Oil Prices and Shortages

Yesterday the price of oil closed at nearly
$92 a barrel. A great deal of blame has been
thrown around by various factions.
I would like you to consider these facts, then
make up your own mind about who is to blame.

Fact # 1: In 1975 or 76 the overwhelming
Democratic controlled congress passed and
sent a bill to President Johnson for his
signature. He signed it. The bill set such
strict restrictions on the construction of new
oil refineries and nuclear energy plants,
not a single refinery or nuclear plant has been
constructed since that date. As a result, we have
not only had severe gasoline and deisel
shortages numerous times since then but
also, a large number of oil fired electrical
energy plants have had to be built in place of
the nuclear energy plants. These new oil
fired plants use huge amounts of oil.

Fact #2: In 1994 the Republican controlled
Congress passed a very broad based energy
bill by a large majority and sent the bill to
President Clinton for his signature. He VETOED
it. There were not enough Democrats to side
with the Republicans to override his veto.
Had he signed it, there is little doubt, there
would be NO energy shortages, the prices of
oil, gasoline and deisel would be much, much
cheaper than they are today.

Fact #3: In January, 2001, newly elected
President Bush sent a very broad based energy
proposal to Congress. Had all his provisions
passed and gone into affect, there is little doubt
we would not have any energy shortages nor
such high oil, gasoline and deisel prices.
The bill sailed through the Republican controlled
House of Representatives in April and was sent on
to the Senate.
As is customary, the bill landed on the the Senate
Majority Leader's desk first. It is his duty to send
it on to the various committees for hearing and
their consideration. It just so happened the
Democrats controlled the Senate and Tom Daschle
was the Senate Majority Leader. What did he do
when the bill landed on his desk? He stuck it in
a drawer in his desk and that is where it sat to the
end of the congressional term. That was the end of
it. The proposas had to start from scratch at the
start of the new term.
2002, 2003 and 2004 were almost identical to 2001
in the treatment of President Push's energy
proposals. Each time, when the house approved
bill reached his desk, Tom Daschle stuck the bill
in his desk drawer, effectively killing it. He knew
if he sent it on to the committees, as is required by
custom and law, there were enough Democratic
Senators who were in favor of the bill, it would have
passed the Senate and would have been voted into
law by President Bush. Had those proposals gone
into affect during those early years, there is little
doubt we would not have much in the way of energy
shortages, and extremely high oil, gas and deisel prices.

The Republicans won control of both houses of
Congress in the 2004 elections. Basically the same
energy proposals which had sailed through the
House of Representatives the previous four
years was once again submitted to congress by
President Bush. Once again it sailed through the
House of Representatives.
When it reached the Senate and was sent to the
various committees, the Democratic leadership
used every parlimentary trick in the book to stall
and, or change it. Finally, in desparation to get
at least part of the energy bill passed, the
Republican leadership agreed to the removal of
some provisions of the bill, including loosening
the restrictions on drilling on Federal Lands.
Consider these facts:
The Federal Government, WE the People,
own about 44% of the land in this country.
Surely we don't need to treat all of it as if it
were sacred . The plan or proposal to drill
on some northern Alaska land was where the
greatest amount of drilling and oil would have
taken place. Those liberal Democrats who put
up such a fuss about drilling there descibed it
as a wild and pristine land so sacred I doubt if
they even wanted anyone to set foot on it.
I am not certain about this but I doubt if a
single one of them actually visited the area to
see for themselves how pristine it is. I have
seen photos and read reports by people who
have actually been there and pristine or sacred
are not terms they used, nor would I.
One of the Democrats objections was drilling on that
that land would wipe out the caribou herd which
migrated across the land. The same argument
was used by the same people to try to stop the
Off Shore drilling and North Slope pipeline.
They said it would wipe out and kill off the
caribou herds. Alaskan wildlife experts are
saying those herds are twice as big now as
they were before the oil drilling and pipeline
construction. So how much validity does that
augument have?
So now we have a situation where some of
our energy shortages have been addressed but
most of the fallout from the revised bill will
take years to have any affect on energy supply
or demand.

So tell me. Who do you think has more
responsibility than anyone else for our
energy shortages, and the high prices of
oil, gasoline and deisel?
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