(Washington D.C.) U.S. Congressman Sam Graves sharply criticized and voted against an energy plan that does not contain any real solutions to America’s energy crunch today. Two bills before the House on Saturday did not increase domestic fuel production, failed to provide a renewable fuel standard and increased taxes. Instead it gave tax credits to people who ride their bike to work and grants to lower bus fares.

“Tax credits for people who ride their bikes to work is not an energy plan,” said Graves. “This bill makes us more dependent on foreign sources of oil. I want a real energy plan that increases domestic exploration, and promotes proven technologies like clean coal and nuclear power.”

The bill will bar access to 2 trillion barrels of oil shale, 1.6 billion barrels of off-shore oil and 10 billion barrels from the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. The bill also bans oil production on the Continental Shelf hundreds of miles off the Florida coast, even though Cuba and China are collaborating to drill closer to Florida’s beaches than any American company can.

“Limiting supply, when demand is increasing, will only lead to higher prices at the pump,” said Graves. “Consumers will end up paying more because leadership has failed to address domestic production.”

H.R. 3221 and H.R. 2776 will be combined into one bill and sent to the Senate.

 

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