[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 68 (Tuesday, May 5, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5120-S5122]
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.

[[Page S5121]]

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:

       First I want to thank you for your e-mail up-dates. I am 
     very concerned about this so called ``energy crisis''. I find 
     it very interesting that as soon as the subprime crisis hit, 
     the banks, fund managers, and speculators found another way 
     to [profit from] the American people. Anyone who reads widely 
     can see what is happening here. [Those who] stole our money, 
     ran up the cost of housing and property, and overcharged 
     homebuyers are not going to be held responsible. Yes, the 
     good old taxpayers paid the price of the high cost of housing 
     and now we are taking it again as we see the overinflated 
     housing market take a dive. The banks and mortgage companies 
     lent money to the vulnerable that never should have been able 
     to buy such high-priced property. Then they covered [the 
     risky practice] by bundling their risk and selling it to all 
     of us as ``good investments.'' But no matter, now the good 
     old simple-minded taxpayers can pick up the tab--cannot let 
     those poor old bankers, land speculators, loan companies, 
     realtors, and land developers take a financial hit. 
     Personally, I think they should all be rounded up, their 
     money and land taken from them, and sent directly to jail for 
     the rest of their lives!
       Now, how is all of this changing my life? My home value has 
     gone down, my investments are in the tank, the cost of food 
     is off the chart, the cost of gas is so high that I only go 
     to town once a week, and the vacation plan is gone. I once 
     drove to Nampa, Caldwell, or Boise to go shopping 
     occasionally, and now that is out of the question. We live 
     near Ontario, Oregon, and it only has a Wal-Mart and Kmart 
     store. If I want a nice pair of shoes, a dress, or a nice set 
     of towels, I have to go to Boise, but cannot afford that now. 
     I would buy online, but you never see a sale and the cost of 
     shipping has gone out of sight. Besides, when the item does 
     not fit or is not what you want, the cost of return shipping 
     is too high. Then you keep what you do not want and try not 
     to have a fit.
       My only extravagance now is my Wall Street Journal, so that 
     I can keep up on what [what is happening] in business and 
     government. I see that the energy package faltered when the 
     House failed to pass the law that would allow the FTC to 
     investigate and punish motor fuels price gougers. Lawmakers 
     also postponed a measure that would crack down on excessive 
     speculation in energy futures trading markets. Our Congress 
     working for the best interest of the American people again! 
     The House passed the Medicare bill that would prevent cuts in 
     Medicare payment to physicians. However, members of the 
     Senate failed to invoke cloture and did not vote on the 
     issue. The senior citizens can just find doctors that will 
     take Medicare or do without. I was not surprised when the 
     House failed to act on two major domestic spending bills. [It 
     is unfortunate that partisan politics drive the agenda in 
     Congress, rather than the needs of the American people.]
       I could go on, but I really have spent too much time on 
     venting my opinion which I know, of course, will have no 
     meaning. I encourage you to keep trying to do what is right 
     for the American people as a whole. I know that the answers 
     are not easy, but you must keep trying or we will ultimately 
     lose our democracy. Thank you for all of your efforts.
                                                 Lynda, Fruitland.
                                 ______
                                 
       We had to cancel our trip to Ohio to see my parents whom I 
     have not seen in six years. We also are now driving sixty 
     miles an hour to save on gas. We need to lift all 
     restrictions on drilling and refineries and start drilling 
     ASAP and building more refineries. Also start building 
     nuclear power plants. [Stop delaying over partisan arguments 
     and] start doing something good for Americans.
     Randy.
                                  ____

