Posted on 05/15/2008 3:41:41 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Worried about gas prices hitting $4 a gallon and beyond? Imagine if they were $6, $7 or even $8 a gallon. Those levels are a certain possibility should Congress pass cap-and-trade legislation, which could face a vote in early June.
Oil is trading at record levels, in excess of $120 a barrel. Leading Republican Sens. James Inhofe (Okla.) and Jeff Sessions (Ala.) both told the Business & Media Institute (BMI) energy prices would drastically increase if the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act (S. 2191) is signed into law.
“The studies show it would be directly affected, would be a $1.50 a gallon, in addition to what it is today,” Inhofe, the ranking Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said to (BMI).
Inhofe spoke at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on May 15 to introduce the “We Get It!” campaign – a program founded by evangelical Christians that question the merits of global warming alarmism. According to Inhofe, the bill will make it to the floor of the Senate on June 2.
“So now I think we need to concentrate on what it will cost the American people,” he said during the press conference. “To try to put it in a perspective people understand, if we had ratified, according to the Wharton School of Economics, the Kyoto Treaty, back five years ago, it would have cost about – between $300 and $330 billion – that was the range they had. This bill that’s up today is $471 billion – far more than that. And the question is, what do you get for it?”
Sessions, a member of the Senate’s Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, went a step further. He cited sources that suggest the increase could be as much as $5 a gallon.
“[L]et me tell you what’s heading down the tracks,” Sessions said to BMI on May 14. “In a few weeks, we expect that the cap-and-trade legislation that’s been voted out of Sen. Barbara Boxer’s (D-Calif.) Environment and Public Works Committee will be on the floor and according to the Environmental Protection Agency it will increase gas prices by $1.50. The National Association of Manufacturers says it will increase it as much as $5 per gallon.”
Sessions proposed that money should be spent on energy investment versus a regulatory bureaucracy to enforce the provisions of the Lieberman-Warner bill.
“So instead of actually coming forward with any idea about what to do about rising prices, we’ll soon be voting on a bill that has already passed committee, has some Republican support, that would surge the price of energy, create a bureaucracy – and I just don’t think is the right thing to do,” Sessions said. “I’d rather spend our money in investing in the new the technologies, helping get nuclear power online, improving batteries, researching cellulosic ethanol. Let’s spend our money on that without creating cap-and-trade bureaucracies that have not worked in Europe.”
According to the Energy Information Administration, the average price of a gallon of gas in Europe ranges from $8 to $9 a gallon.
Gas prices have been one of the most reported news stories of the past several years. Reporters have repeatedly warned of prices approaching the levels Inhofe and Sessions warned about. However, journalists have consistently complained about oil company profits, not taxes, making gas prices higher.
On NBC’s May 15 “Today,” host Matt Lauer interviewed ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) CEO Rex Tillerson. Lauer quizzed Tillerson on oil companies’ profit margins and higher gas prices, but Lauer didn’t ask Tillerson about the potential impact Lieberman-Warner would have on the price of gasoline.
“Well, the problem we have right now, and fortunately we have several months before the election, to make sure the American people know that this is a supply problem that is causing the gas prices to go up,” Inhofe said to BMI. “You know the Democrats, right down party lines – they do not want to drill in ANWR, they do not want to drill offshore. They don’t want the tar sands. They don’t want more energy. And they don’t want refinery capacity.”
The Senate defeated a measure to drill in ANWR on May 13. The vote, an amendment to another bill, was killed by a vote of 42-56, largely along party lines. Only one Democrat voted for the amendment, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), and five Republicans voting against it.
Inhofe blamed Democratic policies going as far back as the Clinton administration.
"The Democrats are the reason we have high prices at the pumps, and we’re not going to be able to alleviate that until we start producing again in America,” Inhofe added. “And I knew this was happening way back, well 10 years ago, when President Clinton vetoed the bill that would have allowed us to drill in ANWR. I said on the Senate floor that day 10 years ago that in 10 years we would regret this. It’s now 10 years later.”
Not sure mass rioting and looting would be considered a revolt...but maybe if some people stepped up to lead the rioters in a purpose besides looting.
Senators, ya mean the blowhards? Vote the bums out.
OK then. What about after 1973? 1979? SUVs? The Electric Car’s disappearance...with ownership of the patents and technologies bought by Texaco? Bigger and bigger everything?
DC, and many of us, haven’t taken this issue seriously for a long time. Also, we have failed to take notice of increases in demand from Asia and other countries.
It may well be that big oil is gushing money, but there are other forces in play, too.
I paid $8.00/gal equivalent in Europe in 2000. It was an eye opener. I understood the virtue of Vespas for the first time.
