GAS PRICES: House Acts to Increase America's Gas Supply

GAS PRICES: House Acts to Increase America's Gas Supply

Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) gave strong support today for action taken by the House of Representatives to lower gas prices by increasing America's domestic oil supply. Legislation passed today follows part of Capito's five-point plan to reduce gas prices by expanding America's domestic energy production in a small part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

"The area set aside for oil exploration may be small, but it is America's single largest oil deposit and it could increase our oil reserves here at home by 50 percent," Capito said. "Technology exists to explore ANWR in a responsible, environmentally sound way, so dragging our feet on this while West Virginians are hurting at the gas pump is simply irresponsible."

When the area now known as ANWR was established in 1980, Congress and President Carter set aside 1.5 million of its 20 million acres for future energy development. H.R. 5429, the American-Made Energy and Good Jobs Act, will open just 2,000 of the 1.5 million acre northern coastal plain to energy production.

At peak production, energy development on ANWRs northern coastal plain could deliver to the lower 48 states an additional 1.5 million barrels of oil daily. This is an amount equal to the daily supply America lost in the Gulf of Mexico due to Hurricane Katrina, and nearly equal to the amount America imports from Saudi Arabia every day.

"This bill puts America first, because it requires that any oil or gasoline produced from ANWR reserves stays in America," Capito said. "This legislation would also create good jobs for Americansthe experts estimate between 250,000 and one million direct and indirect jobs."

Prior to her vote today for the American-Made Energy and Good Jobs Act, Capito had voted four times to open a small portion of ANWR to oil exploration. (Roll Call Vote 132, April 21, 2005; Roll Call Vote 630, November 21, 2003; Roll Call Vote 145 April 11, 2003; Roll Call Vote 320 August 2, 2001.)

On May 3, the House addressed another point of Capito's five-point plan, passing the Federal Energy Price Protection Act (H.R. 5253). This legislation directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to give a uniform definition of "price gouging" since existing state statutes have vastly different interpretations. In addition, the legislation provides for strong civil enforcement by the FTC and by states' attorneys general, and criminal enforcement by the U.S. attorney general and Department of Justice.

Earlier this month, Capito outlined a five-point plan that Congress should follow to help bring relief to West Virginians suffering from the high cost of gas. Along with opening ANWR to energy exploration and banning price gouging, the plan also called for temporarily waiving boutique fuel regulations, temporarily waiving the tariff on imported ethanol and utilizing West Virginia coal by building a coal liquefaction facility.

Capito concluded, "I'm glad the House is taking meaningful actions to get control of this country's gas price problem. The sooner we implement these steps, the sooner West Virginians will see relief at the pump."

http://capito.house.gov/press_office/detail-page.aspx?id=175&whichone=pr