[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Pages 20762-20764]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                IDAHOANS SPEAK OUT ON HIGH ENERGY PRICES

  Mr. CRAPO. Madam 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 1,000, are 
heartbreaking and touching. To respect their efforts, 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:

       It is a relief to finally see someone in our legislation 
     coming to the people for their input! I am currently serving 
     in the USAF, stationed at Mountain Home AFB. I work in Flying 
     Ops. I put about 35 miles a day on my vehicle, just coming to 
     and going home from work. The base itself is ten miles away 
     from town; my house, about 15 miles away from the base. The 
     average price for a gallon of unleaded here is about $4.09. 
     The base has up until now been able to keep its gas prices 
     under $4, but finally hit it this past Monday. I drive a 4-
     cylinder VW Jetta, with a 14-gallon tank and it costs me $46 
     to fill it up. I find myself only driving to and from work, 
     as I do not feel like I can afford to drive anywhere else, 
     which is a bummer as Mountain Home's resources are low and if 
     I need something that I cannot find at Wal-Mart (like clothes 
     and shoes for my infant daughter), I have to drive to Boise 
     to get those, or home improvement material, or clothing for 
     myself. I also find my grocery bill skyrocketing. I used to 
     be able to spend $150 and get food for two weeks. I now find 
     that $150 lasts me about a week, which is unacceptable. I am 
     putting so much money towards the necessities that I hardly 
     do any of the niceties anymore. My husband has parked his 
     truck in favor of driving his motorcycle to work everyday to 
     save us money, and we are selling our boat as it just costs 
     way too much to fill it up, and the truck to tow the boat to 
     any lake. So, in the end, energy costs have driven me to only 
     drive to and from work, sell my boat, park my truck, and 
     spend a ridiculous amount of money on food. Thanks for your 
     time.
     Jessica, Mountain Home.
                                  ____

       Thank you for this opportunity to express my concerns 
     regarding the escalating price of living in Idaho due in 
     large part to the ever increasing cost of energy.
       I work for Alaska Airlines in Boise, Idaho. My gas bill to 
     cover my commute has gone from $100 to $300 per month. Our 
     industry has been heavily affected by the obscene rise in the 
     cost of aviation fuel. Alaska Air is a profitable business. 
     They've worked very hard at putting a lot of cash in the 
     bank. They never just spent their way into bankruptcy, then 
     emerged a few years later with all of their debts relieved.
       Today, in order to stay alive, in addition to raising air 
     fares and reducing routes, they have to charge seemingly 
     ridiculous charges for the ordinary services associated with 
     travel. And still the cost of fuel rises. Just today we 
     received the ``second'' corporate letter, advising us that 
     Alaska Airlines is doing all it possibly can to reduce costs, 
     that each of us needs to be conscious of everything we do and 
     be as profitable as we can with each service we provide. I 
     work in a call center. Are those the voices of [foreign] call 
     center agents I hear at Alaska Airline's front door? Not only 
     are some of the finest American customer service agents in 
     danger of losing our jobs, but the least respected of all 
     call center personnel will smudge the here-to-fore finest 
     airline service in the world.
       I have read that you have worked on alternative fuel 
     development. This is a fine aspiration, but with what result? 
     At present, alternative fuels cannot even begin to touch the 
     huge volume it would take to replace gas and oil energy. And, 
     as a result of corn-based fuels, corn-based commodities 
     around the world have also escalated in price. Cereal, 
     tortillas, breads, dog food, chicken and beef feed, the list 
     goes on, are all affected by increased prices I pay every 
     day. And in Third World countries, where such commodities are 
     staples, people are facing shortages and starvation. When the 
     farmer cannot afford to cultivate his crops, the trucker 
     cannot afford to pick up the crops and bring them to market, 
     and the market has to raise the prices of staples, how far 
     behind are we from becoming a society of haves and have-nots?
       For far too long now, we have let the environmental 
     movement intimidate our energy policy in this country. It 
     started with a little bit of this and that. We stopped 
     drilling

[[Page 20763]]

     for oil and gas off our scenic coasts and large inland tracts 
     of land deemed environmentally sensitive. We stopped 
     approving refineries and thereby reduced our domestic 
     supplies of fuel, relying instead on ever-increasing foreign 
     sources. One of the biggest environmental accidents happened 
     near Valdez, Alaska. Environmentalists blamed big oil. 
     Ironically, the oil spilled was imported from the Middle 
     East. Accompanying all this was the slow rise in the price 
     consumers pay to run their cars and heat their homes.
       Our government has played both side of the aisle with CAFE 
     standards that have not improved gas mileage so much as to 
     drive the price of cars to the same price as a good house in 
     the 1960s. Regulations have driven refineries to further 
     increase the price of fuel required to manufacture multiple 
     blends. All of these products are heavily taxed by our 
     government. If the oil companies are accused of making 
     obscene profits, then can we not say the same about the 
     never-mentioned windfall profits that our federal government 
     collects?
       What would I do? I would ask you to start plans to find and 
     develop our best sources of domestic oil and natural gas 
     resources. I would ask you to find places in this country 
     that would just love to refine petroleum and encourage their 
     communities to do so with plenty of tax incentives. Just 
     getting the plans on the board would burst this bubble of 
     inflationary speculation. (These suggestions, if started 
     today would take at least ten years to get up and running).
       I would also ask that we start plans to build safe and 
     efficient nuclear power plants. France and Germany possess 
     marvelous examples we can emulate and exceed. And standardize 
     the plan designs. Multiple designs in the past really bloated 
     the cost of construction. And further, we need to fend off 
     the environmentalist's incessant legal maneuvering that have 
     historically subverted and inflated the price of energy 
     development.
       Well, this is more than two paragraphs. But it contains in 
     my opinion, the elements we need to address today and with 
     haste.
     Robert, Boise.
                                  ____

