WASHINGTON, D.C.  -  All of us know the pain folks are feeling at the pump. With gas nationwide still over $4 a gallon, that pain just keeps getting worse, increasing the cost of everything from food to clothing.

It’s the folks who earn the least – those on fixed incomes, our seniors, folks working paycheck to paycheck – who are hurt the most by $4 gas.

But as we all know, high gas prices are hurting other parts of our economy as well. Last week, Congress held a hearing in Calhoun County to highlight the needs of our First Responders.

It goes without saying these men and women are so important here in Calhoun County for helping protect our communities when disaster strikes.

As we heard at the hearing, these first responders – our firefighters and police – are also feeling the pain at the pump.

You can imagine what it takes to fill up a fire truck these days. The same holds true for our police and sheriffs, not to mention our local governments that must fuel their local fleets of trucks and cars.

High energy costs have shown why we must end our foreign oil dependence. Every idea needs to be on the table. First and foremost, we’ve got to become more energy independent.

To do that, we should use the energy we have here at home and expand environmentally safe domestic drilling in places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and off of our coast.

Let’s be clear: we will not drill our way to energy independence. But I am very disappointed that Congress will likely leave town without voting on this common sense solution.

To help advance this debate, recently I introduced a bill to try to help increase our domestic supplies and fund the push for alternative energy sources.

 
The bill, H.R.6758, would immediately lift the ban on drilling in ANWR. 

It would also direct all Federal revenues collected from ANWR drilling sites that would have gone into the general U.S. Treasury into a new renewable fuel research and production fund.

Money in this trust fund would be used to fund business loans to help our employers transition to alternative fuels and increased conservation. 

It would also be used to provide grants to Alabama research institutions like Auburn University and Tuskegee University to study the development of biomass as a source of alternative energy.

By helping support both goals, this legislation could help provide a bridge between our current energy use and what could be the energy sources of the future.

Long term, that could help break our foreign oil dependence and ultimately help make our economy stronger by diversifying the fuel choices available to us all – from our seniors to our firefighters.

Please send me your concerns for helping increase our energy independence.  As always, please contact me at www.house.gov/mike-rogers.