Letter: Democrats block efforts to increase oil production
Monday, October 22, 2007
Democrats in Congress, along with presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton,
Barack Obama and John Edwards, say they intend to impose a windfall profits
tax on our domestic oil companies.
In 1980, President Carter signed a Democratic windfall tax bill on oil
profits. Domestic oil output declined 3 percent to 6 percent annually until
1988 when the tax was repealed.
In 1995, President Clinton, "to protect the environment," vetoed drilling
oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Had Clinton not vetoed ANWR
drilling, our nation's production of oil would be 30 percent greater, a
daily increase of 1.4 million barrels.
Since 2001, Republicans in the House have approved oil drilling in the ANWR
nine times. In the Senate, approval has been repeatedly blocked by
Democratic filibusters.
Prudhoe Bay oil fields, 60 miles east of the ANWR, began delivering oil via
the transAlaska pipeline in 1977. The 15th billion barrel of crude was
delivered this year. Has the environment been damaged? The number of caribou
in Prudhoe Bay has tripled.
Republicans sponsor the Domestic Energy Resources Act that terminates a ban
on drilling an estimated 85.8 billion barrels of oil miles off our Gulf
Coast. Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida promises to lead a filibuster
to retain the ban.
After Hurricane Katrina, Republicans introduced a bill to ease approval of
new gasoline refineries and encourage their construction on closed military
bases. Senate Democrats blocked the bill in committee. No new refineries
have been built since 1976.
Since the 1970s, Congress has launched 30 investigations of gasoline pricing
and has yet to find wrongdoing by the oil companies. Oil companies are not
the problem. Congressional Democrats increase prices for gasoline by
obstructing both the drilling of domestic oil and the construction of new
refineries.
