Category — Gas Prices

I’ve written about it before, but I’m seeing an increasing number of hits on this website from residents of the 6th Congressional District who are seeking to bring an end to the annoying onslaught of robo calls from their Congressman, Peter Roskam. Roskam, who is obviously concerned about his re-election chances this fall, is using the calls to promote his plan to exploit the current crisis in fuel prices as an opportunity to help the big oil companies that play a significant role in funding his campaigns. These calls, while pretty clearly designed to aid his campaign, appear to be originating from his Congressional office as they don’t bear any funding message. I can only presume they are being paid for by the taxpayers. I am not knowledgeable about the legal or ethical implications of the use of government resources for such a purpose.

I have been seeing a notable increase in hits from persons in the area using search strings like “stop peter roskam robo phone calls’, “stop peter roskam phone calls”, and “peter roskam phone calls at home”. I too have been the recipient of these phone calls, most recently just a couple of days ago, and I too find them objectionable. Sadly, this site has no solution to offer. I can only prevail on Representative Roskam once again to set up a registry to exclude those of us who do not wish to receive his automatic messaging. This seems only fair since we appear to be paying for them. I would be very happy to use this site to help him promote such an option, free of charge.

Have been busy with business and vacation travel over the past month and I missed this one at the time it came up but I think it is important as it is another example of Peter Roskam’s utter lack of sincerity when he purports to be concerned about the high gasoline prices his constituents are being forced to contend with.

Back on June 24, Democrats in Congress brought to a vote H.R. 6346: Federal Price Gouging Prevention Act. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, who in his role on that committee has been working for a long time to bring real relief to consumers, unlike Roskam who has merely trotted out his energy independence dog and pony show in a desperate attempt to win votes this fall. You can see Stupak going head-to-head on price gouging last year with Fox News’ Neil Cavuto who must be getting large checks from Exxon-Mobil to argue so strenuously on the oil companies behalf. (The gas prices on the sign behind Stupak at the beginning of the clip made me weep with nostalgia).

Stupak’s bill would have allowed the President to issue renewable declarations of energy emergency of up to 30 days duration, either generally or for specific geographic areas. During these periods, those who engage in price gouging could be subject to criminal penalties. The FTC and the state attorneys general are empowered to enforce with civil and or criminal actions. Fines and penalties recovered would be required to be put in trust to provide assistance to low-income individuals and families with energy costs under the Low Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) Program.

Seems pretty straight forward. Price gouging in periods of emergency is wrong. This bill makes it illegal and those most vulnerable to high energy costs reap the rewards of its enforcement.

Sadly, the Roskam and his Republican colleagues in Congress blocked the measure, as they have done with virtually everything else the Democrats have attempted to cope with the energy crisis and promote energy independence. The day of the vote, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sent out instructions to its minions on the Republican side of the House to defeat the measure and they blindly obeyed. Roskam consistently votes in accordance with the Chamber’s wishes, regardless of the impact on his constituents. The over $100,000 in campaign contributions he has received from the oil and gas industry probably helped also to ensure his “nay” vote on the bill.

If only we had a Congressman with the integrity and concern for consumers that Rep. Stupak has demonstrated. Perhaps we will yet. I remain optimistic about Jill Morgenthaler’s chances this fall. Roskam has blatantly voted against the best interests of his constituency at almost every opportunity and I think people are beginning to wake up to that fact.

Peter Roskam has spent a great deal of time touting his Energy VISION Act around the district lately. The act is supposed to be a plan to eliminate U.S. dependence on foreign oil imports in response to the crisis of high energy costs that has been caused by the last 8 years of war and mismanagement by George Bush enabled by Roskam and his Republican colleagues in Congress.

Roskam, who has attempted to block House Democrats at every turn in their efforts to develop a sound energy policy based in heavy emphasis on alternative, renewable sources of energy and increase energy efficiencies, now wants to implement a plan that he says will end our dependence on foreign oil in 15 years. Roskam’s plan emphasizes drilling in the environmentally sensitive Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and in currently protected areas of the outer continental shelf (OCS), which he says will ultimately yield a combined total of 3.9 million barrels per day.

This past Thursday Democrats gave Roskam a chance to put his money where his mouth is by bringing H.R. 6515: Drill Responsibly in Leased Lands Act of 2008 to the House for a vote. Instead, Roskam and his Republican colleagues blocked the measure.

