[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 13605-13608]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
IDAHOANS SPEAK OUT ON HIGH ENERGY PRICES
Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, earlier this week, 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_prices@crapo .senate.gov to the
Congressional Record. This is not an issue that will be easily
resolved, but it is one that deserves immediate and serious attention,
and Idahoans deserve to be heard. Their stories not only detail their
struggles to meet everyday expenses, but also have suggestions and
recommendations as to what Congress can do now to tackle this problem
and find solutions that last beyond today. I ask unanimous consent to
have today's letters printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record as follows:
To whom it may concern: The rising cost of fuel and food
are a big concern for us that live in Northern Idaho. We live
in a lightly populated area and the trips to ``town'' are
right at 100 miles round trip. We are on Social Security and
Social Security doesn't allow a lot of flexibility in what a
person can spend. Basic items like home heating and food
prices have made huge changes in the way we live.
Recently we had a death in the family in another state
(Arizona). After figuring the cost of both driving and flying
we determined it would be too much of an expense for us to
go. We sent our love and regards--but that doesn't take the
place of a hug. The cost of heating our home with heating oil
has gone from under a dollar a gallon to 3.97 at the last
tank fill up. That is a huge increase for a basic need. Many
are worse off then we are and have to choose between being
warm and eating. Something must be done.
Every day we see our government reaching out with aid to
other countries. . . .what about those right here in America?
I expect the stimulus payment most people received went to
catch up on a couple of bills--no one could afford the luxury
of just frivolously spending it. We need everyday, down-to-
earth practical help so basic needs can be met.
Please stop this ever-increasing price on fuel and food.
Thank you. . . .sincerely,
Mr. and Mrs. Ray, Priest River.
____
I normally drive our 1999 Chevy Suburban. It gets 14 MPG on
average. With gas prices over $4.00 a gallon I just use this
simple rule of thumb to calculate how much a trip on the
interstate costs me. It's simple. At normal interstate speed
of 65 MPH, it costs me $20.00 an hour to drive. 65 divided by
14 = 4.65 x $4.10 a gallon = $19.00 not including wear and
tear. So $20.00 an hour is my rule of thumb.
Now if I lived 1 hour from work and I made $12.50 an hour,
I would have to work 3.2 hours more to get my 8 hours pay.
Do the math yourself. This has to be fixed.
A few things that bother me the most:
Hearing that the gas companies have made ``record profits''
again while I'm paying for it; the price of a barrel of oil
goes up in the morning then by noon the same day the price of
gas goes up even though that gas has been in the underground
tank for days; the price of a barrel of oil goes down in the
morning but the gas prices stay the same until they can go up
again later; relying on foreign oil. That is relying on a
foreign people who are not necessarily our friends or care
about us; we have oil under our own ground but can't get it?
Why?
Here's a question. Since when is not having oil not a
national security issue?
Aaron, Caldwell.
____
Senator: Nightly, I listen to a number of pundits and
politicos debate the ``solutions'' to our energy problems.
One of the more ridiculous ones is mandating people switch to
higher fuel efficiency automobiles (i.e., buy a new car). As
a small business owner, our health insurance premiums have
just gone up (again), the minimum wage has risen, grocery
costs are rising and our 401k is diminishing. The very
thought of anyone in Congress telling me I have to replace my
``paid for'' cars, and take out a loan to buy a new (more
energy efficient) car is ludicrous!! Gasoline would have to
be over $10 a gallon to make economic sense to my family, in
lieu of absorbing a car payment.
I support drilling offshore and in ANWAR, as well as shale
oil extraction. I think it's time that the world's most
technologically-advanced nation illustrate to the world the
most technologically advanced means of extracting energy. I'm
deeply offended that the United States government, who can't
profitably manage Amtrak, the US Postal Service, or even its
own Senate cafeteria, has the audacity to pretend to convince
me that they know more about ``safe & sound'' energy
extraction than the companies that are professionals in this
endeavor. I hear people crying about how drilling in the US
might ``spoil natural resources''! I'd be willing to wager
that if we weren't dependent upon Middle Eastern oil, we
could have, most likely, saved about 4,000 US Servicemen and
women's lives. That cost of natural resource is infinitely
greater than a handful of caribou!