       My family just celebrated my son's graduation from high 
     school. Because of the high gas prices, his aunt in Seattle, 
     Washington, and uncle in Denver, Colorado, could not attend 
     with their families. My oldest daughter has a family in 
     Wyoming that I cannot see but only once this year because of 
     the gas prices. Last year I was able to see my grandchildren 
     only twice. There are a couple of things we are still 
     planning to do but because of the gas we will not be 
     contributing as much to our local services like Salvation 
     Army or even our Church. Instead we have to take care of our 
     family first. It affects us financially as we will not be 
     able to save as much for our retirement which is hopefully in 
     another 12-15 years. At this rate, we will have nothing to 
     live on because of the cost of living has taken a hold of our 
     paychecks and the jobs are not increasing in revenue at the 
     same rate. We are not poor nor are we extremely wealthy. We 
     are your working class people.
       By allowing another country to put a stranglehold on us in 
     such a manner, you will see a rise in unemployment, more 
     foreclosures, small business closures, children in foster 
     care, divorce, crime and suicide If our government cared 
     about our way of life, it would take care of us first and not 
     allow another country dictate what we have on our dinner 
     table at night or when we can see our family members again. 
     Congress not allowing for the drilling and refineries to be 
     built is affecting us as a nation. I am ashamed of the 
     direction our Congress is taking us. I believe our 
     forefathers would be too, if they could see what is taking 
     place. Have we not learned anything?
       There is only two solutions for this. Sometimes you have to 
     grab the bull by the horns and hold on but the rewards are 
     there. Do not allow another country to have control of our 
     lives. As Americans, we are tired of it.
     Carol Sue.
                                  ____

       You are right when you say on your website that we have no 
     other choice but to keep driving and pay the high prices of 
     oil. We live in the country, and we realize that is our 
     choice. Carpooling and public transportation are very 
     limited. We figure it is costing us $35-$60 per day just to 
     get to work. And our vehicles get 27-35 mpg! We drive an 
     economy car and a motorcycle, but we also have a family and 
     sometimes have to drive a larger vehicle. We have looked into 
     carpooling, which we are doing and saving about $20 per day, 
     and we are also looking into growing our canola to burn as 
     fuel. We have also stayed home as much as we can, which on a 
     larger scale is hurting the economy (everyone stays home, no 
     one goes out and spends money).
       It is hard when you have to work two hours per day just to 
     pay for the gas to get there. We firmly believe that we 
     should drill our own oil in America and not give our money to 
     other countries. I would rather pay high prices to American 
     workers than to terrorists who want to harm us physically and 
     fiscally.
       Still grateful to live in the greatest place on Earth,
     Jeremy and Kristina.
                                  ____

       You asked for our story how gas prices affect us. All I can 
     say is the only people I know who pay $200 a month are the 
     ones that live in town. As you said, this is a rural state 
     and we do not have any options. I live 18 miles north of 
     Sandpoint; for my car alone we pay over $200 a month. My 
     husband is a heavy equipment operator. He works all over 
     north Idaho and into Washington around the Spokane area. We 
     pay $900 a month for his vehicle in gas. We have talked about 
     how he might have to take a lower-paying job in Sandpoint if 
     the gas prices continue to go up. It is becoming very 
     difficult to make ends meet when you are spending $1,100 a 
     month on just gas. The most frustrating part is when you read 
     in the news that it is speculators driving the price up. 
     There is no shortage--just greedy men, bankrupting this 
     nation.
       So my question is why do you want our stories? What do you 
     see needs to be done? From where I sit, I do not see any 
     politicians doing much about it. We just wonder when or if it 
     is going to stop.
     Danielle, Sandpoint.
                                  ____

