Archive for the ‘Energy’ Category

The News & Tribune has an article about Baron Hill’s efforts to close the so-called speculator loophole:

Rep. Baron Hill, D-Ind., plans on pushing stricter regulations for oil speculators when Congress reconvenes in September.

The idea of cracking down on oil speculators may sound like “Washington speak,” but the congressman feels it could result in lowering prices at the pump for the short-term, said Katie Moreau, communications director for Hoosiers for Hill, his campaign organization.

“What Baron wants to see happen is his bill enacted to put back regulations that were taken out in 2000,” Moreau said.

The basis of a measure Hill is pushing — which Moreau said will be supported by several other Congress members and will be presented to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi next month — is that speculators are artificially driving up the price of oil based on a presumed shortage.

As I have already noted in extensive posts, this is a crock.

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Earlier, I blogged about how Baron’s behavior at his town hall in Sellersburg earned him a letter scolding him in the News & Tribune for bad manners and rudeness.

I also noted that Baron tried with a written policy to prevent anyone from recording this event. A daring Hoosierpundit reader recorded it, however, and was kind enough to share the audio with me.

This is a clip reel; there are more examples of him being rude to the people that were present in Sellersburg that evening on top of this, but the audio for those sections is just horrible.

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You’ll have to turn the sound up. The audio isn’t that good. Rest assured, it’s worth it.

(Below is an op-ed written by Mike Sodrel on the issue of energy and recent his trip to ANWR.)

I want to commend Congressman Mike Pence and my former Republican colleagues for taking a stand on energy independence for America. We are currently importing over 60% of our energy and exporting over $700 billion U.S. dollars a year.

Like most Americans, I’m tired of hearing what won’t work. “We can’t drill our way out of this problem” isn’t a solution. The fact is, we can’t resolve this problem without drilling either. It is going to take an “all of the above” energy policy to reach energy independence.

Our economy and our national security depend on America becoming energy independent. Energy independence is necessary to lower our trade deficit and our budget deficit. We must have American energy to grow our food and grow our economy.

Drilling is not the only solution to energy independence. In order to become energy independent, it will take an “All of the Above” energy policy. We need more wind energy, solar energy, water energy, and other renewable sources of energy.

Selling oil from our strategic oil reserve is the wrong thing to do. That oil reserve was created for our national security, not to manipulate the price of oil. We will need this oil to provide for our defense and essential services if foreign oil shipments were interrupted.

We can’t keep putting food in our gas tanks either. Using corn and soy beans for ethanol and bio diesel won’t work in the long term. It is driving up our cost of food. This hurts the people who can afford it the least.

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I had blogged earlier about a poll showing that 64% of Hoosiers favor more drilling.

I had requested crosstabs from those that did the polling. This is what was taken as a part of the poll:

The data from the Indiana survey have not been examined for regional or ethnic differences. Here’s what I was able to gather:

Those who were more likely to support increased access –

Men - 70 percent; women - 59 percent.
Republicans - 77 percent; Independents - 57 percent; Democrats - 55 percent
Conservatives - 71 percent; Liberals - 53 percent
$50K or higher annual income more likely to strongly support - 53 percent; less than $50K income - 39 percent

It’s strange that strongly support is lower among those with less than $50K in income, rather than more. That seems counterintuitive.

Can’t ask the guy about energy or gas prices without being considered an adversary.  I thought he was supposed to serve the people.

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(H/T - the Hoosierpundit)

Over the weekend, I blogged about Baron’s new-found opposition to oil price speculators.

Baron now says that there is a loophole in the law that needs to be closed, and this loophole is responsible for the rise in gas prices since Baron was elected (up about 75% as of this posting).

Baron, of course, promised when he ran in 2006 that he would reduce gas prices if sent back to Congress, something that quite clearly has not happened.

In fact, Baron has said that anyone that points out his campaign promise to lower gas prices is an “adversary.”

But anyway, I noted that such opposition to oil speculators was interesting, given that the speculator legislation Baron now denounces came before a committee Baron Hill sat on, and Baron voted for the legislation that created the very speculator loophole he now says he wants to close.

The creation of this loophole was sought by now-defunct energy giant Enron; heck, the loophole itself is frequently dubbed the “Enron loophole” for just that reason.

It turns out, after a bit of digging, that Enron was a contributor to Baron Hill’s reelection campaign.

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Under heavy fire for promising in his 2006 election bid to lower gas prices and failing to deliver, Baron Hill has made much of the menace of “speculators.”

“Speculators,” Baron says, are largely responsible for the price of gasoline. Without them, he says, gasoline would cost $2.75.

Now, when Baron was running in 2006, gasoline cost $2.16 a gallon. Why Baron would think that amount was too high then, but that $2.75 would be okay now, is a mystery to me.