Respectfully,
Daniel, Boise.
____
My mother-in-law (80 years old) had emergency surgery in
Grand Junction, Colorado. With increased fuel prices, the air
fare to fly my wife to Grand Junction ONE WAY was almost
$900. I drove separately to Grand Junction so our car would
be available for our use. The total mileage over a week's
time was in excess of 1,500 miles and, at over $4.00/gal, our
fuel bill (23 miles/gal) exceeded $260.00. I'd like to buy a
more fuel-efficient car, but my down payment was
significantly reduced!
In eastern Idaho, the cost to go camping, fishing, or
hunting will average from 50 miles to 150 miles or more round
trip. A weekend outing has increased in cost from $5.00 to
$16.00 for someone with a small SUV to $7.50-$22.50 when
using the standard pickup and pulling a boat or trailer. This
is based on $4.00/gal fuel compared to $2.50/gal a year ago.
Summertime costs can easily be $100 per month more for fuel
in this area just for simple recreation (long distances and
not much else to do). Add a few trips to the store for
supplies and the costs can be 50% higher. We can't afford
these extra costs.
Some think the answer is E-85 Ethanol from corn, but that
does NOT save significant petroleum products and creates
additional water pollution in corn-growing states.
Additionally, my cost for food for my family has gone up
significantly because of the increase in the price of corn.
So why, oh why, do you in the government PAY the Midwest
ethanol producers $0.51/gal to pollute the water and drive up
the cost of food throughout the country, while still using as
much oil for tractors in the fields, fuel trucks to transport
the ethanol (it can't go in pipelines), fertilizer, fuel the
ethanol plants, and other energy costs for something that
only has about 68% of the energy content of gasoline? You in
the government should get out of the way of the energy
industry. They were doing fine before government got
involved. Please let the energy sector drill for oil, develop
coal and oil shale gasification technologies, mine the off-
shore methane deposits, and set as a goal that nuclear power
plants will be licensed as fast as
[[Page 13606]]
they can be built. Government reviews should be minimal and
should help instead of hinder our progress. Wind power should
be developed in areas which have minimal impact (look at the
INL site--huge area where the Idaho wind blows all the time).
Small solar installations could easily be developed as the
solar energy industry grows. The very best thing that
government could do is to GET OUT OF THE WAY!! Maybe a few
insects and frogs will die as a result, but it is better than
running out of energy and then trying to figure out what to
do in the dark
Daryl.
____
Senator Crapo: I wanted to briefly share some of the
impacts the high fuel prices are having on my family. I drive
32 miles one way to work. My car gets about 25 miles per
gallon. So it is costing me almost $10 a day just to go to
work. My husband is a farmer. We normally purchase 500
gallons of fuel at a time for the farm. We have not been
financially able to buy it this spring/summer. He has cut
back on the water of the crop because the power bills are so
high, which will most likely affect the yield. Fertilizer is
skyrocketing. Diesel is ridiculous. Our entire food supply is
going to be affected as other farmers face these same
problems. We are not buying any extras anymore. Groceries
have increased, so non-essentials like chips, candy, boxed
cereals, etc. are out. We are not eating out like we used to
either. We normally ate out once or twice a week. For the
past 18 years, I have planted beautiful potted flowers for
the entrance of our home, usually spending around $300. I
will not be planting flowers like that this year. We are not
buying any new clothes for summer. We'll have to make do.
We live in an area where several years ago BP Petroleum
came through and indicated that studies show fuel resources
are available, however, nothing that we know of is being done
to proceed with any exploration or development.
You would think that a country as great as ours with as
many resources as we have would not allow themselves to be
held hostage to foreign fuel resources!!!! We would
appreciate any help you can send our way.
Sincerely,
Marie.
____
Proposition Fuel Refund and Reform
Item 1: There shall be a $4.0 billion one-time charge
imposed against each Refinery listed in Item 1 that shall be
refunded to all California drivers with a valid California
drivers license and age 18 and over. This Charge shall be
apply to Exxon Mobil, BP (includes ARCO), Texaco, Chevron,
Conoco Phillips, Shell, and Citgo. Each Refinery Charged the
refund shall pay their amount to the California State
Treasury for disbursement within 60 days of the passage of
this Proposition. The state shall disburse this money within
150 days of the passage of this Proposition. There shall be a
daily fine of $10 million a day charged to any Refinery that
has not paid its share of the refund in the allotted time
payable to the State of California general fund.
