Walberg Op-Ed in Battle Creek Enquirer: "No More Excuses on Energy Policy"

Op-Ed

WALBERG OP-ED IN BATTLE CREEK ENQUIRER: "No more excuses on energy policy"

U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg: No more excuses on energy policy
All across our great country, Americans are tired of paying over $4 a gallon to fill up their vehicles. Many families in Calhoun County are giving up nights eating out at restaurants or family vacations in order to cover the rising cost of gasoline.

Parents are paying twice as much to pick up their kids from school and sports. Valuable programs like Meals on Wheels are running out of funding or losing volunteers. If no action is taken, families will soon be giving up much more than they are now, just to pay for gas.

A barrel of oil has gone from $70 to $140 over the last year, dramatically increasing our trade deficit and shattering the family budgets of millions of Americans. America's dependence on foreign energy forces us to import about 12 million barrels of oil a day, sending billions of dollars to many countries that do not share our interests.

Just as with the Manhattan Project or the race to the moon, breaking our dependence on foreign oil should be a national priority. We need a comprehensive plan that returns our energy production to the United States and creates good-paying, American jobs.

The first part of this plan needs to be an increase in American energy production. If we increase our domestic energy exploration in places like Alaska and the Outer Continental Shelf and increase our refinery capacity, we can start to bring more American-produced gasoline to the market and lower the price. In the long run, America cannot survive on oil alone, and we must also bring more alternative energy to market.

On June 10, I introduced a discharge petition to force a vote on a bill to increase U.S. energy production and invest in alternative sources of energy. This appropriately named bill, the No More Excuses Energy Act (H.R. 3089), would increase the supply of energy produced in America, but House leadership refuses to bring it up for a vote.

Since Speaker Nancy Pelosi will not to bring this bill to the House floor, a discharge petition is the only way to force a vote on this legislation. House rules state that a discharge petition must have 218 signatures (a simple majority) in order to bring a bill to the floor for a vote, and I am working hard to bring both Democrats and Republicans together in support of this bill. To date, I have 153 signatures on the petition, and I will continue to press my colleagues as action is needed now.

The actual bill is simple and straightforward. It would immediately open up areas for environmentally sound energy exploration. According to recent estimates, today America would receive one million barrels of oil per day from ANWR in Alaska if President Clinton had not blocked exploration in 1996. Outer Continental Shelf and Gulf of Mexico exploration, new refineries, wind, natural gas and new nuclear power plants are also covered in this legislation.

The American people believe in expanding our American energy supply and developing alternatives to break our dependence on foreign oil and stop sending hundreds of billions of dollars overseas to unfriendly countries. In Michigan, we need an energy policy that will result in more American energy production and reduced energy costs for families, farmers and small businesses. It's time to tell Congress "no more excuses."

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