But I digress. Baron Hill obviously thinks that speculators are a major cause for the high price of gasoline.

He said as much again during his recent interview on WGCL in Bloomington: (more…)

A new poll by Harris Interactive:

A new survey finds that 64% of Hoosiers support increased access to domestic oil and natural gas resources.

It seems that the rest of the country shares the same view. Polls from Pew, CNN, Zogby and others indicate that the majority of Americans from coast to coast are in support of more energy exploration in the United States.

This is a critical shift in public opinion, and one that our leaders in Washington need to recognize. According to federal government data, the United States has enough oil to fuel more than 65 million cars for 60 years and enough natural gas to heat 60 million homes for 160 years. But current policies restrict access to 85% of the outer continental shelf and 83% of onshore federal lands.

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Posted in Elections, Energy, Gas Prices, Polls | No Comments » | Read more..

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Thanks to Erick Erickson, founder of Red State, for taking this video.

Thursday and Friday I was back in Washington DC in order to participate in the GOP revolt on the house floor.

My constituents are hurting because of high fuel prices.  Not only have they been paying for $4/gallon gas, but they’ve been experiencing inflation on a number of other commodities from food to fireworks.  And this energy crisis isn’t going away any time soon.  So instead of touring the country for personal financial gain promoting her book, Speaker Nancy Pelosi should call on Congress to get back to work, do its job, and offer real energy solutions to the American people.  Other folks can go home and play politics this August, but there’s a movement in this country to fight high gas prices, and I’m going back to give those people a voice.

America can no longer afford to send over $700 Billion annually of our Nation’s wealth to hostile foreign countries when we have the ability and resources to develop our own domestic energy sources.  We can also create hundreds of thousands of jobs right here at home.  I firmly believe that this is not only an issue of the need to develop our own energy independence, but it’s also an issue of American national security.

As Republicans, we’ve gone more than half way.  I am a member of a bipartisan group that publicly introduced an energy solution in the House last week- HR6709.  In addition to environmentally responsible drilling, the bill also would institute greater conservation efforts and investment into technology that will pave the way to energy independence.  Nonetheless, Nancy Pelosi, harnessing her power as Speaker, has forbade voting on any bill with drilling, even if it means blocking the constructive initiatives of her fellow Democrats.

If Congress had already voted for more drilling and more oil production in this country, gas prices would have never risen above $4 per gallon.  Unbelievably, however, even in the face of millions of Americans suffering financially across America due to soaring transportation, food and housing costs, Speaker Pelosi has put a blockade around any real energy legislation.  Thanks to her running the House like her own personal Pelosi politburo, we are facing a moratorium on drilling, and a moratorium on votes.  That is why I returned to Washington to protest.

I am encouraged by the outpouring of support we’ve received all over the country, particularly from our online activists (#dontgo).  With their help, we’ve been able to get around the mainstream media’s liberal bias and have gotten our message out across the country.  Keep it up.

It’s a great thing to have a local radio show host who’s as hard hitting as some of the top conservative talkers on the nationwide radio dial. Peter Heck, who’s based in Kokomo, Indiana, has been using his radio show to call out Joe Donnelly for his failed energy policy of votes against domestic drilling. Yesterday Heck did a great job of expounding on some of Donnelly’s votes against domestic drilling and expanded refinery capacity.

Apparently Donnelly, who’s been on the show once, isn’t interested in explaining his votes to constituents because he’s refusing to come back on the show to explain what’s he’s been up too. So much fore the “independent voice” idea; you can’t be a “voice” when you are silent.

Standing as a stark alternative to Joe Donnelly is Luke Puckett. Luke’s message is this simple: I am going to Washington to fight out-of-touch politicians who are doing nothing to lower your gas prices.

Listen to Peter Heck’s segment on Joe Donnelly below.

 

 Peter Heck Calling out Congressman Joe Donnelly: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

House Republicans have been going strong all week long continuing to poor on the pressure to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to bring back congress and allow an up or down vote on drilling.

Today, Hoosier Congressmen, Mike Pence and Dan Burton, are front and center in the call to allow a vote. Congressman Burton was on the floor a few moments ago and had this to say:

“We have probably 50 Democrats who will vote with the Republicans to pass energy legislation. Nancy Pelosi is the only person who won’t allow it to come to a vote. That’s just wrong.” “We could stop $700 billion from going over seas to hostile nations and tin horn dictators and we could add 100,000 energy jobs if we pass an energy bill and gain our energy independence.”

While Congressman Pence summed up the effect a single call from a congressional Democrat to Pelosi could have on the debate:

“One call from a House Democrat member to Pelosi would be worth 1,000 calls from citizens.”

(H/T - House Republican Policy Committee and Robert Bluey’s twitter feed)