Who Will Really Work to Reduce Gas Prices?

A look at positions our elected officials and candidates have taken on energy and American dependence on foreign oil...

REPUBLICANS

Congressman Eric Cantor (Incumbent, 7th District) supports producing energy in America.

"Congress should act to pass a bill prior to July 4 that would allow for the exploration of oil and gas in the deep ocean floor, as well in ANWR and other parts of the United States. We should streamline the regulatory process for the construction of nuclear power plants as well as refineries. A bill like this would send a serious signal that America intends to address the current supply crunch. In turn, global markets would likely respond and downward price pressure could set in."

U.S. Senator John Warner has introduced legislation that would allow the Commonwealth of Virginia to explore for natural gas off its shores, empowering Virginia – not Washington – to make decisions regarding its own coastline.

According to Warner's June 18th Press release, "The bill would allow the state, upon approval by Virginia’s governor and its General Assembly, to petition the Department of the Interior for a waiver to explore for natural-gas resources. Should exploration yield potential reserves, the commonwealth could then request a waiver to extract natural gas. It would also give Virginia’s neighbors a voice in the process should the commonwealth submit such petitions.

Under the terms of the bill, the federal government and Virginia would share any revenue that might be generated: 50 percent of all monies would go to a new Clean Energy Fund in the federal treasury, 37.5 percent to the state and 6.25 percent to the Land and Water Conservation Fund for conservation purposes. An additional 6.25 percent would be placed into a fund to mitigate any damages that might result from drilling."

“I believe it is essential that we continue to modernize our energy infrastructure and develop a reliable, commonsense approach to American energy – one that includes new supplies from domestic exploration and extraction, encourages conservation and promotes the use and advancement of clean, renewable energies,” said Warner.

Jim Gilmore candidate for U.S. Senate, supports producing energy in America along the same line as Congressman Cantor.

"Drill here, drill now, and pay less. This is our path to quickly reduce our dependence on foreign oil and lower prices."

His web site states,

“The United States today imports 60 percent of its oil, a situation that places our economy and our national security at risk. We can do better! I believe we must use research and development tax incentives to motivate and stimulate American ingenuity and technology to free our nation from its dependence on foreign oil. We also must push for steady and dramatic increases in domestic energy production and efforts to expand the use of alternative fuels.”

John McCain, the presumed Republican candidate for President, supports offshore drilling. He favors expanding domestic oil and natural gas exploration and production. His web site makes his position clear:

John McCain Will Commit Our Country To Expanding Domestic Oil Exploration. The current federal moratorium on drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf stands in the way of energy exploration and production. John McCain believes it is time for the federal government to lift these restrictions and to put our own reserves to use. There is no easier or more direct way to prove to the world that we will no longer be subject to the whims of others than to expand our production capabilities. We have trillions of dollars worth of oil and gas reserves in the U.S. at a time we are exporting hundreds of billions of dollars a year overseas to buy energy. This is the largest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind. We should keep more of our dollars here in the U.S., lessen our foreign dependency, increase our domestic supplies, and reduce our trade deficit - 41% of which is due to oil imports. John McCain proposes to cooperate with the states and the Department of Defense in the decisions to develop these resources.

John McCain Believes In Promoting And Expanding The Use Of Our Domestic Supplies Of Natural Gas. When people are hurting, and struggling to afford gasoline, food, and other necessities, common sense requires that we draw upon America's own vast reserves of oil and natural gas. Within the United States we have tremendous reserves of natural gas. The Outer Continental Shelf alone contains 77 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas. It is time that we capitalize on these significant resources and build the infrastructure needed to transport this important component of electricity generation and transportation fuel around the country.

DEMOCRATS

Antia Hartke, Democrat candidate for Congress, (7th District) favors only government funded research in alternative fuels, according to her web site.

U.S. Senator Jim Webb has co-sponsored Senator Warner's legislation.

“Our national security requires that we work responsibly toward energy independence, and Senator Warner’s legislation offers a preliminary step toward exploration and development of one of our domestic energy sources. In order to address our nation’s energy crisis, all options need to be on the table, as we seek a comprehensive national energy policy that incorporates the combined approaches of energy conservation, renewable energy, clean coal, and nuclear power.”

Mark Warner, Democrat candidate for U.S. Senate, vetoed legislation in support of lifting the federal moratorium on offshore drilling when he was governor. Warner currently supports exploration offshore, if the states agree, and an undefined "environmental threshold" is met. However, he does not support drilling and actual production of oil and gas, offshore or in ANWR. He also wants the government to go after speculators and oil cartels, which he claims will provide quicker relief.

Barack Obama, the presumed Democrat Presidential candidate, favors former President Bill Clinton's strategy of letting tomorrow take care of itself. In 1995, Clinton vetoed legislation to allow drilling in ANWR. Back then oil was $17.14 a barrel and gas was $1.15 per gallon at the pump. Democrats have followed his lead and blocked drilling in ANWR every year since.

Ignoring the fact that we would not be hamstrung by dependence on foreign oil today, if we had started drilling in ANWR 13 years ago, Obama has declared,

“Opening our coastlines to offshore drilling would take at least a decade to produce any oil at all.."

Of course, the longest journey starts with the first step, as the saying goes.

Obama states that he does not believe that America has any amount of oil worth producing, even though the coastal shelves and ANWR have been estimated to hold enough oil and gas to replace our dependence on OPEC for years to come and create 10 million new jobs in America.

So there you have it. If you prefer not to be standing at the gas station, looking at the predicted $15 a gallon on the pump sometime in the future, you would do well to vote Republican on November 4th.