Congress Hates Us

Democrats in a House subcommittee voted against drilling for oil in the outer continental shelf. Please feel free to contact them with your opinions:

Norman D. Dicks (WA) - Congressional office: 202-225-5916
James P. Moran (VA) - Congressional office: 202-225-4376
Maurice D. Hinchey (NY) - Congressional office: 202-225-6335
John W. Olver (MA) - Congressional office: 202-225-5335
Alan B. Mollohan (WV) - Congressional office: 202-225-4172
Tom Udall (NM) - Congressional office: 202-225-6190
Ben Chandler (KY) - Congressional office: 202-225-4706
Ed Pastor (AZ) - Congressional office: 202-225-4065

Dave Obey (WI) - Congressional office: 202-225-3365

If we drilled in the outer continental shelf, we would then have access to an additional 76 billion barrels of oil. To give you an idea of how much oil this is, it could replace all of our imported oil from nations outside of North America for the next 34 years. Unfortunately, Congress said no. And they say no a lot.

A major reason for the rise in price is due to supply and demand. Right now, world supply of crude oil stands at roughly 85 million barrels a day. World demand of crude oil is around 87 million barrels a day. As more of China and India modernize, world demand will only increase, raising the price of oil even higher. Unless this worthless Congress gets out of the way so we can increase our domestic supply, nothing will be done to help solve the issue.

Just look at what the world is doing compared to us. Iran vows to build seven new oil refineries within the next four years, while we have not built an oil refinery in 37 years. Cuba is leasing drilling rights to other nations, including China, a mere 50-miles from Florida while we have not drilled offshore since 1981. Not only is energy-independent Brazil contracting 75% of the world's ships used for deep-sea oil drilling, but they are teaming up with China to help develop Brazil's massive oil reserves.

Europe is building 40 coal-fired power plants over the next five years, and China is building a new coal power plant every week, with a planned 500 new plants over the next ten years! In the United States, we're considering banning new coal plant construction - there are 151 new plants proposed, but 59 of them were already turned down in the courts.

Over 75% of France's energy is derived from nuclear power, yet the US hasn't allowed any new nuclear plants to be built since 1978.

China needs so much energy that it has just finished Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydroelectric dam. This dam will displace 1.3 million people and its floodwaters will bury 13 cities, 140 towns, and 1,350 villages and it will only provide about 3% of China's energy needs. Meanwhile in the US, southern California is in its first drought in over sixteen years because a judge forced a reservoir to reduce its water output in order to protect the longfin smelt fish.

While the rest of the world understands the need for energy, Congress wants to sue OPEC. While Russia is cutting taxes to encourage their energy companies to explore, our Congress wants to seize oil company profits.

The Constitution Party is dedicated to getting America out of this crisis. Our energy policy could be the most powerful in the world if we would just:

1) Return to the gold standard - Thirty percent of our current rise in oil prices is due to our dollar turning into toilet paper. If you back the dollar with gold, like we used to do, then you give worth to your currency again. As long as Congress and the Fed can keep printing money whenever they want, our dollar will continue to lose its value and we'll continue to have high prices for everything.

2) Return federal power back to the States - As long as the federal government can call all the shots, Washington will continue to be filled with aloof, elitist idiots that have no idea what it's like to live a normal life in the United States. Let Alaska decide for Alaska; let Wyoming decide for Wyoming. We need to stop letting 535 Congressmen hold 300 million Americans hostage.

3) Get government out of the energy business - We need to increase our domestic supply and improve the technology of our alternate fuel sources. Using all of the energy methods we have, including fossil fuels, we can save our Nation. Thanks to Congress, over 40% of our Nation's resources are off-limits. Turning coal into oil would give us three times the amount of oil that is found in Saudi Arabia. If we started now, in twenty years we could be producing an additional 1.7-2.6 million barrels of oil per day. Even though this technology has been around since the 1930s, the US will have its first commercial plant running by 2010 (if Congress does not intervene).

Without government in the way, we can also produce oil from the shale found in the Rocky Mountains. The shale in Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah alone can supply us with an additional 1.5 billion barrels of oil. Worldwide, shale-to-oil development would produce as much as 14 trillion barrels of oil - an amazing 500-year supply! Just by producing shale oil, our domestic oil price would drop to $40 a barrel!

And by the way - the US government said that these alternate oil methods would only be an advantage if oil were to ever climb above $30 a barrel. We'll never see those prices, though!

Just to put oil prices into perspective - after 9/11, oil was $27 a barrel.

Is Anybody Listening?

The Democrat majority in Congress continues to stand in the way of drilling at home, yet many political pundits believe the Democrats could hold a 70-seat majority this November. President Obama doesn't mind the high gas prices, only that the price rose too quickly. President McCain wants to regulate CEO salaries and seems to be embracing Hillary Clinton's idea of seizing oil company profits. And both candidates want to fight global warming through cap-and-trade regulation. So, instead of looking at $1.25 a gallon, we're probably going to have $7 a gallon - if we're lucky - and that's without a war with Iran.

CONCLUSION

We're screwed at least for right now, but we don't have to stay that way. The only way to change things is to stop being afraid of "wasting our vote." A great point made on the NJ Constitution Party's website reminds voters that our state has gone to the Democratic presidential candidate every election for the past 24 years. If you are a Republican voter, haven't you been wasting your vote as well?

I believe that Chuck Baldwin, the Constitution Party candidate for president, would be a leader that would encourage the private sector to be the heroes - not the government. With such easy solutions to the energy crisis, we need to finally elect people that "get it."

The Constitution Party believes the power is in the people. We the People can solve America's problems. Let's finally get the government out of our way!