I sent an email to congressman John Dingell about drilling for oil and this was his response. Take note the "Democratic Congress" will fix everything.
Dear Peter:
Thank you for contacting me regarding drilling for oil in the U.S. I appreciate hearing from you.
In the wake of gas prices exceeding $4 per gallon, interest in domestic oil drilling is understandable. However, I believe that drilling in areas such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) would be short-sighted for several reasons. First, such activity could cause irreparable damage to sensitive ecosystems, depriving future generations of some of our most pristine natural areas. In addition, continuing our reliance on fossil fuels will hurt our efforts to combat global warming, the most significant environmental threat we face. A consensus among climate experts indicates that we will need to reduce carbon emissions by 60 to 80 percent by 2050 to limit the effects of global warming; I am committed to working with my colleagues to achieve that goal.
Putting aside these significant environmental considerations, however, domestic drilling will have no impact on short-term oil prices and may be of little benefit in the long term. Accessing oil in ANWR and elsewhere-and building the refineries needed to process the oil-could take a decade or more. According to the Energy Information Administration, drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf would have no effect on oil prices before 2030. In the meantime, a host of factors, from increasing demand for oil in India and China to political instability and anti-Americanism in oil-producing nations, could conspire to offset or even outstrip the reduction in gas prices caused by domestic drilling.
It is also important to note that the vast majority of oil and natural gas resources on federal lands are already open for drilling. Oil companies have 68 million acres of federal lands under lease which they have failed to use for drilling purposes. I am a cosponsor of H.R. 6251, the Responsible Federal Oil and Gas Lease Act, which would prohibit the leasing of any new federal lands to oil companies which had not fully explored the lands they currently lease. This bill failed to secure the necessary two-thirds majority to pass under a suspension of the rules on June 26, 2008. However, I will continue to hold oil companies accountable for the lands they currently are not using.
A better approach than opening up new lands for drilling is to take concrete steps to ease oil prices in the short term while working to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels over the long term. On May 13, 2008, I helped pass H.R. 6022, Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) Fill Suspension and Consumer Protection Act of 2008, which suspends contributions to the SPR through the end of 2008 unless the price of oil has fallen below $75 per barrel for at least a month. The President signed the bill into law on May 19. In addition, on May 20 the House passed H.R. 6074, the Gas Price Relief for Consumers Act of 2008. This bill authorizes legal action against OPEC and establishes a Justice Department task force to crack down on anticompetitive practices and market manipulation-all of which are inflating the price at the pump.
The Democratic Congress is also working to reduce our use of fossil fuels to permanently free ourselves from the burdens of high oil prices. I was pleased to help pass H.R. 6, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which was signed into law by the President on December 19, 2007. This legislation establishes new CAFE standards which increase fuel economy standard to 35 miles per gallon by 2020 for new cars and trucks. These standards, which have been endorsed by both environmental groups and the United Auto Workers, will make a significant environmental impact, reducing oil consumption by 1.1 million barrels a day by 2020. At the same time, the bill offers flexibility to automakers and ensures that we keep American manufacturing jobs and continue domestic production of smaller vehicles.
In addition, on June 19, I helped pass H.R. 6049, the Renewable Energy and Job Creation Act, which was approved in the House by a vote of 263-140. The bill extends the renewable energy production tax credit for wind, biomass, geothermal and other renewable energy sources as well as tax incentives for biodiesel production, solar energy and fuel cell investment and energy efficiency improvements to existing homes. The bill also provides new incentives for plug-in hybrid vehicles and cellulosic ethanol production. You may rest assured I will continue to work to keep these valuable incentives for green energy sources.
As the Representative of Southeast Michigan as well as the Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, I am well positioned to both see the impact of high oil prices and take action against them. You may rest assured I will continue to work to reduce prices at the pump in the short term while promoting our environmental and economic interests in the long term.
Again, thank you for being in touch. For news on current federal legislative issues, please visit my website at www.house.gov/dingell; you can also sign up there to receive my e-newsletter. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact me again if I may be of assistance with this or any other matter of concern.
With every good wish,
Sincerely yours,
John D. Dingell
Member of Congress
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2006 GT Tungsten Grey 5 spd, Xcal2/Pipeline CAI, Powerhouse tune. Spoiler delete. Front Speakers:Infinity 6812CF;Blaupunkt GTc652. Rear:Infinity Kappa 682.7CF. H/U:Alpine CDA-9885. Alpine MRP-F250 amp. Sequentials. President of the Splash guard registry. On Deck: Motoblue UDP's.
