Idahoans Speak Out on High Energy Prices
Floor Speech
IDAHOANS SPEAK OUT ON HIGH ENERGY PRICES -- (Senate - July 16, 2008)
Mr. CRAPO. Madam 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 I ask unanimous consent to have the following letters printed in the Record. There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows: Thanks for this opportunity. In short: (1) Increase domestic oil production (2) Expand nuclear energy (3) Reduce the speed limit to 65 mi./hr. This alone saves me 15% on my car fuel consumption and is an immediate reduction in oil usage. (4) Do not use our food supply to produce alcohol for additive to the gasoline. It reduces the gas mileage, is harmful to some of the engine parts and has a large effect on the supply and cost of our food. The site did research on this about 20 years ago, and built a plant around Aberdeen, which to my understanding, was not successful. At least it did not stay in operation very long. I have other ideas on energy policies and savings if you would like to discuss them. -- Senator Crapo, Thank you for the opportunity to share our concerns over the dependence of foreign oil issues that we currently face. My business partner and I own a small construction company in Meridian. We do new residential construction as well as re-modeling in Meridian, Boise, Nampa, Mountain Home, Horseshoe Bend, Star and other Ada, Canyon, Boise and Elmore county towns. As you mentioned in your letter there is great distance between towns here in the great state of Idaho. Our traveling cost, as well as incurring the fee increases by our sub-contractors and suppliers is moving so high--so fast that a bid to perform work which is normally good for 30 days actually is out of date the next week! We are normally not very political guys, but we have actually been affected to the point that we have started a website along with a petition to Congress to authorize drilling here in America www.DrillforAmericanoil.com went online officially last week (June 13, 2008). We truly appreciate your efforts on our behalf regarding this matter and hope that we can work together as a community and nation to resolve this crisis. Respectfully, -- We, our families, have been unable to get together to enjoy ourselves because of the high prices of fuel. I do not understand why we have to pay the same price for fuel as all other countries when we have all of the necessary reserves and fuel available here in this country. Everyone keeps telling us that we have save for future generations, I say baloney to that as let us take care of ourselves first and then if anything is left over, give to the future. Nuclear energy is safe now that we better understand how to use it. Wind power is fine except when the wind is not blowing or solar power when the sun shines. With solar, it won't produce much on a sunny day and nothing for wind power, so we have to buy a lot of very expensive batteries and some means to keep them charged when we do not have the wind or sun. What then? -- To Whom It May Concern: The cost of fuel today is really beginning to hurt the Idaho consumer. On the national level, most of us here in Idaho are on the poverty level or at least very close to it, and those of us who are retired it is just double hurt. Most of the people who live in my small community are retired and/or very elderly, and this fuel rip-off is very damaging to us. The elderly are forced to keep their temperatures so low in the winter, and still cannot afford $4+ for our heating oil, so we sit around with blankets in winter. The fuel costs are very hard to handle up here in Nezperce, primarily because we are forced to drive long distances to do our shopping. Another problem is fuel costs are even higher in these small communities than it is in larger towns, so we get a double hit with the cost of fuel. For eight years, conservatives had control of Congress and Senate and they did nothing for the conservative voters. There are many voters that tell me they think they will stay home this November because, quite frankly, they feel it does no good to vote for people who will not help us. We have let a few loud far-left people control the future for all of us, not letting us do in new exploration, or any new fuel ideas etc. The effect of fuel prices is passing off to everything we buy, and everything we do. I could go on forever but to no gain; so, to whom it may concern, if we do not do something soon, all we will do is make all our enemies rich, and bring this nation to its knees. -- Like everyone else in Idaho and around the country, our family is feeling the pinch of higher gas prices, but unlike with price hikes of the past, we, along with our neighbors, are making changes in our driving habits that we hope will, over time, drive down those prices. And that is a good thing. Conservation will do more to make us energy independent than drilling in the last pristine places like ANWR ever will. And, of course, the less fossil fuel we burn, the more we help stave off the effects of climate change. Of course, our family does not like having to dig so deeply into our monthly budget to pay for gas at the pump, but it is our hope that the pinch at the pump will be the motivator that catapults our country to the forefront of alternative energy production. If we can put a man on the moon, we can be the innovators who lead the world toward a clean fuel future. Let us pledge our country's attention, innovation and resources to fund research and development in wind, solar, wave and biomass energy. Nuclear energy, though enticing in some ways, is just a different type of ``dirty fuel'' and creates national security concerns as well. It is like settling for a single when we know we can hit a home run. Thank you, -- We live in a large, rural state where things are not close together and there is limited public transportation. My husband works for the Idaho National Laboratory contractor, Battelle, Inc., in Idaho Falls, which is about 50 miles