       I am writing to you in response to your newsletter about 
     high energy prices and how that affects the people of Idaho. 
     You have requested me to share my story about how high energy 
     prices are affecting me personally.
       I am more than happy to share with you my sufferings as an 
     Idahoan in light of the increased speculative energy prices 
     that we, as a nation, are facing. It has not been easy, as I 
     am sure can be difficult for some people who make far more 
     money and have more influence to understand. Month after 
     month we Americans have been struggling to make ends meet in 
     this day and time where our nation has been faced by higher 
     energy costs based off of speculative markets, and foreign 
     energy needs. Never in our recent past has our government set 
     us up for failure as a nation to be more independent on the 
     energy needs of our country. Now we are paying the price for 
     turning a blind eye to a growing energy problem and possibly 
     inappropriate relationships and deals with companies and 
     foreign nations. Never before in American history does it 
     make better sense for us to look at new energy supplies, 
     increase energy efficiency, and break our dependence on 
     foreign oil. There are many different renewable resources to 
     concentrate on, many of which (with government backing and 
     subsidies) would allow us as individuals to incorporate our 
     own energy needs with energy supplies that we can create on 
     an individual basis. I am talking about solar power, wind 
     power, hydro electricity (on a very small scale of course). 
     Not only by allowing individual Americans cheaper more 
     realistic options for creating our own energy would we really 
     grasp the amount of independent energy we could create. This 
     has yet to happen, as time and time again, [partisan 
     politicians] shoot down solar energy bills, renewable 
     resources options, and energy tax benefit programs. I base 
     this solely off of the ignorance of the [party-line 
     politics], especially considering I have written to [my 
     congressional representatives and] all of my other government 
     officials pleading for you to break from [partisanship] to 
     help alleviate our dependence on foreign energy suppliers.
       To make matters worse for me and fellow Idahoans, you and 
     Larry Craig are now working hard to make our state available 
     to nuclear power. This is not help, in my honest opinion. You 
     call it a renewable energy resource; I call it ignorant 
     energy band aid that carry very long term affects. We 
     Idahoans do not and never did want our state to become the 
     nation's nuclear dumping ground. Yet, you officials continue 
     to make our lands available for the spent nuclear energy of 
     other states, and now other nations. Also, you are opening 
     the doors to corporate entities that want to take advantage 
     of our weak state policies so that they can create nuclear 
     facilities in Idaho that will not even be supplying Idahoans 
     with such said energy.
       So, again, you ask me how the today's energy crisis is 
     affecting the people that put you in office. I tell you it is 
     affecting me in the pocket book, in my personal values and 
     beliefs of renewable energy options, and now you are allowing 
     it to affect the land that I love so much--the good state of 
     Idaho.
       If you really want to help, then I suggest that you stand 
     up for the people [who] voted for you. [I would ask that you 
     find ways to] build our options away from foreign energy 
     dependence, and give us more renewable energy options. I 
     implore you to stand up for our state, and help us protect 
     ourselves from corporate greed and nuclear mistakes by 
     protecting the lands we love, and keep them from having half-
     life pollution dumped on them.
     Andrew.
                                  ____

       I am a LT in the U.S. Navy stationed in Cape Canaveral, FL. 
     I have been in the Navy for 18 years and claim Nampa as my 
     home of record. My parents still live in Nampa and are 
     retired. The ever-rising fuel costs over the last few years 
     have not only produced a dramatic impact on my day-to-day 
     living activities, but those of my parents' and other family 
     members as well who live in Idaho.
       I have been driving the same vehicle over eight years and 
     am currently spending approximately $500/month in fuel for my 
     vehicle alone. My wife spends almost $350/month in her 
     vehicle. These costs are almost exclusively utilized for 
     commuting to and from work. We go to the grocery store once 
     every two weeks, and hardly ever go out anymore. I estimate 
     from one year ago a rise of at least $250/month, and probably 
     $400/month from two years ago in gasoline spending. To put 
     this into perspective, that is an estimated $3,000 annually. 
     It does not take a brain surgeon to figure out that my cost 
     of living increase of about $100/month does not even come 
     close to making up the difference. Not to mention the 
     dramatic rise in food costs we have experienced over the last 
     year (and we even have the privilege of shopping at the 
     commissary). Add to that the drastic loss of equity in my 
     home (almost $100k in two years) because of the housing 
     market here in central Florida, and you begin to get a good 
     feeling of how the little guy feels.
       Now, I have proudly served my country for almost two 
     decades, have contributed significantly to bettering our 
     world and saving money at the same time. (I recently 
     developed and implemented a continuous improvement project 
     here at the Navy Port in Cape Canaveral that saves the 
     taxpayers approximately $300,000 annually!). My question to 
     you, ladies and gentlemen, is what are you doing to help me 
     out in this time of crisis!! Thank you for your attention.
     Josh, Nampa.
                                  ____