I regret that I was ever convinced to vote for that @ss... and that was simply because he was pro 2A. I've got Tim Walberg, now (next district west), and he seems to have sense.
He's had LOTS of practice... he's been in Congress for 50+ years, if I remember my history correctly. And, Mr. Dingell took over that seat from his father, who was in the post for 20 some-odd years before that!
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When learned men begin to use their reason, then I generally discover that they haven't got any.
In the struggle for existence, it is only on those who hang on for ten minutes after all is hopeless, that hope begins to dawn.
So let's ignore that the reason oil companies have not drilled the crap out of the leased land they have is because they have done studies and shown that it would not be cost affective. Some politicians seem to thing land is just the cap to oil reserves and no matter where you drill you will simply just pump the oil out. This could not be farther from the truth.
And there have been environmental studies done that show drilling in ANWR would have virtually no impact on the land as a whole, or the creatures living there.
Let's also just toss out "environmental danger" and "global climate change" as reasons to do NOTHING in the short term for the oil situation we find ourselves in RIGHT NOW. Let's instead propose switching to alternative energy measures that are no where near ready for us to use as a alternative to our general oil needs.
Let's all sit around the camp fire and sing hippy songs about brotherhood and mother earth and act like everyone is using more than they need to, all the time ignoring the fact that studies have shown that our per person use of oil has DROPPED and we have not seen this low of 'per person' consumption since the 70's. Our overall use has indeed gone up, but that is because our population and general needs has grown. So each person using even less than we do no will not stop the increase in overall demand... since we keep GROWING.
This guy, and others like him are complete idiots. Sure, some of what they propose are GOOD things, but to ignore ALL measures to insure a stable and sustainable future is pure lunacy. They in essence are advocating just shutting off the oil tap and doing "something" else, and that will suddenly relieve us of our huge gas prices.
On another note though, I do agree that the strategic oil reserves should be opened up. As someone who just got a letter from his heating oil company and offered to let me pre-purchase oil at just under $5 a gallon, I say something needs to be done before winter sets in. I can't for the life of me understand how a less refined fuel (heating oil) costs MORE than a MORE refined fuel (automobile gas).
Let's see what these politicians say when winter hits and people die because they can't afford heating oil. It gets worse every year. And as someone who has applied for heating oil relief in the past (and told that before I got any help I had to move out of my home, file for welfare, get food stamps, and be on State assistance) it is not as easy to get help as the TV Commercials claim it is. Yeah, explain to folks how concern for the environment 100 years or more from now outweighs concern for human life TODAY.
The simple truth is that politicians and big business are not affected by these things the way the vast majority of us NORMAL folks are. And until they get that through their heads nothing will change.
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- Sam
The shackles of opression and dependence are most easily slipped on with a smile and kind words of hope.
I got the same style of response from Sen. Bill Nelson here in FL. Didn't even want to listen.. ass.
Yep, same here. Also a letter(s) from congressman Alan Boyd (D) from the Florida 2nd cong. district this guy is a total puppet! He is also head of the "Blue Dog Democrats" the reason he is a "Blue Dog" is that he is Nancy Polosi's lap dog and she has his collar so tight he has turned BLUE!!
When are you guys going to understand that these high fuel prices are what the left wants and has been pushing for the last 30 years! It is called controlling the populace.
Now there are some in congress who are pushing bills for gas and heating oil subsidies to people. In other words, you want gas to go to work and propane or oil to keep you warm, then vote for me.
There is a reason congress approval rating is in the single digits!
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06' GT Tungsten gray,seq. turn sigs. no spoiler.
XM,
An armed man is called a citizen.A disarmed man is called a subject.
OK, my Rep. is the co-author of the two Fair Tax books, so you can guess how HE responds...
But the 2 Georgia Senators are no great help. Solid (and stolid) republicans both of them, so to find out what they think you have to just check the RNC white papers and templates. These two are about as creative as a rock. The fact that neither of them comprehend the Fair Tax (despite Neal Boortz spending hours every day on the air in both their home bases explaining it over and over and over and over...).
They fully support Pres. Bush's decision to dump the hot oil drilling potato into the Democrat's collective laps.
Otherwise, they vaguely support tweaking the current drilling plans to try to wring some more oil out of existing fields - vaguely support building a few new oil refineries (so long as none of them are within a thousand miles of any park, songbird, or the state line of Georgia) - vaguely support the idea that we need to get the fuel prices down (but no concrete suggestions, other than mentioning boondoggles like ethanol, solar power, and wind power).
