Message from Congressman Mike Ross

As many of you know, gas prices continue to skyrocket and the national average is approaching $4 per gallon. Working families here in Arkansas cannot afford these high gas prices and our economy cannot afford the instability of oil and gas prices. Our economic recovery depends greatly on an affordable, stable supply of energy in this country.
Our country spends just over $300 billion a year importing energy from other nations, particularly from the Middle East, and it remains clear that our dependence on foreign oil is a threat to our national security and way of life.
We need to drill more here at home. Last week, I voted for and the House passed the bipartisan Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act, H.R. 1230. This bill would require the Secretary of the Interior to conduct oil and natural gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and offshore Virginia, that have been delayed or cancelled by the Obama Administration, in order to increase the supply of domestic oil for American consumers.
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 of 2011 or H.R. 1682, 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.
However, when we do drill here at home, it cannot be based on BP standards; it must utilize new, 21st century technologies that allow us to recover the oil and natural gas we need and be good stewards of the environment. My bill does this by setting forth strict environmental conditions for energy development on federal lands under a “no significant adverse effect” standard using “best commercially available technology”. It also requires compliance with all federal and state environmental laws.
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 that 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.
By focusing on American-made energy, my bill presents a multi-faceted approach, which is 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. If done correctly, we can stop shipping billions of dollars overseas and use the money here at home to make smart investments in technology that helps our environment, creates jobs and lowers the price of fuel for all Americans.
A fifth generation Arkansan, Congressman Mike Ross of Prescott represents the Fourth Congressional District of Arkansas in the U.S. House of Representatives. Ross serves on the House Energy & Commerce Committee and as Vice President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. Ross is also Co-Chair of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus, Co-Chair of the Second Amendment Task Force and Co-Chair of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of fiscally conservative Democratic House members that advocates the principles of fiscal responsibility and government accountability.