Item 2: All Refineries shall sell off all fuel retail
establishments within one year of the passage of this
proposition. No Refinery or fuel wholesaler shall be allowed
to own or control any fuel retail outlets with the passage of
this proposition. The price of these establishments must fall
within the current market value within its area. Violation of
this item will result in a daily fine of 10 million dollars
per day payable to the State of California general fund.
Item 3: Any present and future contracts between fuel
retail outlets shall be hereby banned and null and void. Any
fuel retail establishment shall be able to purchase fuel from
any Refinery or fuel wholesaler he or she chooses without
restriction. Also any retail outlet shall be able to sell
multiple brands of fuel without restriction. Violation of
this item by any Refinery or fuel wholesaler will result in a
daily fine of ten million dollars per day payable to the
State of California general fund until corrected.
Item 4: Each Refinery selling fuel in California shall
maintain a stored reserve of fuel within the borders of
California equal to 1.5 times the monthly volume of fuel it
sells within the State of California. This requirement shall
be enforced beginning 1 year from the passage of this
proposition by the State of California. Violation of this
item by any Refinery or fuel wholesaler will result in a
daily fine of 10 million dollars per day payable to the State
of California general fund until corrected.
Item 5: Beginning 10 days after the passage of this
Proposition and for a period of 5 years, wholesale prices of
gasoline and diesel per gallon sold to retail establishments
in the State of California shall not exceed 1.2 percent of
the average price of oil per barrel on the world market.
Violation of this item will result in a daily fine of 10
million dollars per day payable to the State of California
general fund.
Item 6: Beginning 10 days after the passage of this
Proposition and for a period of 5 years retail prices of
gasoline and diesel per gallon sold in the State of
California shall not exceed 2.0 percent of the average price
of oil per barrel on the world market. Violation of this item
will result in a daily fine of 10 thousand dollars per day
payable to the State of California general fund.
Item 7: The people of California have determined by the
passing of this proposition that the Refineries listed in
item one meet the definition of a monoply because of the way
fuel prices have risen everywhere in the state of California
in unison in the past 4 years, because these refineries
dominate the market, and by the documented huge increased,
sustained and increasing profits made by these oil
refineries. The people of California request the United
States department of Justice apply antitrust legal action
against the refineries listed in item 1.
Item 8: If any Items listed in this proposition are
nullified by court action then all other Items shall remain
in effect.
Unsigned.
____
Senator Crapo: Thank you for asking for my opinion. As I
interact with my employees as a business executive, with my
fellow church members as a church leader, and as a husband
and father, I think the real bottom line is this: The great
majority of people have no viable alternative to spending
additional money on fuel and many other goods and services
that also rise with fuel price increases. Most people are
just paying more because there is no alternative. This means
that bankruptcy, unemployment, and other severe financial
strains will be staved off until they cannot be held off
anymore, and then it will collapse. The danger signs of
energy dependence are so dire, yet congress does not make any
moves. I think the future is bleak for individuals on the
edge, and a large ``correction'' is due. I also would not be
surprised to see your constituents come after congress with
pitchforks and torches, but I have doubts that congress will
act.
Aaron, Coeur d'Alene.
____
Dear Senator Crapo: Today, we had to make the difficult
choice of putting fuel in the car or grocery shopping. You
see, we needed milk, bread, and some other staples and we
needed a tank of gas. Each purchase was going to amount to
around $80, and we had to choose one or the other. So we
gassed up the car and decided to try to make it until payday
with the food that we had at home.
I have never felt so sick or downtrodden at the one or the
other kind of option we faced today. I went home and also
deduced through some back bills that our housing heating and
cooling has doubled since 2002. In only six years our gas has
gone from $67 a month to $112 and our electric from $87 to
$167, despite my keeping our heating at 65 day and 60 night
in the winter and our cooling at 75 in the summer. We are
hard pressed to pay those bills in addition to gas. This
spiral has got to stop or I do not know how we are going to
manage.
Sincerely,
D., Boise.
