|
|
U.S.
Senator Member: Finance, Agriculture, Energy, Ethics and Aging Committees |
|
|
|
||
|
For Immediate
Release Tuesday, June 10, 2008 |
CONTACT:Stephanie Valencia – 202-228-3630 |
|
| Sen. Salazar: 'We Need to be Honest About Our Energy Future'
WASHINGTON, DC – With the price of gas creeping past $4 a gallon and showing no signs of slowing down, American families, particularly those in rural communities, are feeling the pain of our nation’s energy crisis. America’s overdependence on foreign oil is at the root of the problem, driving up gas prices, compromising national security, and holding our economy hostage to the countries that control the world’s oil reserves. Today, in a speech on the
floor of the U.S. Senate, United States Senator Ken Salazar urged his
colleagues to engage in an honest discussion on how best to secure America’s
energy future and deliver long-term relief to struggling American families
feeling the pain of $4 a gallon gas. In his remarks, Senator Salazar
highlighted the importance of developing America’s conventional and
unconventional resources in a thoughtful and responsible way, and focused
on the need to improve energy efficiency and develop America’s clean
energy economy. “Mr. President, I rise today to talk about the pain that $4 a gallon gas is inflicting across our country. For the last eight years, our energy policy has been stuck in the past. Today, we suffer from that neglect. Our national security is compromised by our alarming overdependence on foreign oil. Our economy is held hostage to other countries that control the oil reserves. And every day, 300 million Americans are feeling the real pain of high gas prices resulting from these failed policies. “Americans know the math all too well. Since 2001, the price of oil has risen more than 400 percent. The cost of a gallon of gas in Colorado is up almost 300 percent, from an average of $1.08 per gallon to $3.96 per gallon. U.S. expenditures on foreign oil have more than tripled. A family’s transportation costs have more than doubled. And projections show that gas may reach $5 a gallon this summer. “But the numbers don’t even begin to tell the story of how our dependence on foreign oil is hurting Americans. “They don’t tell the story of the farmer in Kit Carson County, who is worried he won’t be able to afford the diesel needed to harvest his wheat this summer. “They don’t tell the story of the trucker in Elizabeth, Colorado, whose weekly income has fallen $700 in this economy and can barely afford to fill his truck because fuel costs are higher than ever. “They don’t tell the story of how fuel prices have pushed several airlines into bankruptcy and led United Airlines to cut over a thousand jobs. “In rural communities in particular, gas prices are taking a huge bite out of family budgets. This map shows the average proportion of family income that is going toward filling the tank in counties across the country. You can see which parts of the country are hardest hit. In some rural counties upwards of 16% of income is going toward gasoline. Click here to see how higher fuel prices are hitting Rural America hardest “Across the country, we are paying almost $5 billion more every day for oil than we did five years ago. “Are these dollars staying in the U.S.? Of course not. They’re going to the Middle East, Russia, and Venezuela. “Revenues for oil-producing states and oil companies – primarily oil companies controlled by foreign governments - will reach $2 trillion this year. “So while American farmers and ranchers are facing $10,000 fuel bills, Saudi Arabia is using its oil riches to build four new cities in the desert. The Sudanese are building new skyscrapers and five-star luxury hotels. And Russia is using its oil windfall to increase its federal budget tenfold. “Over the last eight years, we have only become more dependent on foreign oil. Today, we import more than 60% of our oil. Thanks to the failed energy policies of the past, we are at the mercy of OPEC. “We must succeed in a sustained policy that kills our addiction to foreign oil. “How do we do this? “First, we continue to responsibly develop our domestic oil and gas resources. I was a strong supporter of the 2005 Energy Policy Act, which took sensible steps to stimulate new exploration and energy development. In 2006, I worked with my colleagues to open additional reserves in the Gulf of Mexico to energy development – these areas hold an estimated 5.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 1.26 billion barrels of recoverable oil. “Colorado is also a proud contributor to our nation’s energy supply and we’re working to do more. We have more than 34,000 active gas wells right now, with almost 5 million acres of land under lease. We are producing 1.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas each year, up six-fold from 14 years ago. Over the coming years, we will contribute even more to our nation’s energy supply. The BLM estimates that over the next 20 years we could have 17,000 more gas wells in just three of our western counties alone. I have also introduced legislation to open additional areas in the state to oil and gas development, including the Roan Plateau in western Colorado. “But let’s not kid ourselves. Expanding domestic oil and gas production will not lower gas prices or kick our addiction to foreign oil. Americans consume 25 percent of the world's produced oil, but we hold less than 1.7 percent of the world's proven oil reserves. U.S. domestic production peaked in 1970. Click here to see a chart of proven oil reserves, by region, around the globe “If we threw open
the doors of America’s most treasured landscapes to drilling, it would
still just be a drop in bucket. According to the Energy Information,
drilling the Arctic Wildlife Refuge would, at peak production (which
would be somewhere between 2018 and 2030) reduce the cost of gasoline