Rep Steny Hoyer (D-MD) made the following statement about the legislation defeated by Roskam and his colleagues:

Drill Responsibly in Leased Lands. With Americans being pummeled by $4 a gallon gas, it is high time America did just that,” stated Rep. Hoyer. “However, after months of suggesting that the only answer to bring down gas prices is more drilling, House Republicans today showed their true colors by blocking the DRILL Act – a bill which would have decisively and responsibly increased domestic oil production.”

Specifically, the DRILL Act would speed up the leasing process of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), an area of land west of the federally-protected Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) that contains an estimated 10.6 billion barrels of oil to ANWR’s 10.4 billion. The bill also incorporates the ‘Use It or Lose It’ legislation, which simply requires oil producers to drill on the leases they already have or relinquish them so that another company can produce the oil there. Finally, it would call on the President to use the powers of his office to facilitate the completion of Alaskan oil and gas pipelines, so products will get to market sooner, and it ensures that Alaskan oil will fill American gas tanks, not be exported to other countries.

“In addition to promoting responsible drilling, this bill tells the oil companies to drill on the leases they have, or let somebody else do it - but don’t just sit on them while Americans are paying $4 a gallon,” stated Hoyer. “I see no reason to give even more handouts of public land to companies enjoying record profits and billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies. Let them start on the land they already have, which will bring oil to the market more quickly.”

Oil and gas companies currently hold leases to 68 million acres of federal land and the Outer Continental Shelf on which they are not producing oil and gas. Eighty-one percent of estimated oil and gas resources on federal lands and waters are already available for development – 311 million acres. These reserves are equal to 107 billion barrels of oil and 658 trillion cubic feet of natural gas - more than 14 years of current U.S. oil consumption (7.5 billion barrels per year).

Roskam instead proposes a plan that:

• Allows oil companies to sit indefinitely on their existing leases without drilling while prices climb even higher allowing them to increase their future profits
• Puts highly sensitive ecosystems at risk of irreversible damage
• Makes no assurance that oil ultimately produced will make it into gas tanks in this country
• Relies on questionable math in its calculations regarding future energy independence

It is clear that there will be real action taken regarding the nation’s energy crisis until we elect a Democratic president this fall and increase the Democratic majority in Congress. Roskam and the Republicans are in Big Oil’s pocket and can be counted on to do absolutely nothing to help Americans who are suffering through this crisis.

Big Oil has been having a tough time lately. Since George Bush took office, gasoline prices at the pump have more than tripled, forcing the oil companies to absorb huge windfall profits and causing whining, irrational consumers and Democrats in Congress to question the large subsidies that the Bush administration and Republicans in Congress have provided to the companies and to ask themselves whether we should be using so-called “alternative” forms of energy.

Now just as things were beginning to look bleak for Big Oil, our own Congressman, Peter Roskam, has unveiled a plan to help the oil companies weather these difficult times. Disguised as a plan to address the high fuel prices that consumers so unfairly complain about, the Roskam plan cleverly nips all talk of renewable, clean, alternative energy sources in the bud, and secures our dependence on fossil fuels into the distant future.

The Roskam plan is stunning in it’s simplicity. It focuses on two major actions: tax breaks to the wealthy and unrestrained domestic drilling.

Under the Roskam plan, residents of the 6th district who are suffering hardship from high gasoline prices will be able to receive a substantial tax credit for trading in their Hummer or Escalade for a smaller, more sensible Lexus or Mercedes. Who said Roskam was insensitive to the needs of the disadvantaged?

For many years now, Democrats and other communists in the environmental movement have successfully thwarted Big Oil from drilling in protected areas offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in the name of protecting the environment. Well screw the environment! Peter Roskam’s energy plan tells these tree-hugging pansies who’s boss. Why drilling in ANWR alone will knock 4 cents off the cost of a gallon of gasoline within 20 years and supply a whopping 3 percent of our nation’s energy consumption no later than 2027. Democrats in Congress have tried to insist that the oil companies must first pursue drilling in the 5,500 oil leases that they currently possess. Roskam won’t rest until Big Oil has it all, tourists and pelicans be damned.

But Peter Roskam is no Johnny-Come-Lately to the cause of Big Oil. Since coming to Congress, Roskam has consistently used his votes to advance the interests of the Oil Companies and ward of threats posed by alternative energy technologies and increased fuel-efficiency standards.

Thank God, in these harrowing times, the oil companies have a friend like Peter Roskam. Remember that when you vote this fall.

Addendum: the pinkos over at Progress Illinois have a post questioning the math Roskam is using to promote his plan. Imagine. Suggesting that a sitting Congressman running for re-election might somehow use fuzzy math to his own political advantage. It boggles the mind.