Who’s to Blame for High Energy Prices?
An opinion by U.S. Congressman John Peterson
May 18, 2004
“Senator John Kerry came out swinging this week,
blaming President Bush for high gas prices and claiming that he would
solve our nation’s energy problems if Americans will only give him
a chance in November. But is this recent attack simply a case of political
opportunism? Who is to blame for our nation’s current energy crisis?
“The recent statements by Senator Kerry are especially
intriguing given the Senator’s support for the $.50 cent per gallon
gas tax, his recent flip flop on releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum
Reserve, and his activism on behalf of the Kyoto global warming treaty
which would have put U.S. companies out of business while giving a free
pass to big polluters like China and India.
“So who is to blame for $2 dollar per gallon gasoline,
for the highest natural gas prices ever which have led to exorbitant electricity
and home heating bills, and for the industries and employers who have
gone out of business because of skyrocketing energy costs? For the answer,
we need look no farther than John Kerry, along with Al Gore, Ted Kennedy
and well-funded special interests who have worked for decades to prevent
responsible energy production and a sensible energy policy. By locking
up America’s energy supply, these self-anointed environmentalists
have cost our nation millions of jobs, drained consumers’ bank accounts,
threatened our economy, and jeopardized our nation’s security by
keeping America dependent on energy from foreign, politically unstable
countries.
“Rather than focus too much on one Senator, I would
like to shine some common sense on the philosophy of people like John
Kerry which says that it’s ok to import oil and gas from foreign
countries with no environmental regulations that too often view us as
their enemy, but it’s not ok to put Americans to work developing
our own domestic energy while employing new technologies and modern-day
environmental standards. Sure we can blame OPEC for high oil prices and
tinker with the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, but why are we still dependent
on OPEC nations in the 21st century?
“America’s energy crisis is the result of
decades spent neglecting our nation’s energy needs. And this complete
lack of a national energy policy has been driven by outdated environmental
doctrines and scare tactics which have convinced many people that we can’t
have both responsible energy production and a clean environment. Of course,
we all want a clean, healthy environment. So many legislators are content
to simply take a pass on the energy issue and leave it for future generations
to deal with instead of incurring the wrath of the extreme environmental
lobby by working to promote responsible energy production.
“To be sure, oil production has not always been
a friend to the environment. When people think of oil, they reflect back
to the Exxon Valdez spill and the images of oil-coated sea birds. But
with modern extraction techniques and strict modern safety standards,
drilling for oil in the 21st century is not the environmental hazard that
it was in the 19th or even the 20th century. In my hometown of Titusville
– where the oil industry began at Drake’s Well in 1859 –
what were once barren, oil-stained hills are now beautiful forests and
bubbling trout streams.
“While we will never be able to solve our nation’s
energy needs with oil, natural gas does hold the potential to dramatically
ease our nation’s energy burden and bring down prices. Natural gas
production, which uses a small, inconspicuous hole in the ground to release
gas into a sealed pipe, has never been harmful to the environment. But
while natural gas is heralded as the clean energy of the future, the environmental
lobby has succeeded at locking away the vast majority of this natural
resource from responsible production. Efforts to simply take an inventory
of America’s vast natural gas deposits have even been prevented
due to energy ignorance and antiquated environmental concerns.
“And while we are sitting on many decades of domestic
natural gas supply, our ‘environmentally conscious’ neighbors
to the north are slant drilling for natural gas underneath the Great Lakes
and selling some of it back to us. As a result of our nation’s conflicting
energy policy, natural gas cost more than $6 per thousand cubic feet in
the United States last spring compared to $0.70 in Venezuela, $0.40 in
North Africa, $0.80 in Russia and $3.70 in Western Europe where they are
not afraid to tap their domestic energy supplies.
“Then there is coal, which left environmental scars
across much of Appalachia in the early years. But thanks to modern extraction
methods and new research being conducted at top-notch institutions like
Penn State University, even clean coal is becoming a reality. The same
is true for nuclear power, which today is one of the cleanest, safest
and most dependable sources of energy. Clinton-era policies tragically
shut down much of our nation’s coal and nuclear production so that
we not only lost much of these valuable energy resources, but forced power
companies to switch to natural gas for their electricity generation. As
a result, there is less natural gas left on the market to heat homes and
businesses, fuel factories and transportation systems, and provide for
other energy needs.
“You may be thinking, ‘What about wind and
solar energy? Can’t these help reduce our dependence on foreign
oil?’ The truth is that while wind and solar can be useful as an
energy supplement, both require a redundant energy source to compensate
for when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing.
And while some self-proclaimed environmentalists have publicly championed
wind and solar, these same New England Senators have been quick to put
the kibosh on a Cape Cod wind farm when it was proposed in their own back
yard.
“Every day, new and better technologies are being
developed to ensure clean, responsible energy production. We continue
to see new innovations with hydrogen fuel cells and other renewable energies.
But despite this progress, there are special interests that have made
a good living demonizing energy producers and scaring voters with doomsday
scenarios about our environment. In a new political ad, the League of
Conservation Voters is sinking so low as to attack President Bush for
drilling off the Florida Coastline when no oil platforms even exist off
the coast of Florida.
“These same organizations that claim to care for
the environment have done more to pollute our planet than countless Exxon-Valdez
oil spills by forcing the importation of oil and gas from countries like
Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and Algeria that give little or no thought to
protecting the environment. While these groups oppose virtually all energy
production, it begs the question: how exactly do these people heat and
cool their homes, cook their food, and travel to and from work or the
grocery store?
“Since the U.S. House of Representatives first passed
a comprehensive national energy plan in 2001, the average price of gasoline
has skyrocketed from $1.34 to more than $2 per gallon; the cost of home
heating oil has increased by a third; the cost of natural gas has almost
doubled; a massive electricity blackout crippled much of the Northeast;
whole industries and thousands of jobs have been shipped overseas; and
America has invested more than $300 billion in OPEC nations instead of
creating jobs and meeting our energy needs here at home.
“Nine of the past ten recessions have been preceded
by energy price spikes, and our current energy crisis goes well beyond
the temporary price fluctuations of the past. Yet sadly our national energy
plan sits, stalled in the U.S. Senate where John Kerry, Ted Kennedy and
others have successfully stonewalled the legislation. And with the many
changes that have been made to accommodate various constituencies, what
remains of the energy bill will do little to increase domestic energy
production or reverse the decades of neglect for our nation’s energy
infrastructure.
“So what is the answer? If you were hoping for a
quick solution to our nation’s energy crisis, I’m afraid you
may be disappointed. There is no short-term answer. What we need is an
honest discussion about our nation’s energy needs, free from the
demagoguery of extremist views. Until Americans realize that they can
be true conservationists without accepting the scare tactics of the radical
left, we will continue to face $2 gas at the pump, jobs and industries
will continue to disappear, consumers will pay more and more each year
to heat and cool their homes, and we will continue to rely on OPEC and
other foreign countries to supply America’s energy needs.”
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