____
Dear Senator Crapo: I commute 52 miles round trip daily to
Rexburg from Idaho Falls. Since January I have been car
pooling with a co-worker in my department and we are
encouraging our employer to let us telecommute at least one
day a week. My family has declared two days a week as ``no
drive days'' where we don't even turn the key in either of
our cars. We save our errands and schedule appointments for
other days of the week. This basic routine is helping, but
not enough.
We recently had a daughter in the hospital in Idaho Falls
for seven and a half weeks, and for another four and a half
weeks at the University of Utah Medical Center. Those
expenses were of course offset by health insurance, although
out of pocket expenses still amounted to thousands of
dollars. However during those 12 weeks we had no choice but
to drive to the hospital daily while fuel prices were
skyrocketing. This created a sudden and unexpected burden on
our family budget. With the added cost of fuel forecasted to
stay high into the future, our financial recovery is nowhere
in sight.
Thanks for listening.
Bob and Beverly, Idaho Falls.
____
Senator Crapo: I own a small retail shop in Salmon, Idaho.
Retailers in this area depend on the local economy and on
Tourism to make ends. Tourists provide 60% of our sales
revenue and the gas prices have dramatically diminished
travelers. Whitewater rafting companies are struggling and my
retail store is in danger. I am unable to meet my monthly
expenses, let alone purchase merchandise to replenish my
normal inventory. Consumers cannot afford anything beyond gas
and food. Prices have doubled on groceries, shipping and all
are related to rising fuel costs. Most of the people I know
have no extra from their paychecks and it is killing small
businesses all over the Country! Here in the Rocky Mountains
we can't drive hybrid cars. The snow, rain and rural homes
make cars impossible. We have to have 4 wheel drives and
chains just to get out of our driveways and to the grocery
store! There is no mass transit and carpooling wouldn't be
feasible.
Congress seems to be at a loss as to what to do and if
something doesn't happen soon we will be facing a major
depression! The Speculators are driving prices even higher
and the oil producing nations are unwilling to cut their
profits. Most of us feel that Congress and the Senate are in
bed with the oil companies.
[[Page 13607]]
Something has to be done to open oil and gas production in
this Country. We have Anwar, the Bakkan oil in the North
Central States and off shore oil pockets. It is time that our
government look out for the American People and stop bucking
under to the Environmentalists.
Something has to be done quickly. Long-term renewable
energy sources will take decades, by that time all the small
businesses like mine will be forced to either close or file
bankruptcy. Currently my shop is in jeopardy. I am behind on
all my bills and my credit has been ruined so I can't even
get a loan to get me through the crisis. If our governmental
body can't find a solution now, then expect to see small and
medium businesses go under. We are the backbone of this land
and we need some backbone leadership!!!!
Sincerely
Donna, Salmon.
____
Dear Senator Crapo: I would be more than happy to share our
story of high energy prices and the toll it is taking on our
family and our finances. My husband and I find it outrageous
that environmental groups can have SO much pull in this
country to put bans on the construction of oil refineries,
liquid coal plants and drilling for our own domestic
petroleum. At this point, we are dependant on this abundant
and efficient fuel. There is no other alternative right now
to take the place of petroleum--at least nothing that is
practical, efficient and most importantly--affordable!!! To
ignore our vast reserves of coal and oil in this country to
leave us dependent on Middle East Fuel is ludicrous. There is
wonderful technology out there that can turn coal into liquid
fuel that burns cleaner than gasoline! But because your
average environmentalist does not understand how this
technology works--they are against it because traditionally
burnt coal is filthy. They would rather grow food crops to
fill their tanks up while people and animals starve.