by less than four cents per gallon. “Some dream that oil shale will save the day. “Oil shale deposits in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah amount to somewhere between 500 billion and 1.1 trillion barrels of oil. That is more than double the proven reserves of oil in Saudi Arabia. “The trouble is, the oil is locked up in rock and, even after $10 billion of research and development, nobody has figured out an economical way to get it out. “If the technology were ripe, companies like Shell would already be developing oil shale today on their own lands. Shell and other companies already own nearly 200,000 acres of prime oil shale reserves in Utah and Colorado. Nobody – not the federal government, not the Congress, not the State – is stopping them from developing these tracts. But they are just not ready, and that’s what they have all told us in testimony. They are still struggling to overcome technological and economic barriers. “We can help companies like Shell overcome these barriers through research and development incentives like the ones I helped put in the 2005 Energy Policy Act, but even under the most optimistic estimates, the technology won’t be ready for commercialization until 2015. “So, let’s be honest about oil shale. Let’s not pretend there’s a magic wand that we can wave that will unlock the mystery of oil shale. Let’s be honest about our energy future. Let’s be honest with the American people “Mr. President, responsibly expanding our domestic production is only one part of the solution. As I have said repeatedly over the last four years, we also need to be improving our energy efficiency, investing in technologies, and developing our clean energy economy. We have taken several steps in the right direction. “At the end of 2007, Congress passed legislation to increase fuel efficiency standards in cars and light trucks by over 40 percent by 2020. This will save over 1.1 million barrels of oil a day. “The bill we passed, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, also helps spur the rapid development and deployment of advanced biofuels, such as cellulosic ethanol. The bill quintupled the existing renewable fuels standard to 36 billion gallons by 2022, 21 billion of which must be from advanced biofuels, such as cellulosic ethanol. That is more than enough to offset our oil imports from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Libya combined. “I was also proud of the work we did in the Farm Bill to spur cellulosic biofuel production, which has the potential to dramatically reduce carbon pollution. The Farm Bill includes a provision I sponsored that provides a $1.01/gallon tax credit for the production of cellulosic biofuels. It is the first incentive for cellulosic biofuels of its kind. “Why is this so important? Because cellulosic biofuels have the potential to displace 3 billion barrels of oil annually, equivalent to 60 percent of our country’s yearly consumption of oil in the transportation sector, without affecting our need for food, feed or fiber. 3 billion barrels of oil a year. “Mr. President, dramatically increasing our biofuels production can and will help us get control of gas prices and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. “In fact, if it weren’t for current ethanol production gas prices would be even higher than they are today. “Merrill Lynch estimates that gas prices would be 15% higher if it weren’t for our ethanol production. “In addition, studies are showing that, as a result of our renewable fuels standard enacted in 2005, U.S. oil imports recently declined for the first time in a quarter century. “Unfortunately, there are some who just can’t accept the fact that biofuels can and should be a larger part of our energy future. They’re finding any excuse to advocate yesterday’s energy policies and step back into the past. “These renewable energy opponents claim, for one, that biofuels production – in particular corn ethanol production – is to blame for high food prices. “This is absurd. There are three factors that are driving food prices up, and ethanol production is not one of them. “First, food prices are rising because global demand for grains, particularly from China and India, is rising. “Second, the global food supply is down because of drought conditions in several areas of critical agricultural production. Still, U.S. producers are doing everything they can to boost supplies. Not counting corn used for ethanol production, we produced 17% more corn food product and exported 23% more food product overall in 2007 than in 2006. “Third, rising oil prices are making it more expensive to produce food. Petroleum costs are embedded in every part of the global food supply chain. Recent studies by USDA reveal that for every dollar we spend on food, only twenty cents is the cost of the food product itself. The other 80 cents or so are the costs of labor, energy, transportation, and other factors. “The best economic minds agree that ethanol production is having little, if any, effect on food prices. Ed Lazear, Chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors, recently reported that ethanol production accounts for less than 3 percent of the increase in global food prices. “Those who claim that biofuels production is driving up food costs are flat-out wrong. “Mr. President, let’s not forget where today’s high gas prices are hurting most – it is in America’s rural communities. Farmers, ranchers, small business owners, families in small towns – they know the true cost of our addiction to foreign oil. They feel it every day. “They also know that the solution is not far away. They know that the solution lies in our farms and fields, in the promise of cellulosic ethanol and in the ingenuity of the American worker. “Our rural communities know we can grow our way to energy independence if we continue to pass and implement policies that stimulate our clean energy economy. “So let’s not let them down. Let’s not turn the clock back to the failed energy policies of the last eight years. Let’s not pretend that the 1.7% of the world’s oil reserves that we possess will meet our energy needs. “Let’s be honest with the American people. Let’s build our clean energy economy. Let’s pass the tax extenders that Senator Baucus, I, and others have developed that will stimulate renewable energy development. Let’s give these growing industries the tax certainty that they and their investors need to move forward with projects that are creating good-paying jobs across the country. Let’s get after the speculation in the oil market. And let’s get to work on breaking our addiction to foreign oil.” ###
|
||