       We are happy to hear that President Bush has opened our 
     water borders for oil drilling. Now we need the rest of those 
     places that have oil to be opened to drilling! It is late to 
     be doing such but totally necessary. For the protection of 
     our country, we need to have energy to survive! Many around 
     use are using bicycles to get around or walking. My health is 
     not good enough to do that although I am going to work in 
     that direction. We also need trails where battery golf carts, 
     etc., can maneuver around for the sake of the older 
     generation. Our family has to travel to work so they still 
     have to drive. Please encourage President Bush and the 
     Congress to open all areas with oil for drilling and also 
     point the nation toward many other possibilities for other 
     energy fuels.
     Art and Lynn, Nampa.
                                  ____

       Actually, I do not agree with your stance on this, at all. 
     The cost of not protecting the environment will far outweigh 
     the costs of increased gas/oil prices. I do not know about 
     you, but I would actually like our children to have a world 
     to live in, even if that means I pay for that right now. I 
     would rather see our government invest in new energy 
     technology, cleaner sources of fuels, mass transit, bicycle 
     lanes to encourage safe bike commuting, etc rather than drill 
     in ANWR and keep taxes on gas down.
       I have yet to understand the conservative view of 
     supporting oil drilling at the expense of supporting other 
     industries. There is a fortune to be made in developing 
     technologies designed to clean the environment rather than 
     foul it. The U.S. is losing jobs and revenues every year to 
     other countries in old industries. Our strength as a nation 
     has long been in developing brand-new industries. Why not 
     encourage that now? Why not invest in a new biofuel 
     technology like algae farms? Why not invest in companies 
     developing ways to clean smokestack exhaust? Why not invest 
     in river clean-up processes? Whether we want to admit it or 
     not, these are the types of technologies that will be 
     America's future. We should be embracing them, not 
     suffocating them by limiting research dollars.
       Unfortunately, as fledgling industries, they do not have 
     the voice that large, highly profitable industries like oil 
     and gas, do and thus they do not hold as much political 
     influence. It is truly a shame that our country has devolved 
     to such a base motivation as this.
       I respect and admire your concern for the economic impact 
     rising gas prices are having on individual families in Idaho. 
     And I understand that if you do not work to protect you 
     constituents they will elect someone who will. But there 
     comes a point at which our elected officials need to act in 
     our long term

[[Page 20764]]

     best interests even if it means short term sacrifices by the 
     people. If doing so costs a politician their seat in the next 
     election, they'll still be able to take much pride in having 
     done the right thing, for the right reasons.
       When do you reach that point? What issue gets you there?
     Chris.
                                  ____

       This is not about how energy prices affect my standard of 
     living, but how it affects the standard of living of 
     everyone. We are about to lose many jobs because of high 
     energy prices. The high price of natural gas is going to 
     close down many industries that use large quantities. The 
     impact on Americans lives will be lot worse than $4 gasoline. 
     We are on the edge of a depression if we lose as many jobs as 
     I think we might.
       Congress needs to immediately lease offshore tracts off 
     Florida, and the east coast. Open up offshore California. Get 
     the Alaska pipeline going. That alone can provide 10% of our 
     nation's natural gas needs. Reinvent the nuclear industry. 
     Financially sponsor a reference nuclear generating plant so 
     that future developers will know the costs. The costs are so 
     uncertain that everyone is afraid of the risk. We need to 
     produce electricity with coal and nuclear not natural gas. 
     Remember, in the 1970s, it was unlawful to construct new 
     natural gas fired power plants because Congress deemed it a 
     waste of the resource.
       Once we have a stable supply of natural gas encourage it is 
     use as a transportation fuel. Honda makes a Compressed 
     Natural Gas Civic, and I saw one at the Honda dealer in 
     California last week. It is a great car for certain people. 
     We do not have one public CNG filing station in Idaho.
       By developing our own resources natural gas, oil shale, 
     coal, and nuclear, we can quit sending billions of dollars to 
     the Middle East and create good jobs for Americans.
       Forget alternative energy sources for the time being. It is 
     a distraction from the emergency we are now facing. Focus on 
     the immediate need to save jobs. If Congress does not quickly 
     declare a National Emergency and allow more energy 
     development by cutting through the regulatory processes for 
     permits and opening up more areas for drilling we face 
     economic collapse.
       Please try to get Congress to quit grandstanding and work 
     on real solutions. Having oil companies CEOs testify about 
     their compensation packages when the details are already in 
     the public record is pure grandstanding, a disgrace and does 
     nothing to help Americans.
       Read The Bottomless Well by Peter Huber and Mark Mills.
     Tyler.

                          ____________________