IMPROVING, ENHANCING, AND STRENGTHENING OUR ENERGY RESOURCES
Gas Prices:
As someone who drives more than 60,000 miles a year across the eleven county 23rd Congressional District, I certainly share your frustration with exorbitantly high prices for a gallon of gas.
Over the past year, I've been very clear with House Leadership and other Members of Congress -- that we simply must do something to tackle the gas prices. I do not believe that energy consumers can take another hit financially due to gas prices, especially in rural areas such as ours. As such, I introduced an important bill designed to address this situation. The Gasoline Tax Relief Act would temporarily suspend the federal excise tax on gasoline. If enacted, this measure would eliminate the 18.4 cents per gallon tax for a period of 60 days, while implementing ongoing price monitoring, triggering subsequent thirty day suspensions if the price of gas crosses a threshold of $2.75. I believe this would be a valuable step in the right direction to immediately alleviate the burden unexpectedly placed on families across the nation.
Further, I have long record of holding the oil and gas industry accountable. From urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate possible price manipulation of gas prices and sponsoring legislation outlawing price gouging, to exercising vigorous oversight as a member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, I have continually been on the side of hardworking consumers, not the oil and gas companies. Indeed, most recently I supported H.R. 6, which would change provisions in current law by rolling back approximately $14 billion in tax breaks and other subsidies for oil and gas companies and depositing that money into a fund to promote alternatives to fossil fuels.
Reducing our Dependency on Foreign Oil:
America’s energy problem did not develop overnight. Similarly, a long-term resolution of this issue will take considerable time and effort and will need to involve a number of different strategies. For those very reasons, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 attempts to put into place a balanced energy plan to increase production and promote conservation, while protecting our environmental priorities. The law will significantly help to ensure a secure, reliable energy supply and thereby greatly alleviate the skyrocketing gasoline and electricity prices.
Indeed, I am pleased to report that we are already seeing the beneficial effects from the Energy Policy Act. For example, since the President signed the measure into law last year;
- 27 ethanol plants are now under construction
- 500 million gallons of new annual ethanol production are online
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401 new flex fuel E-85 pumps have been installed
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26 new nuclear reactors have been planned or announced by the nuclear power industry
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2,000 megawatts in new wind power are online
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543,000 additional homes are fueled by wind power
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$4 billion in economic activity has been generated as the result of new wind power production
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7 billion pounds of CO2 emissions are now offset by new wind power production
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There has been a 30 percent increase nationwide of solar thermal collector installations
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50,000 megawatts have been saved by 2020 because of the 15 new efficiency standards
In our own Congressional District, several exciting developments are underway to which I am committed: biofuel projects at Clarkson University in St. Lawrence County, ethanol production facilities in Oswego County, a potential new nuclear plant in Oswego County, and wind farm construction in Lewis and Madison Counties. These projects will better enable our region to produce energy, sell energy, and be friendlier to our environment in the process.
