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Issues & Legislation BorderSubCommittee Subcommittee National Parks Constituent Services Visiting Washington DC About Mark Souder Indiana's Third District
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IssuesEnergy / Gas PricesEnergy / Gas PricesRelated Issue(s): Biofuels, Agriculture Congressman Souder's Position
It’s absolutely essential that we reduce our dependence on foreign oil. As our nation continues to struggle against tight energy supplies and increased demand both here and abroad, we must continue to explore every available option: renewable energy (such as ethanol and biodiesel), clean coal, hydrogen, nuclear, wind, and solar power. We must expand our domestic oil and natural gas supplies by opening Alaska's Coastal Plain and the Outer Continental Shelf to energy exploration, and we need to reduce our refining capacity bottleneck by making it easier for companies to build new refineries. (Because of excessive regulation, no new refinery has been built in the United States since 1976.) Perhaps our biggest problem is the growing trend of nations (Venezuela, Russia, and Saudi Arabia, for example) themselves owning their own oil reserves and controlling all extraction and refining operations. Indeed, in 2006, 65 percent of all oil reserves worldwide are controlled by state-owned oil companies, compared to only one percent in 1960. It is these government-owned enterprises that are most likely to manipulate our markets.
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