Congressman Steve Kagen's Energy Policy

Congressman Kagen’s Recent Energy Speech on the House Floor

           
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In the short term, there are three things we must do to begin to ease prices and help end our addiction to foreign sources of energy:

(1) Drill for new oil in America

(2) Invest in every form of renewable energy while promoting energy conservation and efficiency, and provide tax incentives for wind, solar, geo-thermal, biomass, cellulosic and any other form of clean, home-grown energy

(3) Prevent any price manipulation in energy markets, everywhere in the world.

OIL LEASES: USE IT OR LOSE IT

Common sense tells us we must increase domestic energy supplies, and yet at this time oil companies are only drilling on 12 of the 68 million acres leased to them by our government, even though over 120 billion barrels of oil lie beneath these lands.

American oil companies must be encouraged to drill for new oil. That’s why I voted to encourage them to drill on every single oil-containing acre of public land, or turn these valuable rights over to someone else who will. Simply put, they should use it or lose it.

DRILL NOW IN NATIONAL PETROLEUM RESERVE - ALASKA

On July 16, 2008, I introduced the Oil for Americans Act (H.R. 6523), which would have banned the export of oil obtained in Alaska, after all oil brought out of the ground in Alaska should be sold only to Americans. The next day, my bill was included in a larger measure, the DRILL Act (H.R. 6515), which failed to receive enough votes to send it to the Senate. The DRILL Act would have made it easier to drill for oil on the National Petroleum Reserve – Alaska and importantly, it would also have enabled us to complete the construction of a Natural Gas pipeline bringing natural gas to the lower 48 states.

I voted to drill right now for oil in Alaska and to deliver our plentiful natural gas to America.

DECREASE OIL PRICES NOW

But in reality, it takes years to explore, drill, refine and deliver the fuel we need. But we need lower prices now – not next year. So, I’ve also been working to prevent oil price manipulation. Recently, sworn testimony during congressional hearings indicated that oil price manipulation is real, and that by designing more effective oversight in the oil markets, prices for gasoline could drop by $2.00 per gallon.

And I also cosponsored new legislation requiring speculative investment firms to take possession of oil they buy, just as we do when we fill up at the corner gas station. Hopefully, by compelling Wall Street speculators to take possession of oil they purchase, supplies of oil will increase and prices will fall. As complex as this issue is, however, no one can predict precisely what will happen when these new measures are fully enacted, but I am optimistic we’re adopting a reasonable and winning approach.

These are several of the recent actions I’ve been working on to reduce oil prices for all of us. Drill for new oil, invest in renewable energy, promote energy conservation and efficiency, use it or lose it, and take possession of oil you buy are all ideas aimed at encouraging energy companies to increase oil supplies and to reduce prices.

LOWER PRICES IN 10 DAYS

I have also suggested that the president immediately begin to sell a small portion of our Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), which would instantly increase the supply of oil and reduce prices at the pump more rapidly than anything else.

In the recent past, presidents have opened the SPR, releasing oil immediately to cut consumer costs for oil – and it worked every time. In 1991, oil prices fell 33%. In 2000, oil prices dropped nearly 19%, and in 2005 following Hurricane Katrina, prices for oil fell immediately by 9%.

I have written to the president and have convinced members of Congress to so the same, but as of today, president bush has not acted to reduce oil prices by selling a small portion of our oil in the SPR. We need help now, not next week!

But these efforts are really only a temporary fix, because oil supplies cannot rise as rapidly as worldwide demand, especially as the economies of China and India continue to expand and demand more energy. Therefore, we must begin to think differently and move as rapidly as possible away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy sources.

AN INDEPENDENT ENERGY FUTURE

I have also voted for, and Congress approved, increased investments in energy efficiency and renewable sources of energy including solar, wind, geo-thermal, cellulosic and biomass-based technologies. These investments will create millions of new high-wage jobs and stimulate our economy.

It will require several years, and a bipartisan approach, for these new technologies to significantly reduce our need for fossil fuels.

What we really need today are independent minded leaders to bring about the changes we need. I will continue to work hard for positive change, and by working together we will once again become an energy independent nation.