I have received the text of an Alice-in-Wonderland memo (below) that House Republican leaders will circulate today on legislation they plan to offer. It claims:
To increase the supply American-made energy in environmentally sound ways, the legislation will:
* Open our deep water ocean resources, which will provide an additional 3 million barrels of oil per day;
* Open the Arctic coastal plain, which will provide an additional 1 million barrels of oil per day; and
* Allow development of our nation’s shale oil resources, which could provide an additional 2.5 million barrels of oil per day
First off, we opened the vast majority of our deep water ocean resources to drilling two years ago and oil prices doubled.
Second, according to the Bush administration’s own energy analysts, ending the federal moratorium on coastal drilling would add perhaps 150,000 barrels of oil per day in the 2020s and have no impact on prices through 2030, unless, as seems likely, California blocks drilling off its coast, in which case it would add well under 100,000 barrels of oil per day in the 2020s.
Third, opening up the “Arctic coastal plain” (GOP-speak for Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) would also have no impact on prices, according to the Bush administration’s own energy analysts.
Fourth, you can’t develop U.S. shale in environmentally sound ways.
Yet Republican leader John Boehner, Republican Whip Roy Blunt, Conference Chairman Adam Putnam, and Chief Deputy Whip Eric Cantor still have the chutzpah to write:
For their part, all Democratic leaders have offered is the same empty rhetoric and failed policies that have resulted in $4 gas.
Well that would be an accurate statement if you changed the word “Democratic” to “Republican.” Here is the whole memo:
MEMORANDUM
TO: House Republicans
FR: Republican Leader John Boehner, Republican Whip Roy Blunt, Conference Chairman Adam Putnam, Chief Deputy Whip Eric Cantor
DA: July 22, 2008
RE: House Republicans demand a vote on American-made energy now
American families continue to be crushed by high gas prices, and they are looking for leadership from Washington. House Republicans have stepped forward with meaningful solutions that will increase the supply of American-made energy, lower gas prices and promote energy independence. For their part, all Democratic leaders have offered is the same empty rhetoric and failed policies that have resulted in $4 gas.
Over the last two months, House Republicans have proposed solution after legislative solution to America]s energy crisis, including expanded deep water and Arctic coastal plain exploration, and increased investment in next-generation alternative and renewable energies. It is truly an ‘all-of-the-above’ energy strategy. House Republicans have aggressively carried this national dialogue forward and offered meaningful solutions that will lower gas prices. The American people are listening, and the plan is attracting bipartisan support in Congress.
Democrats in charge of Congress, however, are charting a very different course. While gas prices soar and Americans cry out for action, this Democratic Congress has refused to take meaningful action to help lower gas prices and promote energy independence, and it¹s on track to become the least productive Congress in 25 years. The American people are demanding action, and time is running short.
This week, House Republicans will introduce our ‘all-of-the-above’ energy plan in a single piece of legislation that increases the supply of American-made energy, improves conservation and efficiency, and promotes new and expanding technologies.
To increase the supply American-made energy in environmentally sound ways, the legislation will:
* Open our deep water ocean resources, which will provide an additional 3 million barrels of oil per day;
* Open the Arctic coastal plain, which will provide an additional 1 million barrels of oil per day; and
* Allow development of our nation’s shale oil resources, which could provide an additional 2.5 million barrels of oil per day
To improve energy conservation and efficiency, the legislation will:
* Provide tax incentives for businesses and families that purchase more fuel efficient vehicles;
* Provide a monetary prize for being the first to develop an economically feasible, super-fuel-efficient vehicle (reaching 100 miles-per-gallon); and
* Provide tax incentives for businesses and homeowners who improve their energy efficiency.
To promote new and expanding energy technologies, the legislation will:
* Spur the development of alternative fuels, including through government contracting, the repeal of the “Section 526” prohibition on government purchasing of alternative energy and promoting coal-to-liquids technology.
* Establishes a renewable energy trust fund using revenues generated by exploration in the deep ocean and in the Arctic coastal plain.
* Permanently extends the tax credit for alternative energy production, including wind, solar and hydrogen; and
* Eliminate barriers to the expansion of carbon-free nuclear power production.
This legislation will demonstrate to the world that America will no longer keep its rich energy resources under lock-and-key. It will be a landmark step toward energy independence, and it will make needed investments in the alternative fuels that will power our lives and our economy in the future.
Numerous independent polls show the American people strongly support this approach to our energy crisis. It would clearly garner the support of a bipartisan majority of Democrats and Republicans in Congress, and it is legislation that the President would sign into law. Yet House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) continues to stand in the way of lower gas prices for struggling families and small businesses. When asked last week whether she would schedule a vote on meaningful legislation to increase American energy production, the Speaker told CNN, “I have no plans to do so.”
The Democratic leadership in Congress is defying the will of the American people and a bipartisan majority in Congress. American families are suffering. Time is running short, and further inaction can no longer be tolerated.
House Republicans will stand together beginning today and demand that the Democratic leadership hold a vote on this legislation to increase American-made energy before Congress adjourns for the month of August. On Wednesday, all House Republicans assemble on the West Front Steps at approximately 1pm to unveil our legislation and publicly demand the up-or-down vote the American people deserve. You will be contacted shortly to become an original co-sponsor of this vital legislation.
We will use every option at our disposal to force a vote on the “all of the above” energy plan. America’s energy future should not be held hostage to the whims of radical special-interest groups that support higher gas prices.
If Speaker Pelosi and her liberal colleagues in the Democratic leadership continue to defy the will of the American people, they do so at their own peril.
The House GOP has defied the will of the public on energy efficiency, renewable energy wind, photovoltaics, baseload solar thermal, and fuel economy standards since the Gingrich revolution.
They now offer “false hope, failed policies, and eco-havoc” aka “all of the above.”
This post was created for ClimateProgress.org, a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
