Idahoans Speak Out on High Energy Prices
Floor Speech
IDAHOANS SPEAK OUT ON HIGH ENERGY PRICES -- (Senate - July 07, 2008)
Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, in mid-June, I asked Idahoans to share with me how high energy prices are affecting their lives, and they responded by the hundreds. The stories, numbering over 1,000, are heartbreaking and touching. To respect their efforts, I am submitting every e-mail sent to me through energy There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: Sen. Crapo: Thanks for your inquiry into my response to rising fuel prices. I have changed my job so I can more easily bicycle to work and I do so nearly every day. Beyond that, no changes for me! Personally, I think fuel prices rising a few bucks more would be a great thing, and in Republican market economy thought, let the market determine the price! I think increases in nuclear energy would be a very poor idea considering current technology and waste storage issues. I would, however, support resumption of research into the Integral Fast Reactor at the INL. Increased production from the ANWR is also a bad idea. This is doing nothing but wasting choice American oil supplies when they may be truly needed later. It would, of course, increase the profit margins of the oil companies. Exploit the tar sands and oil shales while prices are high enough to make them economically viable. I'm fully supportive of increased funding of alternative energy systems and mass transit. I applaud your efforts to bring AMTRAK back to Boise. Rising fuel prices will also ensure that more people use public transportation. I believe that our best efforts (and perhaps an increase in fuel taxes would be necessary) should be to find new and improved energy STORAGE systems. Solar, wind, tide and other renewables supply more than enough energy, but they are intermittant at best. Improved storage systems could fix that. How about a Hoover Dam-sized project to build a giant turbine (or 2 or 3) in the Gulf Stream off the coast of Florida? Conservation of America's vital natural resources is paramount. Just look to the oil booms of Ohio and Pennsylvania in the 1870s for a bit of guidance. When the resources are used up, they are gone forever. What is more important, short-term profit or long-term prosperity? The U.S. needs to be at the world forefront of energy, not stuck in a 1950s oil-powered economy! Best of luck, Senator. -- Hello, I am an under-employed degreed person. I became a single mother about 8 years ago. I have a college degree in general science, and an Associate's degree in Horticultural Sciences. I was a pre-med student for the first four years of my college life. Currently I do not have a job at all. During the school year, I work part-time in the local school system as a ``para-professional,'' which means I will never be employed full-time by the school system, but I will be expected to go over and above for my students, which I do! I gladly work extra to ensure the school is a safe, caring place with an environment for learning. The school is a rural, ``one-room'' school in Clearwater County. It is absolutely a wonderful place!!! I do so wish I could be making a living during the years of employment here, but the pay is very low, and not a living wage, as the local job service people say. I feel education is the key for the success of the upcoming generation of young people. Obviously, I have financial challenges. I also have six children, who I have home-schooled, and also enrolled them in public school for the last few years, usually when they reach high school. I was certified in secondary ed years ago, and have not had the resources to re-establish that certification. I also think it is important to acclimatize the student to the big world outside the home. I have been successful with them. Three of my sons attend, or have attended, the University of Idaho. One son is stationed in Iraq, since November, 2007, which has been a learning experience for everyone around us. My other two are still in school, and as most of the others are straight A students. One is even thinking of applying to West Point next year. I think he can do whatever he sets his mind in motion to accomplish. My experience with the gasoline/petroleum crisis is that I am spending so much on gasoline to transport myself, my kids, and accomplish daily tasks that little is left for life. I love visiting my boys in Moscow. The price is now prohibiting much of that, unless I make an excuse. I miss my boys, and they cannot afford to come see me!! They make very little between classes, and the high price to just go visit Mom is too much of a chunk out of their minimum incomes. I remember when I worked in high school and college, buying gas was not something you had to spend most of your money on. The price was low enough that you just filled up, not worrying about working three days to afford your tank of gas!!! How can they, or myself, ever get ahead???? I feel that Congress should be moving forward on finding other methods of energy for the vehicle. I do not think releasing petrol reserves or more drilling is the answer. We should be thinking of the future with minor dependence on oil. Our country has been trained to live in our cars and, while that is not bad, we need to find another way to fuel them. I personally do not think forcing everyone to live in town is the answer. I would never survive in a town, I need my open spaces. I also could pursue more education, but the colleges are becoming farther out of reach because people will not be able to afford to go. That is not right. I should not have to accept unsatisfactory employment to live out of town. The out-of-towners are where much of the brains of the world come from. If it keeps going like it is, I will not even be able to get to the grocery store, much