Tired of paying over $4.00 a gallon for gasoline? Tired of congress doing nothing about the problem?
According to the Argus Leader, Senator John Thune is doing something about it. Senator Thune has introduced a bill in the Senate to kick-start U.S. energy policy and production.
Thune's bill would open areas off U.S. coasts, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and oil shale deposits in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming to oil exploration. It would fast-track the regulatory process for refineries such as the proposed Hyperion Energy Center in Union County. And it would use half the revenue from new energy production to pay for research into next-generation biofuels and energy-saving technology.
The article says Thune is working with five Democrat and five Republican senators on some aggressive energy bills.
Thune says the fast-tracking of refinery permits may not make it through to the final bill...but it should. We haven't built a new refinery in the United States in over 30 years, and the endless and phenomenally slow (and expensive) permitting process has a lot to do with it.
Our refining capacity is at or near full strength; a disaster like Katrina or a major breakdown could seriously hinder production and send prices even higher. Thanks to myopic energy policy and pandering to environmental extremists, we have no margin to play with.
Thune's efforts and the efforts of those he's working with are just what we need.
The upcoming trip to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) by U.S. House candidate Chris Lien and several other candidates also shows some folks are getting serious about tapping the energy America needs.
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