They also both really like McCain's plan to add another layer of state-level bureaucracy to the oil exploration/drilling/refining/transporting issue.
Having received these almost-fawning replies to my polite inquiries as to their plans (Linder's response linked me to American Solution's "Drill now, Drill here, Pay less" site! Thank God, the man DOES have a clue!!!), I next hit them with threats:
Support the oil companies and immediate development plans for oil, natural gas, refineries, and nuclear power plants, or I am going to move heaven and earth to get you fired.
My responses to this were form letters welcoming my input and soliciting campaign contributions (for the record, I did NOT send such a note to Linder).
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tripleblack
"You can never be free until you let yourself go."
The dumbest part of that email is his next to last paragraph, sounds like he is asleep at the switch, being the "Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee" and all..
He will continue to work at reducing prices at the pump? When did he start?
Sorry Mr. Dingell, but when I am resting, I am not assured.
I remember back in the 80's when there was a movement to "throw the bums out" I think it's time to start that one up again.
"As the Representative of Southeast Michigan as well as the Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, I am well positioned to both see the impact of high oil prices and take action against them. You may rest assured I will continue to work to reduce prices at the pump in the short term while promoting our environmental and economic interests in the long term".
And of course, their email is one way so you cannot respond to them....
This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification. Delivery to the following recipients failed.
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2006 GT Tungsten Grey 5 spd, Xcal2/Pipeline CAI, Powerhouse tune. Spoiler delete. Front Speakers:Infinity 6812CF;Blaupunkt GTc652. Rear:Infinity Kappa 682.7CF. H/U:Alpine CDA-9885. Alpine MRP-F250 amp. Sequentials. President of the Splash guard registry. On Deck: Motoblue UDP's.
Bush won't demand conservation - Mike Allen - Politico.com
Well it's about time the President starts talking like a Texan and a real man!!
The press confrence today he slammed the media and made them look like a bunch of morons! They had a cow when he told them he was not going to tell Americans how to conserve energy or how to drive. He said American people have more sense than the government and do not need to be told how to live!! BRAVO!!
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06' GT Tungsten gray,seq. turn sigs. no spoiler.
XM,
An armed man is called a citizen.A disarmed man is called a subject.
It's nice to finally hear from the government that "We the People" are capable of doing what we feel is best... nevermind that it's just the President saying so, and not a congresscritter. It's okay, though; I'll take what I can get! One more (small) blow against big government.
*ignoring the Rx expansion of a few years ago...*
__________________
When learned men begin to use their reason, then I generally discover that they haven't got any.
In the struggle for existence, it is only on those who hang on for ten minutes after all is hopeless, that hope begins to dawn.
Bush won't demand conservation - Mike Allen - Politico.com
Well it's about time the President starts talking like a Texan and a real man!!
The press confrence today he slammed the media and made them look like a bunch of morons! They had a cow when he told them he was not going to tell Americans how to conserve energy or how to drive. He said American people have more sense than the government and do not need to be told how to live!! BRAVO!!
While I agree that the American people have to make their own decisions about how much to drive, where and when, why the heck would Bush call for less gas usage? That would be kind of like Starbucks asking folks to drink less coffee. "Former oil man," my aching ascetabulum - he's just on an eight-year, partial sabbatical.
While I agree that the American people have to make their own decisions about how much to drive, where and when, why the heck would Bush call for less gas usage? That would be kind of like Starbucks asking folks to drink less coffee. "Former oil man," my aching ascetabulum - he's just on an eight-year, partial sabbatical.
I think you missed (as well as a good many have) that he DID say that folks should conserve. He just refuses to tell them as a government official (and the TOP one) that they should do what "he" thinks they should do. It is a matter of self regulation, VS government regulation... even if in just in words alone.
Heck, studies have shown that people ARE using less gas and doing more overall conservation. We are using per person less oil than we have since the 70's. We just have more people using it.
I do agree on principle that people in an industry generally don't REALLY push for folks to use less of their product though. Look the tobacco industry.
But I think you tend to be a bit harsh on GW and sometimes make more/or less of something than it may actually be because of your distaste for the man. I could, however, be wrong.
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- Sam
The shackles of opression and dependence are most easily slipped on with a smile and kind words of hope.
Letter from congressman John Dingell 