away. The INL does not provide transportation for workers that do not travel to the ``site'' out in the desert. So he drives 100 miles a day to work. He does carpool with three others, but the increase in gas prices has really cut into our budget. We spend approximately $60/week between the two of us. I also work full-time, and we have two children who attend daycare so we need two vehicles. Our car is 14 years old, and our family is rapidly outgrowing it. We would love to buy a new car, but cannot afford to at this time. We are extremely frustrated with the terrible fuel efficiency that larger ``family'' cars get. Our little Toyota Corolla gets 30+ mpg, and we cannot find anything close to that in larger sedans. Why would we want to buy a new car that only gets 17-20 mpg? We are extremely frustrated that we see news reports about hybrids, hydrogen cars, ethanol cars, etc., but no real push to mass produce any of them. Why is not Congress mandating this move? If we can mandate digital TV, why cannot we mandate non-gasoline vehicles and/or ways to improve the efficiency of existing vehicles? Gas prices have affected every aspect of our lives, every bill we get has a notice that it is going up due to increased fuel costs, every grocery item costs more, when does it end? Let us end our dependence on foreign oil and help our environment while we are at it! -- Senator Crapo: Rising fuel costs (gasoline) have caused us to cancel driving trips to Seattle from Coeur d' Alene ($150 fuel cost for one round trip) and a trip to Redding, California, (fuel cost estimate for 750-mile round trip = $150-$160). That is over $300 for fuel to take our usual trips to see our relatives and take a vacation. I cannot imagine the total effect on the economy of driving trips not taken, airline tickets not purchased and hotel bills not incurred multiplied by millions of Americans in just 2008 alone. Hey, Legislators: Let's get going on taking some ACTION to develop our own petroleum resources and escape our dependence on foreign sources! -- Because I am a single woman of 58 and live on a fixed income of about $1,000, I have had to cut back on a lot of things. I live in Franklin County, and I see a liver specialist in Salt Lake City, Utah. Since the gas prices have gotten so outrageous, I have had to cancel my last appointment with my doctor. I have since called him and told him since the gas prices are outrageous; I cannot afford the expense to drive down there for my follow-ups. We have agreed that I will continue taking my tests at Logan Regional and, if my tests show a drastic change, then we will make an appointment, which I hope I can afford the cost. I am on strong doses of steroids and other medications that my specialist has to monitor me as well. I do not go anywhere except to the grocery store, pharmacy, and church and collect my mail. When I have to drive to Logan to take my medical tests, I accumulate what errands I have for that day. I cannot afford to visit my children where one lives in Syracuse, Utah, and the other in Smithfield, Utah. I cannot afford cable, a newspaper, a cell phone or anything. I hope this helps. -- I own a staffing service and many of our employees can no longer afford the cost of gas to drive to work. Most of these workers drive older, less efficient gas mileage cars. These workers just squeaked by when gas was at $2.00 per gallon. Now with gas at $4.00, they cannot afford the extra cost. To make ends meet many are forced to borrow money, if they can, from the ``stop and rob payday loan'' outfits; or quit their jobs entirely. Many American Families are being forced to go into debt just to put gas into their cars. These high gas prices cannot be sustained and cannot be tolerated, as they are forcing extreme hardships on American families, especially on low wage earners. These high gas prices are single handedly impoverishing many, many Americans and many in congress have vowed to do nothing about it. If you agree with me and you are tired of congress acting totally inept in this matter, and in letting us down ``big-time'' by not taking the bold decisive steps needed to get us out of this ``out of control'' gas crisis--please sign this petition ``Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less.'' Our message to Congress--Its time to stop talking and start acting. -- Two years ago, my family and I moved from Sugar City where I grew up, four miles north to a home site where my wife was raised. It is a wonderful location, and we love living there. However, the cost of energy has dramatically affected our lifestyle. Our vehicle fuel consumption has tripled, and our propane expense has more than doubled. Some of the price fluctuation used to be seasonal, but I do not believe the seasonal supplies and demands have much to do with it anymore. As a 43-year-old American living in rural Idaho, I have come to realize how dependent we have become on foreign energy sources, and on personal vehicles for transportation. We can plan better and drive less. We can resolve to drive more fuel-efficient vehicles. We can determine to reduce our food consumption and live more frugally. All of these things we have done, but when it comes right down to it, these changes have not made a drop in the bucket difference. There is no way the average middle-class American can keep up with this over the long run. Rising energy prices will prove to be the single most troublesome factor in our economy. New energy technologies are so bogged down and tied up in committees and environmental quagmires that no action seems to ever take place. In the meantime, the Chinese and other foreign countries are teaching us how to drill for oil right off our own shores in the Gulf of Mexico. Alaska seems to be off limits, which is a joke. Coal-to-oil technologies have not been taken seriously. We have made some progress with wind turbine development, but again, wind energy can help certain regions of our country, but is still a drop in the bucket