"For too long we have been on bended knee to foreign potentates, while this country's vast energy sources go undeveloped."

Rep. Chris Cannon, Utah Republican

John E Peterson is a republican congressman from Pennsylvania and is one of a growing number of politicians who are standing up and fighting the Democrats on the all important issue of OIL. The New York Post of 16 June 2008 has a good piece by him which explains how we got into this mess - because of Washington! Surprised? I'm not. The point is things are starting to move on the energy crisis because Americans are finally realizing what Washington has done to the economy and energy and they are writing and calling their representatives and senators and demanding that we drill and build.

... AMERICA is in an energy crisis - not because of OPEC, but thanks to the policies of Congress and the last three presidents.

Since 1982, Congress has passed laws banning the production of oil and natural gas on our Outer Continental Shelf; the last three presidents went along. But the US Minerals Management Service estimates (conservatively) that the OCS holds 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas - the equivalent of 35 years of imported oil from OPEC and an 18-year supply of natural gas.

The United States is the only country in the world that prohibits exploitation of such offshore resources.

A recent Gallup poll found that nearly 60 percent of Americans support increased production of offshore oil and natural gas - but Congress has yet to get that message.

Access to our own energy shouldn't be a partisan issue. Yet last week, when I tried in a House committee to start opening up our vast offshore reserves, I lost on a party-line vote. Nine Democrats on the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee voted against the measure; six Republicans backed it. ...

Make no mistake, this mess is the result of Washington's foolish policy of restricting domestic energy production and discouraging investment in it. ...

For this country to remain a world leader in the global economy, Congress must develop a national energy policy that considers all means - including increased domestic production of oil and natural gas, on and offshore.

America depends on fossil fuels for 86 percent of our energy needs; wind, solar and geothermal power cover less than 1 percent. Renewable energy won't be available in sufficient quantity and at affordable prices for decades - so we have no other choice than to produce more of our own oil and natural gas - or further increase our dependence upon foreign sources.

And producing our own energy will create tens of thousands of jobs - and bring in hundreds of billions of dollars in royalties. That cash can be dedicated to renewable fuels R&D, carbon sequestration and environmental cleanup of our waters - as well as programs such as weatherization and energy assistance for those most in need. Billions more would go to the coastal states for their own use and to the US Treasury.

...The time for Congress to act is now.

Solving our energy crisis should be the No. 1 priority of Congress and the present and future occupant of the White House. As of today, it is not. READ

And this from President Bush today:

Bush, in a Rose Garden speech, joined a growing number of Republicans advocating for expanded production of oil shale - a sedimentary rock that when heated yields a fuel source that can be processed into a synthetic oil. The president stressed a much-used talking point that the oil shale deposits in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming hold the equivalent of 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil.

"That's more than three times larger than the proven oil reserves of Saudi Arabia," Bush said. "And it can be fully recovered - and if it can be fully recovered it would be equal to more than a century's worth of currently projected oil imports."

The cost of extracting the oil from the rock so far has been too high, but it's currently less than the market price of oil now, Bush said, and that makes it a "highly promising resource."

Bush mentioned oil shale as part of a four-prong strategy to wean the nation off foreign sources of oil, which has risen sharply in recent years to an all-time high. Bush also spoke in favor of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, in coastal areas along American soil and also to expedite the building of more oil refineries. READ