Ada Evening News - U.S. Rep Tom Cole Talks Energy

News Article

Ada Evening News - U.S. Rep Tom Cole Talks Energy

U.S. Congressman Tom Cole was in Ada Thursday and spoke about America's energy needs during an interview with staff at Ada Evening News.

After the recent 2008 Energy Summit, Cole said, "Americans have suffered from the disturbingly high costs of gasoline and other sources of energy for too long. Clearly there is not a single, quick-fix solution that will help Americans see a measurable difference in their transportation and home-energy expenses. That's why I believe it is important for the public to hear more about alternative forms of energy and ways to better utilize our existing domestic resources. I'm proud that the energy summit was able to serve as an opportunity for many interested individuals to learn more about Oklahoma's fuel and energy landscape."

Billionaire T. Boone Pickens recently said Americans are addicted to oil and came up with a plan to use windmills in America's "wind corridor" to generate electricity. Pickens said building wind facilities in the corridor that stretches from the Texas panhandle to North Dakota could produce 20 percent of the electricity for the United States at a cost of $1 trillion. It would take another $200 billion to build the capacity to transmit that energy to cities and towns.

Pickens said although it's a lot of money, it's a one-time cost. And compared to the $700 billion American's spend on foreign oil every year, it's a bargain, he said.

Cole said he met with Pickens several weeks ago while still in session he believes Pickens is in favor of more drilling and nuclear power, but also wants an alternative energy source to help power America. Cole believes Pickens is offering one idea on what needs to be a multi-pronged approach to American energy independence.

"It's a good one," Cole said. "It's something that will take considerable investment. We'll have to build a new transmission grid. The great thing about the wind corridor is we have it, the bad thing is there is not very many people living in it. It will generate a lot more power than you can use in the area, so we've got to have a means to transmit that."

Cole said he likes the idea not only because it would create a renewable power source, but it would also create jobs in Oklahoma.

"It's not just the power you get, it's the jobs that go with it which Pickens talks about a lot," Cole said. "The building of the wind farms, the building of the transmission lines. There's a lot of domestic employment involved in developing this system and maintaining it."

According to House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi's government Web site, she believes House Resolution 6604, the Commodity Market Transparency and Accountability Act would have taken crucial steps to curb excessive speculation in the energy futures markets in order to bring down gas prices. The measure, she said, received a strong majority support in a House vote of 276 to 151, but failed to receive the two-thirds necessary to pass under suspension of the rules. During the vote, the measure initially received more than enough votes to pass, but Pelosi said Republican leaders persuaded more than a dozen Republicans to switch their votes in order to defeat the bill and sustain the President's threatened veto.

Cole said Pelosi never brought it to the floor in a state that it could be amended.

"This is an old legislative trick," Cole said. "You can bring something to the floor that will have something called under suspension which means it takes two-thirds to pass. If she'd have brought it to the floor and allowed Republicans to offer amendments, that bill would have passed."

"The amendments the Republicans wanted to offer were things like off-shore exploration and production," Cole continued. "She can't have it both ways. The majority of the congress voted for that bill, so how is it our fault that it failed when she gets the majority of the votes and she gets to decide whether or not it comes in an amenable fashion?"

Cole said Republicans are not obligated to vote for bills where they have no ability to participate in, and are not allowed to even present an amendment. He said it's a bogus charge to blame Republicans for the outcome which Pelosi brought on herself.

Cole said he does believe there is a speculative element to increasing gas prices.

"What drives speculation is when supply and demand are just about the same, so any little thing shakes up the market," Cole said. "At the end of the day, if you're not increasing production, there's no way you're going stop speculation. While I think there could be a lot of Republican support—and there has been—on some ends of the speculation, it's going to come under two conditions going forward."

Cole said the first condition is Republicans should be allowed to put their ideas on the table.

"They don't have to vote for them, they don't have to pass them, just let us have our crack at the debate," Cole said. That's why she wouldn't put that bill where we could amend it because too many Democrats would vote with us on off-shore drilling and production."

Cole said the second condition is to understand the fundamental problem is supply.

"You kill speculation if you have an abundance of supply, period," he said.

Cole believes demand for oil in China and India is driving up the price of oil and America has actually lowered demand.

"The idea that Americans could drive 40 billion miles less, which we've done in the past eight months, and immediately cause a collapse in global energy prices is just unthinkable." Cole said. "If you can't control the demand side—and we can't—lets at least deal with the supply side and help put more supply on the market. That'll kill speculation faster than anything else."

Also on her Web site, Pelosi said she supported the Drill Responsibly in Leased Lands (DRILL) Act. The "DRILL Bill" would force oil companies to drill on already leased land instead of new off-shore sites and the controversial Alaska National Wildlife Refuge.

"Part of what we must do to bring down the price of energy to the American people is to increase domestic supply," Pelosi said on the house floor in July. "And increasing domestic supply means that we must remove all doubt in the minds of those who wish to drill and those who want the drilling to take place that there are 68 million acres in the lower 48 states where drilling is allowed."

"It's called use it or lose it," Cole said. "It's the dumbest bill in the world. That's what an oil lease is."

Cole said when an oil company signs a lease, they must promise to drill within a specified time or the lease goes back to the mineral owners.

"This is playing on the fear and....I don't want to say ignorance, but most Americans don't know a lot about the energy industry, Oklahoman's do," Cole said. "To see supposedly intelligent people get up on the house floor and argue that companies are deliberately not drilling at a period when the price is $140 a barrel, they're crazy! They are drilling every place they can. Ask anybody in Oklahoma. There's petunia beds in Marlow where are now oil rigs and (rigs) in people's yards. People will drill where they think there's product and a lease by definition is a use it or lose it proposition, so the legislation was nothing more than window dressing."

Source