in relation to our energy consumption. I am disgusted that we did not seriously pursue nuclear energy as a legitimate alternative to fossil fuel 40 years ago. Technology is not the problem; we have that. The problem is it takes so long to tool up for nuclear energy that we will be lucky if our grandchildren can benefit from this tremendously efficient and clean alternative, even if it gains traction over the next couple of years. That is one thing the French have definitely showed us up on. To me, nuclear power is the long term answer to our energy problem--please support it any way you can. One last comment on nuclear power--I was talking to a friend just the other day whose father worked for many years at the INEL. His father told him that we really blew it when we started developing nuclear power by keeping the process such a secret. Start with secrecy, add a few mishaps like Three Mile Island, stir it all together and you have a recipe for paranoia and public distrust. What a shame! We have to get over our fear of nuclear power. I love this country. I have increased my earning potential tremendously and have so many freedoms that I am truly grateful for. But I am very concerned that if we do get very serious about this energy problem right now, my real standard of living, even in the greatest county in the world, will decline. I am not anti-environment; I believe that we can protect the environment in a reasonable manner without shutting off access to our God-given natural resources. We are the stewards of our planet, but I believe it was made for our use, not for us to be subject to it. I have a real problem with the extremely radical vocal minority shutting down all of our options. We have got to get smart and inject a large dose of common sense into this energy equation. Thank You -- Hi, I agree with some of what you are proposing but let us stop making futile arguments here! The only way that I will support more domestic production is if you come up with a plan for more efficiency and conservation along with higher building standards. Our state is hooked on cheap fuels, and it only leads to waste, so I am fine with high energy costs because it will lessen our carbon impact on the earth and we will get more creative. Cheap fuel is a thing of the past, and if we do not use the energy that we do have to prepare for the future, I will never support you and will resent your ignorance. Let us see a solid plan backed up with solid implementation! -- Dear Senator Crapo, [I would like to know if the] question of oil speculators [is being addressed]. Speculators are the ones primarily driving up the prices and not so much the oil companies or the oil producing nations. We did address refineries, and exploration and drilling. Clearly the American people and, indeed, citizens of other nations are suffering because of these speculators. It is rather like my grandparents told me about the stock market crash of 1929 when margin buying endangered the entire financial structure of the world. Can Congress force the commodities speculators to put down more than the 5% they now use for their speculations? It would seem that if they had to put up 50% or better, they would be a little more cautious in their ``gambling''. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, -- Both my wife and I are retired government employees on fixed incomes so we watch our P's and Q's very closely. In spite of our cautious spending practices we have found ourselves unwilling victims of the gas crunch. Here is how we got caught. Our son graduated from college, owing substantially for money loaned to get through four years of very expensive educational expenses. He has sought out and found employment but not enough to pay back his accumulated debt. His monthly income is not at all what he had expected he might be able to get as a college graduate. Currently my son continues to work and at the same time looks for a better paying position ..... Here is where the gas prices come into play: He is living/working in Eugene, Oregon, and attempting to move into a higher-paying position in Portland, Oregon. He has been traveling back and forth to interview for jobs. One trip up and back in his older model vehicle costs him about $60 in gas. On his salary, he cannot afford to make the trip in search of better employment. He is in fact a prisoner of the gas prices unable to travel to further himself financially. As a consequence, he has had to get extensions on his federal educational loan (not a good thing for the government), which continues to charge him interest for the unpaid balance. He is really stuck. We are also stuck because there was an additional $8,000 loan obtained that was not through the federal government, which cannot be put on hold and must be paid now. So, here we are putting out about $200 per month to cover his debt, money we could really use as retired persons. The short of it is he is in a bind and we are in a bind. Gas prices have handicapped him and imposed unnecessary expenses on us. I think everybody is coming up short here including the federal government. -- Dear Sen. Crapo, From $20 to $48 to fill up my car tank. I think that says it all. Polling data indicates that the majority of people want us to drill for our own oil. I want us to drill for our own oil. I believe that the only reason the Arabs said they would increase the amount of oil that they produce is because they became concerned that we might actually begin drilling our own, and they wouldn't want that. Please, Senator Crapo, we are so tired of living under the EPA's thumb. I urge you and Senator Craig to do whatever it takes so that our oil companies can start producing again. Sincerely,
FERROL, Idaho Falls.
ED and ED, Meridian.
VERN.
JOHN, Nezperce.
SARA and DAN, Ketchum.
HEATHER, Pocatello.
WILLIAM, Dalton Gardens.
JOYCE, Franklin.
TONY.
TIM, St. Anthony.
JIM, McCall.
ROCHELLE.
JIM and LOLA.
JUDY, Burley.
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