less into town to purchase gasoline! I won't even be able to get to a job, because my job is out of town! What about the farmers who make their living, and also make America run, they should not be punished because they are from out of town. It could become an elitist society again. No doubt this problem could divide America as never before. I heard today that Boise, Idaho, was named as the second most livable town in the country. I have only lived here for 14 years, but I am happy to hear that. I feel Idaho is a wonderful place to live. I would like to see that continue. There are those of us, a big number, who would be in serious crisis, if the price of energy, even just gas continues to spiral upward. I am not sure what will happen. We are also rural we have no TV reception, and only dial-up internet. I can see a lot of people who will be in a world of hurt as they say. We have not had time to make disaster plans for this. This could be a life-altering crisis that has the potential to be as great a disaster as any naturally caused. Local law enforcement could be greatly taxed with people asking for assistance for day to day survival. I really believe that developing the new technologies for energy usage will be the key to America and Idaho's success. We must think of the future, and I believe less dependence on oil, smarter cars, and using resources with extreme caution is the only way to ensure next generations of Americans that our nation is as great as it has ever been. Thank you for your time, -- Senator Crapo: I am a single woman of 87, raising a 10-year-old great grandson who lives in Boise, Idaho. Now Idaho Power has gotten another raise and that along with over $4.00 a gallon for fuel, I now either have gas to get to the store or medicine. With a 10-year-old, food is most important. (No regular bus service; besides it costs $2.00 to go to and from the closest grocery store by bus.) I sold my car and the pickup that belonged to my late husband (1992 Ford) and, with the help of my grandson, my church, and the Kia dealer in Nampa, I have a small car that gets around town but not good enough that if one of my children in Hammet or Jerome were to become seriously ill. I would be afraid to drive it that far. I now have an automobile that I am afraid will break down instead of a dependable one all because of the price of fuel. Question is why was Idaho Power allowed to let Washington Power and Light take the power from the power plant at Lucky Peak for less than it costs the citizens of Idaho per kilowatt?????? Along with this I have worked all of my life and paid into Social Security. I worked for a doctor who did not pay the taxes which he was required to and now my check is approximately $300.00 less than it would have if he would have paid in those six years. He has since retired and taken out bankruptcy, and those of us who he shorted are not going to get anything because his attorney was allowed to prolong any legal action over the time limit. Now Social Security is going to take over 186.00 from my check to pay for insurance, which is not going to pay any of my bills. Yet they are allowed to automatically to deduct this. Have you ever tried to feed yourself, a ten-year-old, pay property taxes and buy medicine on $517.00 a month? Probably not, and all of the good Senators and Representatives will never know because they do not, from my information, fall under Social Security. I am sending this; however, I am sure it will not do any good. After all the last time that I contacted you, nothing came of it and further I got penalized 1 per cent of my check for doing so. I wish every Congressmen and government official would have to live for just 6 months like over 46% of the American people do. P.S. Please have your staff continue to waste money sending me and many others who have come to you for help asking us to donate to your cause. -- Dear Senator Mike Crapo: Thank you so much for the opportunity to share my thoughts with you. I do think your asking for stories from people is an excellent idea. Many decisions we make can seem O.K. at the time, but then actions outside our control can turn those decisions into problems. Like deciding where we want to live. While gas was cheap, families decided they wanted big houses outside the city and then would commute into Boise. Now that so many people have moved out of town, it is like flushing good money and good air away as people drive back into town to work. Instead of spending money on adding two more lanes on the freeway, money should go to provide more options to get people out of their cars. I have a friend who used to be in a van pool, but then the people in her group moved and now she cannot get back into a different van pool. We did decide to live close enough to our work (3 to 6 miles) that we are able to bike and save gas. But even we feel the rise from gas prices because so much of what we purchase depends on gas, and so what we buy from food to clothes have gone up in price. And the more I read, the more I realize that we should not be going into ethanol production from corn. This causes more problems than it helps. We really need to say as a country that we will work on this energy issue together. We need to start conserving as much as possible. Building ``green'' should not just be a nice add-on option. Any new building should be required to be as energy efficient as possible and government money should be invested in research to make buildings even better. America needs to stand up and say we can do this, we can be creative and get out of our gasoline rut. We need to help people on the fringe who are on fixed on low incomes. But for people who make poor and selfish decisions on their driving habits should have to pay for that. So for those people, gas prices are too cheap. We do not even pay the true