       Thank you for your invite to share my story on how energy 
     prices are affecting me, my family and life. However, I am 
     not going trouble you with my woes. With all due respect, 
     stories mean little; action means everything and it is high 
     time that Congress addressed the problem seriously and in 
     place of rhetoric.
       You are correct--we do need to consider alternate energy. 
     The trouble is we need to start doing something about it 
     instead of talking about doing so. In Idaho, we do two things 
     well--we produce abundant sunshine and wind! Take a listen to 
     a maverick oil man and his five-minute plan; he makes a ton 
     of sense and it is worth your time. One cannot say that T. 
     Boone Pickens is a fool. Being a pilot, I have flown the man; 
     I know for a fact. Video: T. Boone Pickens 5 Minute Plan, 
     http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1641244028/
 bclid1641831933/bctid1653634930.
       However, as well you know, alternate energy is not going to 
     happen overnight, and it will take years to transition from 
     where we are today to where we need to go tomorrow especially 
     if we continue jawboning about it. Until then, until we 
     actually start a real transitional journey, we are going to 
     continue to be dependent upon oil, which is in and of itself 
     not a problem since there is an abundance of oil within the 
     confines of our very own borders that dwarfs that which is in 
     the Middle East. It is high time we stopped worrying about 
     the caribou and goodness knows what else. These are times for 
     action and not words. And again, we need Congress to face 
     facts and stop blocking vital resources of oil.
       The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the oil shale of 
     Colorado, Utah and Wyoming are reported to dwarf the oil 
     reserves of the Middle East and, if you throw in the 
     Athabasca oil sands north of Ft. McMurray in Alberta that the 
     Canadians are exploiting (they say one third of the world's 
     known oil reserves reside there) then in essence if it were 
     not for the [arrangements] that we have with Saudi Arabia we 
     could in essence tell the Arabs to go pound sand and be free 
     of anyone's oil but our own. Or, at the very least the 
     supposed energy crisis would be just what it is in reality, a 
     NON-crisis with artificially high prices that are crippling 
     our economy.
       Please, if you truly care about Idaho, Idahoans and indeed, 
     the rest of the country,

[[Page S5122]]

     and, I believe you are one of the few in [Congress] that do, 
     then take a listen to T. Boone Pickens, do some research into 
     the oil shale in our neighboring states, research the 
     minuscule coastal area that would be affected by drilling in 
     the ANWR and convince the rest of Congress to [move ahead 
     with realistic and lasting solutions.]
       Thanks for giving me the opportunity to give my 2 cents 
     worth or, in my case, more like a quarters worth.
     Marcus, Bellevue.
                                  ____

       We installed propane heating in our home when it was the 
     energy-saving thing to do! The cost of propane then was under 
     30 cents a gallon. We knew it would not stay that low, but in 
     the last five years we have seen the cost go up to over $2 a 
     gallon. This past year, our heating cost went over $2,000 for 
     a heating season. With the high energy prices, we get to 
     choose, wrap up in blankets to keep warm so we can buy gas to 
     go to the store and buy a loaf of bread and gallon of milk or 
     buy heating fuel to stay warm and not eat. Some choice!
     Unsigned.
                                  ____

       My story may be coming from a different angle; you see, I 
     am nearly 62, working for Boeing trying to get enough money 
     to retire and move back to Idaho. My investments have lost 
     $130,000 in the last six months. My portfolio is fairly 
     conservative or I would have lost much more. I am not wealthy 
     by any means, so that much of a loss will set me back several 
     years in my retirement plans.
       All the while I am looking at Congress to come up with an 
     energy policy that makes sense so our economy can flourish. 
     At this point I am so tired of hearing that we cannot drill 
     in ANWR or offshore that I have considered retiring early 
     just to spend my senior years trying to [make a difference on 
     how the Congress represents the people]. With [the] current 
     approval rating of 9%, [Congress should recognize that the 
     public does not approve of its work.] If my approval rating 
     was less that 75% I would be fired on the spot. Think about 
     it--would you fly on a Boeing airplane that worked 75% of the 
     time?
     Rulon.
                                  ____

