Issue Position: Energy & Environment - Gas Prices

Issue Position

Gas Prices

I certainly understand the frustrations that many Wisconsinites have expressed regarding the price of gasoline, diesel, and oil. Many hard working families have told me about the serious economic challenges they face because of the prices at the pump. We must enact a comprehensive energy plan with near-term measures to offer immediate relief from the high cost of fuels, combined with significant long-term policies to provide secure, low-cost, renewable, and clean sources of energy.

A number of factors contribute to rising gasoline prices, including: unexpected demand growth in China and India; disruptions in oil production in major exporters, such as Venezuela, Iraq and Nigeria; speculation in energy markets; the weakened value of the dollar; and declining domestic refining capacity.

To address fuel prices, I have supported:

* temporarily suspending the fill of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR);
* releasing about 70 million barrels of light, sweet crude oil from the SPR;
* curbing the role of excessive speculation, price distortion, sudden or unreasonable fluctuations or unwarranted changes in prices that cause major market disturbances, preventing it from accurately reflecting the forces of supply and demand on energy commodities;
* enacting a windfall profits tax on oil and gas companies that are making record profits while at the same time failing to increase supply; and
* adopting a "use it or lose it' measure, which requires oil producers to drill on the leases they already have or relinquish them so that another company can produce the oil there

Providing near-term gas price relief is beneficial, but it must be complemented with long-term solutions to ensure that our country continues to have the energy we need at reasonable prices. I believe that our long-term energy solutions lie in renewable sources. For this reason, I support several bills that lower our dependence on oil, reduce our consumption of fossil fuels, increase our fuel efficiency, and encourage innovation and development of renewable fuel technologies.

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