Norm Coleman: On Energy, We Can Tackle Both Supply and Demand
Dead-set against drilling, Democrats seem to prefer a stalemate to a solution.
By NORM COLEMAN
Why didn't you propose this or a realistic version six years ago? What got in the way of your voice, your convictions, your outrage and read more your care for Minnestoans when this country's energy policy was crafted behind closed doors by the v.p. and oil exec's and to this day the details of that occured are considered a state secret? Where were your convictions when the W.H. told you to vote for drilling in ANWAR and you agreed; but then told you you didn't have to when it realised it didn't have the votes. Where is the man who once believed in the truth as a prosecutor but now spins facts and words with such skill that former supporters, such as myself only feel pitty and remorse at your fall from grace. Where is the Norm Coleman that at one time would rail against the man who has voted in favor of Bush policy 98% of the time in the past six years? We need better from a Senator and your words of blame - you voted lock step with your party to institue the filibuster 85 times - the most either party has ever done in history .... just to destroy viable energy, banking, healthcare and veterans legislation. Shame on you Norman Coleman, shame on you.
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Nothing is more urgent or of greater significance to the American people than solving our energy crisis -- it is an issue that hits to the core of family budgets, our economy and our national security. From my travels across this state, it is clear that Minnesotans are united in the belief that any solution to our nation's energy crisis that doesn't produce a single drop more of oil is half-hearted. And rather than staying in session to address the rising cost of fuel, the U.S. Senate simply allowed time to expire to August adjournment without accomplishing a single thing.
The American people sent us here to do a job, and with the gas crisis soon to be accompanied by double-digit percent increases in natural-gas prices, the problem is about to get worse, not better. I believe the most effective way to lower prices is to increase supply while lowering demand -- it's basic economics. The great news is that America is blessed with the tools to affect both supply and demand, if Congress would just act to unlock the nation's energy potential.
We have remarkable domestic oil and natural-gas resources, but unfortunately, much of it is off-limits. Just consider that 85 percent of offshore acreage is currently not available for development. If we developed the entire Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), we could see an additional 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas -- a significant amount that would make a real dent in our dependence on Mideast oil. The fact is that if the United States were to increase domestic production by just 1 million barrels of oil per day, our dependence on foreign oil would be cut by 9 percent.