From the Office
of
U.S.
Congressman Mike Ross
Arkansas’s Fourth
Congressional District
Legislative
Update: Rising Fuel Prices
Ross Says Congress
Can Take Commonsense, Straightforward Actions to Lower Price at the
Pump
Fuel prices
continue to skyrocket and working families cannot afford the high prices and
instability they face each time they fill up. We must have an affordable, stable
supply of energy. The high costs of gas and other forms of energy continue to
hamper our nation’s economic recovery and they continue to make it harder for
Arkansas's working families to make ends meet.
Our country spends
just over $300 billion a year importing energy from other nations, particularly
from the Middle East. If anything, our present situation makes it clear that
our dependence on foreign oil is a threat to our national security and our way
of life. We need to find ways we can utilize the energy sources we have right
here at home.
We simply cannot
ignore the reality that our way of life continues to depend on affordable oil,
gasoline and diesel, but we also can’t ignore the reality that they are limited
resources. Drilling more alone will not solve all of our problems nor will it
meet our long-term energy needs. We need to explore all forms of energy and
invest in new technologies if we are to ever make this country truly energy
independent.
That’s why I have
introduced legislation to not only increase domestic drilling, but also to make
historic investments in alternative and renewable sources of energy, without
contributing to the nation’s deficit. My bill, the American-Made Energy Act,
would lower the price of fuel, help secure the nation’s energy supply, increase
the use of alternative and renewable energy and create more ‘green collar’ jobs
here at home.
Some say we need to
drill more and others say we need to invest more in alternative energies, but my
bill does both. This bill focuses on American-made energy by expanding areas
for domestic drilling, including in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR)
and offshore in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). My bill would then take the
federal share of the lease and royalty revenues from this increased oil and
natural gas production and deposit the funds in a specially created federal
trust fund. The trust fund, fully paid for by the lease and royalty revenues
from the increased drilling, would support historic investments in alternative
and renewable energy incentives and projects.
The trust fund will
help us move promising alternative and renewable energy technology from the
science lab to the marketplace, while not adding a single dime to the deficit.
In fact, my bill would make the single largest investment in the history of our
country in alternative and renewable energies.
These investments
will promote alternative energies such as lignite coal and compressed natural
gas, of which Arkansas already stands to become a leading national producer. In
fact, research is already underway to turn lignite coal, which we have at least
9 billion tons of in south Arkansas, into a fuel that can replace gasoline with
fewer emissions. And compressed natural gas burns cleaner than gasoline. Both
of these resources are available right here in Arkansas, do not have to be
imported from the Middle East and can fuel our vehicles for much less than what
we currently pay at the pump. This bill will help move these promising new
technologies to the marketplace as we work to make renewable and alternative
resources like biofuels, solar, wind, coal to liquid, and hydropower more
effective and cost-efficient.
In addition to the
American Made Energy Act, I helped introduce the North American-Made Energy
Security Act, H.R. 1938, which expedited a final decision on the Keystone XL
pipeline. This Canada-to-Gulf pipeline will carry almost one million barrels of
oil a day from our North American neighbor and ally in Canada, to refineries on
the Gulf, creating jobs here at home and making our nation more energy
independent.
However, as many of
you know, the President recently rejected the permits to construct the Keystone
XL Pipeline. As a result, I led a bi-partisan group of legislators in sending a
letter to the President criticizing his decision and vowing to introduce
legislation that will make the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline a
reality because this project is in our nation’s best interest if we are to
become more energy independent.
The only way we
will lessen our dependence on foreign oil in the short term and help secure this
nation’s energy future in the long term is through a multi-faceted approach.
Both the American Made Energy Act and the Keystone XL pipeline are commonsense,
straightforward actions our government can take to ensure we can stop shipping
billions of dollars overseas to buy energy, use the money here at home to make
smart investments in technology, create jobs and lower the price of fuel for all
Americans.
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