At times, we might forget that there are a good number of very bright, extremely dedicated, and fundamental people working in Congress. Elected officials and staff. Our funding system that seems to drive member after member to be begging, tin in cup, for funds can make the entire process look open to purchase. The traditional media mania for ever lower quality reporting magnifies this, making foolish shallowness the norm. Reality is far from this and it is worthwhile at times to take a moment to consider that reality.
An e-mail came into me today that reminded me of this, a letter with perhaps the best single word I’ve seen to summarize Republican truthiness when it comes to energy issues but a letter with substance.
Drillusion
Thank you Representative Earl Blumenauer.
Americans deserve better …
What is the challenge?
After seven years of dangerous energy policies, Oregon families are reeling from the effects of rising gas prices. Americans deserve better than political posturing from an administration that continues to serve up a failed energy policy, and pushing for increased drilling on our public lands is their newest deceitful maneuver.
This is not only a hoax, but pure “drillusion.”
Opening up new public lands to drilling can take anywhere from 10-20 years to produce oil, yet I know you need relief today.
Oil companies already hold leases on 68 million acres of public lands but are NOT drilling. Instead of exercising the opportunities they have, they are trying to accrue additional drilling leases in the Arctic and along our coasts. This is not a solution; this is only a continuation of the same disastrous policies that fail to address our growing crisis.
There are immediate steps we can take to alleviate the impact of rising gas prices. For instance, we can rein in speculators, which add $5 to $50 to the price of a barrel of oil.
We can also reduce the cost of gas by releasing some of the oil stored in our Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). Currently at 97 percent capacity, the SPR is the largest emergency supply in the world. Three presidents have done this in the past, cutting the cost of oil by as much as a third.
It’s a smart bill. More members of Congress should be seriously discussing such ideas instead of spinning their wheels in a politically motivated debate over more offshore oil drilling. While it’s a long-term debate worth having — more exploration and drilling might help the nation’s future strategic position — as a route to lower fuel prices it goes nowhere. The expanding global economy has ended the era of cheap fuel in America. Today, the cheapest gallon of gas is the gallon you don’t have to buy. Blumenauer’s farsighted bill would help more Americans avoid that painful purchase.
Although there is no silver bullet for solving the complex energy problem, we can take action now to make sure that Oregon’s families receive the assistance they need. Ten to twenty years is far too long to wait for a solution that was needed decades ago, and I will continue working on common sense approaches that will prepare us for an oil-independent future.
“No silver bullet for solving the complex energy problem …” Yes. Earl. You are right.
And, not only “we can take action now,” we must.
Earl is right, we can not wait decades “for a solution that was needed decades ago.”
I, for one, am glad that Earl Blumenauer is representing Oregonians, and the rest of us (the rest of the US), in the US House of Representatives to “continue working on common sense approaches that will prepare us for an oil-independent future.”
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I just ran across this post today and thought you might be interested in some more information about the current energy crunch. Here at The Wilderness Society, we’ve been compiling quite a lot of info that you might find useful for a future post. Hopefully we can talk a little more about the opportunities via email (Andrew_Peters ‘at’ tws.org). I’m looking forward to hearing from you.
In the meantime, you might want to check out a couple links:
http://www.wilderness.org/gasprices/
Click to access ExpertsOnOilPrices.pdf
Best,
Andy