cost of gasoline in regards to the environment or human health issues. We truly need a new vision and will power. Thank you very much. Sincerely, -- I am an over-the-road truckdriver, and these fuel prices are killing us. Back East and out West, we are seeing fuel prices up toward $5.00 a gal. Where is it going to stop? We need to drill in ANWR, and off our East and West coasts. And we need more refineries. It seems to be like Washington, D.C. does not care for the working class people anymore. They just see us as an endless path to money. Take from us all they can then forget us and sell us out to the highest bidder. Where will it stop? -- Dear Mike: I am a semi-retired person. I work at a bagel-deli at almost Eagle Road, since I live in Boise, and only live 1/2 -mile from BSU, I drive 12 miles each way to work. Since I make $8.50 an hour, and it costs me $4.00 (my truck gets 22 miles per gallon), to go to work, it is far more difficult than it was as $2.50 a gallon for fuel. I am 62 years old. I have always believed in all renewable resources. I cannot believe that people think that nuclear fuel is unsafe, plus the fact that we aren't accessing our oil? Best regards, -- Dear Senator Crapo--I am at a loss to understand why Congress chose to support ethanol instead of hydrogen fuel. The vehicles have been developed, have clean emissions, and it seems practical since hydrogen is abundant. However, hydrogen fuel pumps will have to be installed around the country before the general public can buy and use these vehicles. This is something that Congress can and should support. I am so opposed to ethanol. It can't be transported via the current fuel lines, because of its corrosiveness. There is a world food shortage, and none of our farmland should be used to grow fuel instead of food. Ethanol gets lower mileage, and frankly, I do not like having even 10% ethanol fuel in my engine. Ethanol is not the solution to our fuel problems. Electric cars, while cleaner, still need a valuable resource (electricity) to operate. Energy credits are really good. Hopefully, there is something in the tax code for developers of alternate sources of energy (solar, wind, thermal, etc.). I also am in favor of nuclear energy. The European countries are certainly using that. I know that nuclear waste is an issue, but I think it is one that can be solved. This is not a ``story,'' but I took the opportunity to express my opinion about this. -- Dear Senator Crapo, I have a gift and awards business in Moscow, ID where we engrave various items (most of which are made in China), and are experiencing increasing freight prices for all our received items. Freight rates are changing every day not only for delivery, but for other items we purchase used in our business. My employees are feeling the high gasoline prices commuting to work, and are looking for some sort of relief from me. This will drive up my cost of doing business and I will have to pass this cost on to my customers which in turn will be passed on to everyone. I am glad that you sent out this e-mail requesting a response to high gasoline prices. I commend your position on this issue. I am sending out e-mails to all my elected officials stating that if you don't support a national energy policy (drilling, nuclear ) then I will do everything in my power to replace you the next election. It's time that the people take back their government. Like it says ``We the people'' ..... An intelligent, responsible representative of the people will get on board and do what he or she is getting paid for, representing the people not just special interest. I want to encourage you to spread the word that ``We the people'' are getting sick and tired of not being represented as we request be. People that I see on a daily basis agree that this country is going down hill not even sideways. We are in trouble economically with loss of our manufacturing base, no positive energy policy will jeopardize our entire way of life in the U.S. and will set us up eventually for a war we don't want. Please carry the banner, inform your colleagues and let's get this country on the right track again! ``We the people'', love this country. Sincerely, -- Mr. Crapo, Thank you for standing up to Senate and demanding something be done on our behalf. Rest assured I will remember those that did come election time. There is no reason why we can not explore our own sources of energy instead of sending our tax dollars to other countries. As for how it has affected my family. We bought a camper and pickup truck last year to take family vacations and see this beautiful country of ours. With the rise in gas prices we are limiting ourselves to travel only where one tank of gas can get us. We had planned trips to Yellowstone, Las Vegas, the redwoods in California and Washington State. All those trips are cancelled as we have to stay close to home. It is so bad right now that I cancelled attending my nephews wedding in Washington because the gas prices there are worse than ours. We used to go to Meridian (we live in Kuna) once a week for groceries and to go out to dinner. We now do like we used to when we lived in Cascade. We go to Meridian once a month for groceries and rarely go out to dinner because of fuel cost. My wife and I have even discussed trading the Dodge Durango that she loves and buying a small car for her commute. While I understand that there are countries out there that have it worse than us but this is supposed to be the greatest and yet we can not even provide our citizens with our own energy. We at the whim of the Arab controlled oil and I see it only getting worse if we do not do something now. Thank you again.
John, Boise.
SHARON, Orofino.
MARY, Boise.
ANNETTE, Boise.
ROGER, Chubbuck.
BOYD, Boise.
DIANA.
DICK.
TIM AND AMANDA.
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