Gas Prices
Floor Speech
GAS PRICES -- (Senate - July 24, 2008)
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I rise today to call on the Senate to pass commonsense legislation to lower gas prices. This week, possibly even today, the Senate will vote on legislation that would create more oversight on the financial markets that are helping to drive up the cost of oil. I hope my colleagues will join me in voting to pass it. It is the first step toward energy independence but certainly not the last.
In my State of Montana, folks are hurting. The average price of a gallon of gas is about $4.20. Diesel now costs on average $4.67 a gallon in the Big Sky State. My constituents need and deserve effective action from their national leaders to provide them with relief from this energy crisis.
Across Montana, desperate times are producing desperate measures. Driving to go to work or between cities is not a choice; it is a necessity. Snow is on the ground for a good part of the year. You need wheels to get around. Folks are paying with credit cards at the pump or getting second or third jobs to get by. They are canceling vacations, driving less, and buying smaller cars. But that is not enough.
The Senate must provide relief at the pump, and there is no silver bullet. It is going to take a few commonsense ideas and a lot of hard work to diversify our portfolio. I support a three-pronged plan: Crack down on energy speculators manipulating the marketplace for a quick buck; produce more fuel by drilling for oil where it makes sense and invest in renewable energy for the long term; also, encourage energy conservation--that is the low-hanging fruit--for long-term energy sustainability.
The Senate will soon vote on a commonsense plan to crack down on oil market speculators and hedgers who break the rules. We have seen these guys before with Enron and the housing bust, folks on Wall Street who manipulate the market and give themselves raises while gas prices are choking regular folks. It is time to put a stop to this unfair manipulation.
Let me be clear about two points. First, not all speculation is bad. Well- regulated speculation can help markets set a fair price for a commodity. Unfortunately, under this administration, speculation and hedging have gotten way out of hand, driving up the price of oil to record heights and squeezing the American consumer as never before. When the price of oil skyrocketed this summer, it was not because of a sudden increase in demand, nor because OPEC suddenly decided to pump less. It was because of trading on Wall Street by folks who never intended to own a barrel of oil.
We owe to it every family struggling to meet rising gas bills, every farmer filling up his tractor, every trucker buying fuel to move product to make sure this trading is fair and on the level. Folks in Montana don't have a problem with anyone making a buck, but we do believe in the American dream. We will not put up with folks who game the system.
I call on my Senate colleagues, Democrats and Republicans alike, to join together and pass the Stop Excessive Energy Speculation Act. This bill will strengthen the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to crack down on Wall Street speculators in the oil market. More watchdogs, more transparency will stop people from gaming the system and artificially and unnecessarily driving up prices at the pump. We need this bill.
When it comes to getting control of high gas prices, this is only the beginning. Beyond speculation, we need to drill for oil in places that make sense right here in America, and production of renewable fuels must go hand in hand with drilling for more oil.
One of the places it makes sense to drill for oil is in the Bakken Formation in eastern Montana and North Dakota. The Bakken field is a place we will hear about again and again. New technology is allowing smaller producers to extract more oil. There is more than 4 billion barrels of oil in the Bakken field. It is hard work, but these are good jobs, and the salaries are good too. And they are right here at home. All you need is a strong back, a cattle stand, a good work ethic, and a clean record, and you can find jobs that start for as much as $25 an hour.
The Bakken field isn't the only place where drilling makes sense. Last week, the Interior Department finally opened 2 million acres in the Alaska National Petroleum Reserve, and it is about time. It is all part of the puzzle to free America from the grip of foreign oil and lower the price of gas at the pump.
However, anybody who tells you we can drill our way out of this problem is not shooting straight. Congress has been debating whether to extend tax credits for wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources, and we ought to stop extending the production tax credit on an annual basis. A long-term extension of these tax credits will really make a difference.
Over the long haul, we know we cannot simply drill our way out of this problem. We must invest in conservation and sustainable energy such as biofuels. It is all part of the puzzle to free America from the grip of foreign oil and lower prices of gas at the pump.
Earlier this summer, Congress passed the farm bill over the President's veto. That bill included hundreds of millions of dollars for advanced biofuels. The farm bill also contained a provision I was able to offer to encourage the production of camelina. Camelina is a crop that can be grown in Montana and other places and can be processed into biodiesel to run tractors, combines, farm equipment, and diesel engines. The byproduct of camelina makes a nutritious feed for livestock. Camelina truly is a win-win solution for renewable energy. We need to encourage more of these commonsense answers to our energy crisis.
Finally, conservation must play a significant role in solving our Nation's energy crisis. If we are ever going to free America from the grip of foreign oil, we must find real ways for consumers to use less fuel.
Last year, Congress increased auto fuel-efficiency standards for the first time in a generation. But it took 20 years of fighting, and eventually a Democratic Congress got it passed. Those new standards will save about 1.1 million barrels of oil a day by 2020, or about as much as produced by the State of Texas.
One hundred years ago, the Model T got 25 miles per gallon. Now a car gets 28 miles per gallon. Since that time, we have split the atom, sent a man to the Moon, developed computers, and mapped out the human genome. Yet we get the same fuel efficiency? Come on. That is not right. Conservation is the easiest and cheapest thing we can do to keep energy costs down.
Part of the energy tax package will help homeowners and businesses make those savings themselves. A partisan majority of the Senate supports this bill, but a small minority keeps us from getting it done.
The State of Montana recently announced an initiative to help citizens increase insulation in preparation for next winter's high heating bills.
These are all steps in the right direction, but we have more work to do to reduce energy consumption. The United States is the single largest consumer of energy in the world. We cannot continue on this unsustainable path. To do so would forfeit our national security to countries such as Russia, Venezuela, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia. That would be a tragic legacy to leave to our children. We need a comprehensive approach to bring down the price of gas and address this energy crisis in the long term. We need to crack down on speculation and greedy hedging to manipulate the oil markets. We need to increase production of fossil fuels where it makes sense and develop renewables for the long haul, and we need innovative solutions to reduce our overall energy consumption.
Some people think the economic pressure on the middle class is all in their heads. We know better. Folks in Montana know this energy crisis is real and it is bad. The Senate must act now to pass constructive legislation to bring down the price of energy at the pump. It all starts with passage of the Stop Excessive Energy Speculation Act.
I yield the floor.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source