I have spent my seven years in Congress trying to prevent us from getting to where we are today on energy and gas prices.  Despite my objections special interests and partisan politics have prevented Congress from doing what is necessary to take control of our energy economy.  It’s become far too easy for politicians and the media to blame “big oil” for the cost of gas when the truth is, Congress is to blame.

Oil company profits rise not because the oil companies are greedy, but because of simple economics.  When supply shrinks and demand grows, prices rise and the profits to oil producers increase in turn.  For over 30 years, Congress has latched onto the false notion that punishing oil companies for their profits should be more important than dealing with the real issue: increasing the supply of oil.    

Right now, the AAA fuel gauge report shows the average price for gas in Pennsylvania is hovering at $3.616 per gallon with no signs of lowering.  To make matters worse, the price of gas doesn’t just hit Americans in the pocket book when they fill their tanks. Rising gas prices impact the cost of transporting goods and services throughout the country resulting in higher prices for products we use everyday.  Higher energy costs make farming more expensive, which translates to higher prices at the grocery store.  In short, higher gas prices have a cascading effect that pulls down our already fragile economy.

Unfortunately, the solutions being offered today to deal with this issue mirror the same failed policies of the past.  Instead of focusing on increasing domestic production of oil, Congress is hell bent on punishing oil companies with windfall profit taxes and over-regulation.  These are the same policies that led to price controls, gas shortages, and the long lines at gas stations in the 1970’s.  We don’t need to repeat history.

We don’t have a shortage of oil and gas reserves here at home.  However, government policies restrict us from taking advantage of them.  In doing so, the government is literally handing our future over to dictators in the Middle East and Venezuela.  For example, the U.S. Geologic Survey estimates that the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) could produce up to 16 billion barrels of recoverable oil.  The American Petroleum Institute estimates that if you combine the oil and gas reserves in Alaska with our reserves in the Gulf of Mexico and other public lands, we would have enough oil and gas to fuel 60 million cars for 60 years and heat 60 million homes for 160 years.  However, over 85 percent of costal waters have been restricted to oil and gas exploration and ANWR has become a haven to special interests that many politicians are fearful of angering. 

We need to explore these reserves.  We need to invest in a domestic supply of energy.  If we increase supply to meet demand, prices will go down.  In addition to domestic exploration for oil and gas, we must also look to coal.

The United States holds 27 percent of the world’s coal supply.  We produce 1.1 billion tons of coal each year. Pennsylvania is the nation’s fourth largest coal producer.  We can use this resource to create a thriving, job creating coal to liquid fuel industry.  One ton of coal can produce about 1.5 barrels of liquid fuel. The U.S. produces more than 1.1 billion tons of coal annually. If all of this were used to produce liquid fuels, the nation’s coal industry could produce 4.6 million barrels of liquid fuel per day and cut crude oil imports by 40 percent. 

Lastly, we must seriously consider expanding is our nuclear power capacity.  Nuclear energy emits zero harmful emissions into the atmosphere.  Nations across the world are investing in nuclear capacity.  Congress must take efforts to make sure we do not lag behind our energy competitors.

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