We live in Salmon, Idaho. My husband is a Real Estate
Appraiser who frequently travels almost 600 miles in a week
simply to reach the properties to do his work. The cost of
living necessitates at this point that he take EVERY SINGLE
job that crosses his desk--so frequently driving round-trip
to Arco and back in a day or over to Missoula, Montana and
back in a day is a normal thing. BUT--the drawback is that
right now we have an outstanding balance on our Chevron card
that is over $1,400 and over limit--so we can't even use the
card. We make large payments every month, but with the
interest rate we still have not been able to bring the
balance low enough to even use the card. So we pay the
Chevron bill AND pay for gas out of our regular checking
account. The Chevron card went well over limit way back when
gas hit $3.50 a gallon, and we have not been able to catch up
and bring the balance down. We have a propane bill that is
over $1,100 right now that I pay $125 a month on--but this is
a balance from an $1,800 fill up of our tank back in November
of 2007. I am going to call the gas company this week to see
if they will fill the tank now while prices are ``lower''. So
we will probably have a bill that is over $3,000 for heating
our home basically 6 months out of the year. If gas goes any
higher--we are going to have to figure out how to get even
deeper in debt to find a cheaper way to heat our home in the
winter. As you know--Idaho gets cold. We HAVE to heat our
home!!! Living in Salmon, we HAVE to drive over 300 miles in
a round trip either to Idaho Falls or Missoula Montana for
doctors, Costco, clothes shopping etc.--as due to there being
a lack of logging or mining anymore there is really no local
options for shopping, etc. The very lives of people living
here depend on big rig trucks bringing our food etc. For MANY
years now, we have been hearing of the Idaho Cobalt Project--
but because the environmentalists have such a stranglehold on
ALL industries in this country--we are still awaiting word of
WHEN or IF this project will start. If it does get clearance,
Salmon, Idaho will once again have jobs that pay a living
wage for a family. We have a house that we moved out of in
downtown Salmon in 2005--it has been sitting empty awaiting a
buyer since then. It is in a commercial zone--and commercial
is dead in Salmon. We filed paperwork with our mortgage
company way back in February to give the house back in a Deed
in Lieu--and we are still awaiting word!!! Apparently, the
mortgage companies are backlogged about 6 months? We can't
afford to visit family in California because we can't afford
the gas. My husband's mother and father in California got
extremely ill this last year, but he was never able to visit
because of the debt load we are carrying and how expensive
driving or flying is!! We are working to make payments and
catch up on our gas bills that are maxed out right now. We
stopped making payments on a house that would not sell for 3
years now--that has left us behind in everything. With fuel
costs continuing to rise because we have a Democratic
Liberal, Anti-American Congress that continues to ban any
sort of domestic drilling for our own petroleum deposits--we
don't even have a chance to catch up right now as gas prices
continue to rise. We are fortunate though. My husband has a
busy and successful business and thankfully at least, we are
able to work to make our payments. On Father's Day, we
decided against a picnic any further than 5 miles out of town
because of the cost of fuel. It is sickening to us that our
government cares SO little for the average working American.
It is sad that our government has allowed itself to be
controlled by secular humanist environmentalists who care
more for a spotted owl or a tiny snail than the human family.
Just ask anyone here in Salmon how we feel about the forests
being shut down to logging--yet it is perfectly fine for the
forest that is becoming nothing more than a deadfall
tinderbox to burn and choke us with toxic, suffocating smoke
for 2 months every summer! Something has to change because if
it does not soon--this country is going to enter a depression
that makes the Great Depression look like the Good Old
Days!!!
Sincerely,
Brent and Katie, Salmon.
____
It is very hard to understand why the United States, the
most powerful Nation on Earth, is begging the Middle East for
oil. We need to immediately increase drilling off shore, in
Alaska and other States, plus utilize technology available to
extract oil from shale deposits in the Rocky Mountains. We
have advanced technology sufficiently to be safe for the
environment and yet provide for ourselves rather than being
dependent upon the Middle East.
Is it true that China is drilling off the Florida coast,
but we can't? In Idaho Falls, the Chamber is bragging about
bringing a French company's new uranium enrichment plant and
the corresponding jobs to the area to fuel nuclear power for
France. WHAT--we have had the capability of generating
nuclear power at the INEL for 35 years. My father worked at
the INEL for 35 years. You mean to tell me the
environmentalists will allow uranium enrichment for France,
but we can't utilize an existing US nuclear plant for power
for Idaho?
Bio-fuels are not the whole answer, it puts too much
pressure on our farmland that we need to crop food crops. The
prices of food are going up enough because of the fuel costs.
The US has substantial coal deposits, we need to build more
coal fired power plants. Combined with the nuclear and wind,
we should be able to have more than enough power to re-charge
hybrid cars.
