Feinstein Still Doesn’t Get It!
August 25, 2008
In a canned response to our plea to open drilling which would lower gas prices, Senator Dianne Feinstein, (D) from California responded as follows:
Thank you for writing to me to express your support for increasing domestic oil and gas exploration. I appreciate hearing from you on this important energy issue, and I welcome the opportunity to respond.
I share your concern that rising energy prices are placing a burden on American families and agree that it is important for the United States to continue to develop its oil and gas resources in concert with our efforts to reduce demand. I do not believe, however, that the United States can drill our way out of these record energy prices. According to the Department of Energy (DOE):
The United States consumes more than 20.5 million barrels of oil per day – or 25 percent of total global consumption – but has less than three percent of the known global reserves;
- Opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and gas exploration would not increase domestic crude oil production until 2018;
- Additional oil production from opening ANWR is estimated to yield 745,000 barrels per day – or 3.6 percent of daily U.S. consumption – and would reduce the price of oil by no more than $1.44 per barrel; and
- Lifting the Federal moratorium on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030.
You may also be interested to know that between 1999 and 2007, the number of drilling permits issued to the oil industry increased by 361 percent. Over the same period, however, gas prices increased from $1.25 per gallon to over $4.00 per gallon. The oil industry also has access to significant oil and gas resources on federal lands and waters that they have yet to use. According to the Department of the Interior:
The majority of crude oil and natural gas believed to be available on the OCS – 79 percent of oil and 82 percent of natural gas – are already available for drilling through existing leases; and
Nearly 64 million acres of federal land and water leased to the oil and gas industry are not being used to increase domestic production.
Instead of initiating oil and gas exploration in places like ANWR and the OCS, I believe that the United States needs a long-term strategy to address our dependence on oil. We must take steps to increase the use of renewable energy and maximize current supplies by supporting energy efficient technologies. Please know that I appreciate hearing your support for increasing domestic oil and gas exploration, and I will keep your thoughts in mind as I continue working with my Senate colleagues to strengthen our national energy policy.
Again, thank you for writing. If you have additional comments or questions, please contact my Washington, D.C. staff at (202) 224-3841.
We urge you to call. This is more Democrat (liberal) rhetoric that we keep hearing over and over. There are lies and distortions in it that we have addressed here in previous articles. One, you can’t get oil where there is none, whether you have a lease or not! Obviously, she is in bed with environmentalists who are against domestic drilling… another aging baby boomer who is out of touch with the rest of the country.
If the Olympics taught us anything, it is that China is not standing still. They are going to oil and are not ashamed of it. They are a growing and thriving economy and will leave us in the dust if we do not get control of our energy policies back from the left wing liberals.
We started this site to be non-political, but as you can see by this letter and similar ones we have posted from other Democrats, that they are on the wrong side of this issue. They need to be removed. You are constituents of the senators from California and other states because they make policies that affect us all!
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