The Latham Report: Drill Now For Lower Gas Prices
To Lower Gas Prices, We Must Drill
Washington,
Jul 24, 2008 -
Recently, Washington has been debating the issue of energy and the historically high price of gas. Much of this debate has been focused on the issue of drilling, both on-shore and off. Whether we're talking about the outer continental shelf, or .01 percent of the 19 million acres that makes up ANWR, the debate can only come down to one of two sides: you're for lowering gas prices, or you're not.
While Iowa is a national leader in ethanol, biodiesel and wind energy, oil and natural gas still make up the basis of Iowa's energy. Our farm families and trucking industry use diesel fuel. Gasoline is the main fuel for our cars and helps us get to work, to school, and to all of life's activities. We use heating oil to keep us warm during our notorious winters. And we use natural gas and propane for fertilizer and heat.
Renewable, alternative, and biofuels production is one of Iowa's greatest strengths, and America must move toward these energy sources and technologies of the future. However, the fact of the matter is that today, Iowa and the rest of the country still depend on energy resources that come from petroleum and natural gas.
Unfortunately, the cost of a barrel of oil these days has become more expensive than at any time in history. We've come to a point where certain necessities have become so expensive that they are devastating our budgets. Families are cutting back. Businesses are closing because they can't afford the price of gas. Local towns are looking at raising taxes to keep school buses running. All of this means that goods in the store cost more, food costs more, gas costs more, and higher taxes will have to cover the government's bill. America’s bill for imported oil is expected to be over $700 billion this year.
At the same time, certain leaders are blocking further oil exploration on the outer continental shelf. Some of these people use figures from an obscure U.S. Geological Survey report from 1974 to support their arguments. In reality, the outer continental shelf has already produced three times the amount of natural gas as the 1974 figures said was there. Modern estimates state there is nearly five times more natural gas available today than already used, that we can use for continued production into the future. Congressional leadership is also blocking drilling into the Alaskan oil deposit. The ANWR site in Alaska would add 1 million barrels of oil per day, for the next thirty years, according to the Energy Information Agency. This, from just .01 percent of the 19 million acres that make up ANWR, would produce the equivalent to what the entire state of Texas produces, every day. It is also the equivalent to 30 years worth of imports from Venezuelan dictator, Hugo Chavez.
Maybe most important of all, we will be able to extract these resources with conservationism in mind. The ANWR bill implements the strictest environmental regulations and restrictions ever to be applied to any domestic oil development project. It includes a provision to fund alternative and renewable energy projects such as biomass, cellulosic biofuels, geothermal energy, hydro-power, wind energy, tidal/ocean power and solar power. Further, the off-shore drilling legislation funds the National Geo Program, which seeks to fund many of the same alternative energy programs as the Alaskan drilling legislation, but goes even farther with a grant program to support engineering and construction-design work for turning coal into gasoline and diesel, extracting oil from oil shale and oil sands, and, in Alaska, for a program to turn natural gas into diesel fuel.
The need for drilling, and of reclaiming our energy independence, is more important now than ever before, and will continue to become more important as each new day of political maneuvering continues. We must come together as one Congress, as one Nation, and stop ignoring what more than two-thirds of the American public want. They want cheaper gas prices, and so do I.
-30-