Besides increasing drilling in the US, we need to invest in
some updated/additional refineries.
Then, Congress needs to do something about the speculators
driving up the price of crude oil. I don't know if you can
make it illegal to speculate on oil futures or restrict it,
but news media are reporting that $3.00 of every gallon goes
to speculators profits buying and selling.
Chris, Idaho Falls.
____
Dear Senator: My husband and I own a small business in
Lewiston, where we do print advertising and TV/Video
productions (among other things). We live close to our
business, so although our fuel prices have increased, it's
not having a huge impact--YET. However, we frequently have to
travel across or out of the state to shoot various jobs, and
we are now having to charge such high travel expenses that we
are at risk of losing some clients to production companies
closer to their location, even though they would prefer to
keep working with us. We are bidding on a job right now which
falls in that category--a year ago we would have quoted them
$200 for mileage, and now we have to quote almost $500.
Obviously this will impact our bottom line by the end of the
year--something that we really can't afford.
Bobri, Lewiston.
____
Senator Crapo: I would guess that my story is different
than the story you were looking for.
In 1974 I graduated from the University of California with
a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering.
The height of the first real Oil Crisis created by OPEC.
Because of the skyrocketing price of gasoline, gas lines,
and shortages, I purchased a manual transmission diesel
Volkswagen for $7,500. That car on average got 52 miles per
gallon. Diesel is a cheap byproduct of gasoline refinement.
At that time, it cost \1/2\ the price of gasoline per gallon.
Tell me why it costs more than gasoline now?
A few weeks after graduation, I was granted a full
scholarship to continue engineering graduate school at UC.
In 1979 I graduated from UC with a Ph.D. in Mechanical
Engineering, my specialty: thermodynamics, energy, and
materials science. My thesis was on the extraction of heat
energy from hot geothermal brine solutions.
I started working for a startup company purchased by
Weyerhaeuser. My project was researching burning lignite
(dirty coal) in a fluidized bed reactor to produce clean coal
energy. It included the removal of NOX,
SOX, and high temperature particulate down below
the submicron size.
My research burned one train car load of lignite
(environmentally the worst coal to burn with the lowest
heating value) from West Virginia, in Menlo Park, CA every
day
[[Page 13608]]
24/7 for nearly 9 months performing experiments under
contract with the US DOE. Our work was successful but went no
further. During the operation of that combustion system and
the associated experiments we passed all EPA combustion gas
stream standards. That company years later went bankrupt. I
left after 2 years to join Hewlett Packard in their computer
systems group. For the past 25 years I've been involved in
semiconductor manufacturing.
Thirty years have passed and sadly our government is no
closer to a long term proactive energy policy than it was in
1979.
It is a national disgrace and one day will be a national
disaster which will make the Great Depression pale in
comparison.
PLEASE, wait no longer. Turning food stocks into ethanol,
waiting for cheap solar, and looking to the wind to solve
this global crisis is beyond ridiculous.
Drill now in ANWR, Drill off the Coasts of Florida, and
California, Turn on the clean coal industry and liquefy coal
for fuel, build as many nuclear power plants as fast as
possible (then maybe we can avoid the energy depression). I
don't believe we have another 30 years to gamble away.
Regards,
Larry, Eagle.
____
Mike, I really believe that we don't need to find
alternative fuels. America is set up to burn petroleum based
products and there are so many drawbacks to all of the
``bio'' fuels. We have lots of oil right off of our own
coasts and in the Gulf on Mexico, ANWR and North and South
Dakota with oil shale.
Our problem to being independent is not supply, Arabs or
the environment! It's Congress and the wacko left enviro
crowd who would rather see us all on bicycles!
I'm 62 years old and I DO ride a bicycle. However, like you
mentioned in your opening letter, bikes don't work all the
time in Idaho. Matter of fact between October and June, they
suck! We had 2" of snow in Moscow on June 10th this year.
Congress needs to just get out of the way and let industry
do its thing.
Mike, I realize you're only one Senator from a little-known
state out West that doesn't matter to everybody East of the
Mississippi River but some how we have to find the courage to
stand up to the liberal Dems before our economy state and
country are turned into a Third World European nightmare like
B. H. O is designing.
Sincerely,
Dave, Moscow.
____________________