Congress still searching for ways to deal with energy prices
By Erika Bolstad | McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON — Ideas to lower the nation's high energy prices faced a whirlwind of hearings, press conferences, speeches and votes on energy in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.
"It's clear that the American people are suffering and deserve our attention, and hopefully, some solutions," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, testifying at the first event of the day, a Senate hearing featuring energy expert Daniel Yergin.
Yergin told senators that to address high prices, the United States needs an approach that includes "new supplies, renewables and greater efficiencies." Something as simple as getting everyone in American to check the air pressure on their car tires could save thousands of barrels of oil a day, Yergin said.
"We ought to avoid the either-or," Yergin said. "We kind of need everything."
But partisan bickering continued. Democrats unveiled a flurry of energy-related legislation. Republicans were quick to criticize or defeat the plans.
Senate Democrats announced their plan to curb speculation in oil futures markets, with Reid calling it one step to address high gasoline prices and saying "we have to start someplace."
Republican senators, including Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, support increased speculation oversight, although they differ in their approach to it. Republicans complained that the proposal is not the only solution to address high gas prices -- something that Democrats acknowledged.
But, "something must be done," said Stevens, who has his own version of anti-speculation legislation and said he had been getting a lot of pressure from airlines to address prices.
In the House, Democratic leaders voted on "use it or lose it" legislation to spur energy producers to drill on federal land they already have access to, including the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska on the North Slope. The 244-173 vote for the legislation was not the two-thirds needed for it to pass. The president has also threatened to veto the proposal, which included provisions to build a pipeline to transport oil and gas out of the NPR-A.
The bill had little support from Republicans, who said it does nothing more than encourage drilling in places it's already allowed.
In a "dear colleague" letter to fellow House members, U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, called the bill "rhetorical cover for doing nothing to produce energy." The legislation is the Democratic leadership's "pretext for blocking votes on real oil and gas production," said Young, who was on his way back to Fairbanks for an energy summit and did not vote on it.
In the Senate, where, for now, Republicans have backed away from their call to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Republicans had their own slogan: "find more, use less." Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, warned that while she supports additional production, it won't be the only solution. Conservation will have to be a piece, Murkowski said.
Like their House counterparts, most Senate Democrats want to encourage production on federal land already open to drilling, but they also have been warmer toward some offshore drilling proposals.
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