“Ciao.” (Eddie Izzard)
I understand.
We can only hope there is a revolt. People seem pretty passive about it so far.
“(blast massive costs of GW legislation)”
To be fair, McCain has adopted this GOP policy also.
...and so the union dies.
“We are living in the strangest of times. The inmates truly are running the asylum!”
To quote FReeper AU72 “We are living in the post-rational world where being a moron is an asset”.
We are watching a once-great freedom-loving Republic destroy itself from within, and apparantly not enough people know it or care about it to stop it.
Not just high gas prices.
Next high food, clothing...prices.
Remember the Jimmy Carter gas lines ?
There is not much point in discussing the cons of Cap-and-Trade or any other anti GW measures. They were all effectively mandated in law when Bush agreed to list the polar bear as an “endangered species.” Installing the entire panoply of GW laws and rules was the whole point of listing the polar bears. It now does not even matter that polar ice is expanding and is at record levels.The law establishing protection for endangered species now mandates that everything be done to “protect” polar bears and their habitat. After a couple of trips through the courts we may well live in an economy totally dedicated to “fighting” global warming. That one little bureaucratic measure has the potential to do to the economy what the Declaration of War after Pearl Harbor did- put it totally under the direction of the government for the purpose of accomplishing the national purpose, which now is to Fight Global Warming.
Picture this, gas shoots up to $8-$10 dollars a gallon. Certain inner city groups begin rioting, looting/burning gas stations, seizing tanker trunks and distributing gas etc. Presisent Obama (or McCain) blames the greedy oil companies for the high prices. Solution? Let pull a Chavez and nationalize all facets of the oil industry...
Don't laugh, they want to do it with the health care industry, why not the oil industry as well
I will be so glad when that old coot (John Warner) retires from the Senate. Of course, there’s a 2nd Warner just salivating over his seat. A younger, democrat version.
Thanks! Got myself a new tag line!
Why is it so hard for other Republicans to say this? Why?
You are so, so correct. I tried explaining this to colleagues this morning so that they would understand how encompassing the scope of this decision is.
Term limits for both houses of congress would solve many problems......
Can you imagine “wear it out, use it up!” and “Victory Gardens” and and universal Rationing and scrap plastic drives in the Great Cause- to Fight global Warming? Something like that is coming on hard.
I hereby propose the following:
1. The United States government shall cease and desist from all monetary investment in vehicular fuel research.
2. The United States government shall set aside $4 Billion and only $4 Billion in a 2 part competition.
3. The competition shall consist of 2 fields: Fuels and Vehicles.
4. The first individual, university, or corporation to achieve the criterion specified shall receive a $500 Million Dollar Prize. In each category $500 million will be invested into the establishment of a production facility for the prize winning entry.
6. The next 10 entries to achieve the criterion shall receive a $100 Million prize, so long as the criterion is achieved within 5 years of the start of the competition.
7. Vehicles - produce a vehicle that meets the following:
5 star safety rating
Performance - must be able to sustain 80 MPH for 1 continuous hour.
Efficiency - Minimum City rating of 50 MPG
Size - must seat 4 adults
Price - must be available at production for less than $30,000.00.
8. Fuels/Conversions - must be able to replace standard unleaded fuel in a internal combustion engine - carburated or fuel injected. The fuel or conversion shall utilize a readily available resource. The fuel or conversion shall create an efficiency gain of 40% or better. If a fuel - it shall be distributable at retail for less than the petroleum equivalent price. If a fuel conversion it shall be available, installed, for less than $1,000.00 at retail.
9. The competition shall be open to U.S. Citizens, Permanent Residents, Universities within the 50 states and U.S. Territories, and Companies whose primary registered place of business is within jurisdiction of the United States government.
10. The production investment portion of the prize shall be limited to facilities, materials, and salaries within the 50 United States. . Obviously there are some details that could be tweaked, but I believe the idea is sound. Imagine if the big 3 automakers held board meetings that went something like this ... we KNOW we can do this if we put our minds to it - so we can invest $100,000,000 today with full assurance that we will not only get that investment back, but if we can do it first, we get a 5 fold return. And Oh by the way - we're going to get a TON of free advertising for our new product which will have, in the end, a federal government 'seal of approval'. Oh, and if we're first we're going to get %500,000,000 to put into the production line to get it out the door. I believe that Toyota, Honda, and Nissan .. 'of America' would jump all over this as well. (The reason the production award is different than the prize is that it is not only possible but reasonably likely that a university or individual could beat the big guys to the door. This portion of the prize then opens up the winning design to 'bid' for production.) . I honestly suspect and believe that every dime of the prize money would be awarded - to the benefit of the American populous and the American economy.
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