       The astonishing increases in fuel prices this year are 
     hitting everyone on a national basis very hard indeed. We are 
     a nation that runs on fuel. Everything we buy, be it a 
     necessity such as food or the very fuel we use in our 
     vehicles is shipped in, and the vehicles that ship those 
     goods to us run on diesel, and guess what fuel is priced the 
     highest.
       Why this is I have no idea, but I do know that, at the rate 
     that the cost of diesel is increasing, it will not be long 
     until buying food will be something akin to if not worse than 
     the Great Depression of the 1930s. Already I have been 
     hearing of farms all over the USA that cannot afford the fuel 
     it takes to harvest their crops. As a result, the crops are 
     left to rot in the fields.
       My own family is rapidly approaching the point of deciding 
     between food, the mortgage, and fuel to get to work. 
     Personally, I drive a diesel pick-up and, in July of last 
     year, 28 gallons (1 tankful) of diesel would cost me $65-$70. 
     Now it costs me close to $140 for the same amount of diesel, 
     despite my diesel pick-up getting amazing economy. I am still 
     getting hit hard by these prices, which have more than 
     doubled in one year.
       One thing in particular that I cannot figure out is why the 
     Western states are paying much higher fuel prices than other 
     states. Where I am coming from on this is a interesting 
     innovation on fuel price tracking called the ``Gas 
     Temperature Map'' http://gasbuddy.com/
gb_gastemperaturemap.aspx. See for yourself, Western States 
     are paying significantly higher prices than many southern & 
     eastern states are. Why, I have no idea nor do I have the 
     time and resources to research it effectively, but I am sure 
     a lot of other Idahoans would also be interested in why this 
     is the case.
       There is much more I could say on this, but I realize you 
     are a busy man, so I will save it for another time. It is my 
     sincere hope that yourself and other Representatives like you 
     can find a way to somehow turn this nightmare around.
     Dan.
                                  ____

       Thank you for the opportunity to tell you how the high cost 
     of fuel is affecting me. I live on the west side of Idaho 
     Falls. I work on the east side of the city. I realize that 
     people in bigger cities have much bigger commutes, but we 
     have no real public transit so I have to drive. I own a Honda 
     Civic, but am considering a scooter. Because of the winters 
     in Idaho, that is not a practical option. With the price of 
     fuel, food and health insurance going up every day, all I can 
     afford to do is drive to work and back. I have had to cut out 
     movies, trips, and dining out. I received a letter from Delta 
     airlines that was titled ``An Open Letter To All Airline 
     Customers.'' I hope you have seen it and are in a position to 
     do something to stop unnecessary price gouging. Nuclear fuel 
     is very clean and safer than most other forms of fuel, why 
     are we not looking into that more closely? Thank you again 
     for this opportunity.
     Karen.
                                  ____

       The energy issue in the state of Idaho is out of hand, and 
     one that families cannot afford. The state government should 
     be offering land for development of wind energy, and 
     renewable recourses, Just make them paint the towers with 
     camo about halfway up. There should be far more incentives 
     for home owners to add solar power to their homes, and 
     incentives for companies that do that kind of work to come 
     into Idaho. Allowing logging companies to go into our forests 
     and do selective harvest makes a win-win situation for 
     everyone man and animal. A lot of the social services done in 
     this area do not require a car and should be revoked from 
     those who abuse the use of city, county, and state cars. That 
     ticks me off more than the price of fuel.
     Lyle and Family, Idaho Falls.
                                  ____

       Tax credits for clean energy are absolutely essential to 
     our energy future and to our economy. Society suffers from 
     the lack of alternatives while oil companies reap large 
     profits. In spite of all the tax benefits that oil companies 
     receive, they show a reluctance to make investments in a 
     timely fashion and realize large profits, which they return 
     to investors and management.
     Mary.
                                  ____

       I am a 68-year-old taxpaying American citizen, and military 
     veteran. I live in Coeur d'Alene and work in Spokane, 
     Washington. It is getting increasingly more difficult to 
     afford the gas to drive to and from work. Carpooling or the 
     use of public transportation is out of the question as I work 
     in the construction industry on various jobs throughout the 
     Spokane area.
       The time has come to start drilling for oil in Alaska, 
     Colorado, Wyoming, and offshore. From what has been in the 
     news and from what we read in various publications, all from 
     very intelligent engineers and scientists, we know the oil is 
     there. We have shale deposits in several states that we could 
     be using. We need to work harder on wind and nuclear power. 
     The states want to drill, and we need to lift the federal 
     bans.
       We should either sell or give the abandoned military bases 
     to companies willing to build refineries on them. The time 
     has come to quit asking--it is time to demand that this be 
     done. We have the resources, let us use them. The United 
     States of America should not have to go begging to other 
     countries for oil when we have it within our own shores.
       We, the people, should not be suffering these exorbitant 
     prices due to the incompetence in all areas of our 
     government, and speculators in the stock market.
     Wayne, Coeur d'Alene.

                          ____________________