionable that we 
     should cause ours to fail??? Also, we as a people should be 
     very embarrassed, with the way we have conducted our 
     political fiasco the last few months. It has been a total 
     disgrace.
     Gene.
                                  ____

       I am sending you this email in response to your questions 
     on how energy prices are affecting me. I have a family of 
     eight. We cannot downsize to a more fuel-efficient vehicle. 
     We will have driven about 5,000 miles this summer just for 
     family vacation, family reunions, and church camps. That is 
     about $1,300 in gas, assuming it averages $4.00 per gallon. 
     In addition, we are the kids' taxi for soccer, piano, guitar, 
     dance, scouts, and other activities. Rising energy prices are 
     causing a noticeable rise in the food prices for a family of 
     8. I am also a small business owner struggling to keep my 
     business going. I have to travel. Airplane and rental car 
     prices have gone up noticeably.
       To address this issue, I think first priority is to 
     increase drilling in the Gulf and ANWR and build new domestic 
     refineries. We know how to do that--we can do it relatively 
     quickly. Once our foreign oil sources see that we are serious 
     about domestic production, they will lower the prices to get 
     us to forget about it and be complacent again. It will be a 
     few years before our new oil rigs and refineries come online 
     but the message to the world will be clear. Do not let the 
     government impact big oil with extra taxes or limits. Nuclear 
     and other alternative energy sources are good but will take 
     too long to come online and have an impact. But we need to 
     foster companies to develop those sources. Conservation by 
     getting people to change their behavior is impractical and 
     temporary. Conservation by developing new technologies will 
     help our energy situation. I am helping develop technology 
     with a client, Green Plug (www.greenplug.us), that will 
     conserve electrical energy. In summary, let big oil and other 
     energy companies flourish. Let capitalism work its wonders.
     Gary, Boise.
                                  ____

       My husband and I returned from Arizona yesterday, after 
     being away from home for six weeks. The reason that we went 
     to Arizona was to visit the Mayo Clinic, since the ailment my 
     husband had was unable to be treated here. We are blessed to 
     have family in the Phoenix area, so we were able to stay with 
     them. The very big expense was the price we had to pay for 
     fuel going and coming back. We live in McCall, and any time 
     we need to see a specialist we have to drive to Boise which 
     is a 100 miles away. Again the price of gas is choking us. It 
     is sad to know that we have oil available in this country, 
     but that Congress does everything to stop us from getting it. 
     We listened to President Bush's speech today, and agree 
     wholeheartedly with what he said. Our view is also that we 
     need to develop nuclear power, and any other means of keeping 
     this country self reliant.
     Louise, McCall.
                                  ____

       I am writing concerning the high cost of fuel, and in hopes 
     that you and your fellow Senators will act and do something 
     to give us relief. My husband and I own a small business 
     doing demolition and excavation. We own one tractor truck and 
     several pieces of heavy equipment. We are a ``one-man'' 
     operation. Just the other day we paid $4.34 a gallon for off-
     road diesel. On road diesel is even higher. It takes almost 
     $1,000 to fill the tanks on the truck. Because of the 
     slowdown in the building market around here, jobs are hard to 
     come by. We can only afford to raise our rates so much--then 
     we lose the business all together.
       On a different note, my mother and sister have both been 
     unemployed for a few months. They both just got jobs in 
     another city about 15 miles away. They both get paid $9.00 an 
     hour and work about 30 hours a week. We are very excited that 
     they are now able to stop receiving government aid. However, 
     with the price of gasoline over $4 a gallon in the end they 
     will hardly make enough to pay their rent and other bills. 
     (They work in different places doing one-on-one care for 
     special needs children and are unable to carpool either.) 
     This, to me, is a sad state of affairs when people should be 
     excited about supporting themselves, but are still unsure of 
     whether they can.
       I grew up in Texas during the oil boom in the 80s. Drilling 
     for oil there did not hurt anyone I knew. I am sure that 
     technologies have improved over the past two decades, so any 
     environmental concerns should be taken care of. I do not 
     understand why we are not taking advantage of the resources 
     we have in our own country to provide for ourselves as well 
     as provide much needed jobs for our citizens. Please lift the 
     ban on off-shore exploration, oils shale production, and 
     drilling in ANWR. Also, has the idea of suspending the 
     federal fuel tax for period of time been dismissed? This 
     would provide immediate short-term relief. Please encourage 
     your counterparts to consider the working class of America. 
     We need a break!
     Shelli.
                                  ____

       I am very concerned about ever-increasing energy costs. I 
     completely agree with your policy of searching for 
     alternative sources of energy. Also, [I am concerned that 
     Congress is out of touch with regular Americans] Please talk 
     to your peers about doing whatever it takes to get things 
     going on alternative means of energy and increasing 
     exploration and refining facilities for oil.
     Roberto, Payette.

                          ____________________