Union Leader - A Common-Sense Plan to Reduce Energy Prices

Op-Ed

Union Leader - A Common-Sense Plan to Reduce Energy Prices

HARD-WORKING Americans are suffering at the pump. With gas pushing $5 a gallon, parents, seniors, small business owners and students are struggling everyday to make ends meet. If we do not act now, the price of gas will continue to spiral out of control. By fall, many will also be suffering in their homes because the price of home heating oil has also skyrocketed.

Last Monday, President Bush, in a purely symbolic act, lifted the executive order banning coastal drilling. He also renewed his call for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- a fig leaf proposal that the Bush administration's Department of Energy itself acknowledges will not yield any oil for at least 10 years and would save consumers only two to three cents a gallon -- in 2030.

That means the average American family will spend $57,000 in gas over the next 10 years before getting one penny of relief from the Republican plan.

American consumers need more than fig leaves and promises of two to three cents in savings 20 years from now. They need real action and real relief.

To provide that relief, we must start by having an honest debate about our nation's energy crisis. That debate is not just between drilling and not drilling. It is about how to implement the aggressive and multiple steps that must be taken. These steps include opening the Strategic Petroleum Oil Reserve, drilling domestically, reining in speculators, encouraging conservation, and producing clean, renewable energy. No one single step is going to solve the energy crisis, but several common-sense steps can.

-- Opening the Strategic Petroleum Oil Reserve. This is the surest way to lower prices at the pump today. This tactic was successfully used by Presidents Clinton and George H.W. Bush. There are now more than 700 million gallons of oil stored for emergency use, and releasing a small amount will push prices down. Although this is not a long-term solution, tapping the reserve would provide Americans immediate relief in less than two weeks.

-- Responsible domestic drilling. We must drill more. There is no question about it. The question is: where do we drill? I support domestic drilling and have cosponsored legislation that requires oil companies to begin drilling on the 68 million acres of land they currently lease from the federal government. Oil companies must "use it or lose it." This approach has the potential to double U.S oil production.

-- Limiting energy speculation. Economists estimate that speculation drives up oil prices anywhere from $20 to $50 a barrel. This is unacceptable. We need to ensure that speculators' activities are transparent starting today. American consumers must also be protected from market manipulation. Last month, I cosponsored legislation, the Consumer Oil Price Protection Act, which would require that that individuals investing in energy futures be able to take receipt of that product.

-- Promoting conservation. Under Democratic leadership, Congress enacted into law legislation requiring the first new fuel efficiency standards in 32 years. This alone will save consumers up to $1,000 in gas per car per year and reduce American consumption by more than $1 million barrels per day, or a quarter of our consumption. According to Texas A&M Professor Andrew Dessler, "Had we continued the fuel-efficiency increases begun in the '70s into this decade, we might now be consuming millions of barrels less oil every day."

-- Developing alternative energy. Finally, we must work together to produce clean, renewable energy. Oil is a finite resource -- and so it is through green technology that we will become truly energy independent. Wind power, American-grown biofuels, natural gas, and energy-efficient vehicles must all be part of our present and our future.
This benefits the environment and our economy as well. Republican oilman T. Boone Pickens, CEO of BP Capital, recently said, "I've been an oil man all my life, but this is one emergency we can't drill our way out of. If we create a new renewable energy network, we can break our addiction to foreign oil."

I have often said that our nation's energy crisis was 30 years in the making. There were 30 years of failed policies, missed opportunities and poor decisions. The United States consumes almost a quarter of the world's oil but has 2 to 3 percent of the world's oil reserves. Drilling alone will not reverse that fact and cannot supply the energy we need to continue to be the economic leader of the free world. That is why we must work together to ensure that 30 years from now, we will be truly energy independent and blessed by abundant energy, a clean environment, and a booming economy.

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