Fixing Our Broken Energy Policy

THE PROBLEM

Americans are hurting because of the high cost of gas. But drilling for lower gas prices is a fraud.

• It’s a fake solution, and a scam being sold to the American public desperate for relief.

More drilling is the one thing we could do that is guaranteed to keep prices high. It just can’t produce enough, it just takes too long, and it’s just for the benefit of Big Oil.

• More drilling just can’t produce enough to make a real difference. In the U.S., we have less than three percent of the world’s oil – which means we can’t drill our way out of this problem.

• More drilling just won’t deliver a drop of new oil for ten years, according to the Bush administration agency in charge – which means drilling doesn’t even work as a temporary fix.

• And most of all, more drilling just keeps America dependant on oil – which is good for Big Oil but bad for you.

We know more drilling doesn’t mean lower gas prices – because we’ve already tried.

• The number of new offshore drilling permits has tripled since 2001– and yet we’re also paying triple what we were in 2001.

If we count on more drilling to lower gas prices, in ten years our economy will still be tied to oil like an anchor. That’s economic disaster.

• In ten years gas prices are going to be high whether we drill here, because demand in China and India is exploding.

• The price of oil is set by the global market, not by what’s produced next door. When it comes to how much you pay, all oil might as well be foreign oil.

• Even worse, any oil drilled here may not even stay here – and the same goes for the profits. We could be selling off parts of America to foreign or multinational companies, who take the profits overseas and then send the oil to China and India.

Only a small percentage of public lands and offshore areas are still protected from drilling, and those are valuable natural resources that cannot be replaced.

• The U.S. is already in the midst of a tremendous drilling boom.

• The oil and gas industry already has access to more drilling than it knows what to do with – literally. It has nearly 45 million acres of public lands, more than it can drill effectively.

• The industry should responsibly drill in those areas before we hand over more of the public’s land and coasts.

Offshore drilling threatens serious, irreparable damage to our oceans, coastal communities, and fisheries.

• More drilling means new roads, pipelines and processing facilities on beaches that today are pristine.

• Current drilling in the Gulf of Mexico has already destroyed more wetlands than exist between New Jersey and Maine.

• More drilling will mean more oil spills on beaches, more toxic waste, and more air pollution.
• There have been 187 oil spills offshore just in the Gulf of Mexico between 1981 and 2005 – about 1 per month.
• Hurricanes Katrina and Rita alone resulted in 125 spills from platforms, rigs, and pipelines, totaling 685,000 gallons

• Drilling also harms local communities and coastal economies that depend upon healthy resources for tourism, recreation and fishing.
• Seismic surveys and toxic pollution associated with drilling harms fisheries and the seafood industry.

THE SOLUTION

In the next few weeks, we need to help families left holding the bag for eight years of misguided energy and economic policies.

• We need to end tax breaks for Big Oil, which makes enough money already.

• Instead of subsidies to the most profitable companies on the planet, let’s give that money directly to families.

• We just need to stop the bleeding.

In the next few years, we need to get off the energy sources that have sapped our economy dry.

• What we need is to get moving with technology that already exists, so that when Americans drive past a gas station – they can just keep on driving.

• We need cars that go further on a tank of gas and we need them to be affordable.

• We need cars that you can plug in overnight and that a lot of the time don’t use gas at all.

• Most of all, we need a comprehensive American energy production plan that increases our energy independence and boosts our economy. It’s time to invest in clean, homegrown energy sources.

If we get started now, in ten years, we can create millions of new clean energy jobs, head off the worst of climate change, and clean up the air.

The only way we can protect ourselves from paying a fortune for gas is by using less gas.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Any Member of Congress thinking about more drilling needs to be asked three questions:

• When will more drilling lower my gas prices?

• How much will more drilling lower my gas prices?

• Last year, did you vote for making our cars go further on a tank of gas? How about for encouraging more renewable energy, and for repealing subsidies to Big Oil?

There’s no reason to think more drilling will lower gas prices – but there’s every reason to think the people talking the loudest are really looking to boost Big Oil’s already sky-high profits.

• They’re the same people who top the list of campaign cash from big oil, and the same ones who didn’t even want to make our cars go further on a tank of gas.

Every Member of Congress should be on notice: if you throw in with Big Oil now, the check will come due with the American public.

THE PROBLEM

Americans are hurting because of the high cost of gas. But drilling for lower gas prices is a fraud.

• It’s a fake solution, and a scam being sold to the American public desperate for relief.

More drilling is the one thing we could do that is guaranteed to keep prices high. It just can’t produce enough, it just takes too long, and it’s just for the benefit of Big Oil.

• More drilling just can’t produce enough to make a real difference. In the U.S., we have less than three percent of the world’s oil – which means we can’t drill our way out of this problem.

• More drilling just won’t deliver a drop of new oil for ten years, according to the Bush administration agency in charge – which means drilling doesn’t even work as a temporary fix.

• And most of all, more drilling just keeps America dependant on oil – which is good for Big Oil but bad for you.

We know more drilling doesn’t mean lower gas prices – because we’ve already tried.

• The number of new offshore drilling permits has tripled since 2001– and yet we’re also paying triple what we were in 2001.

If we count on more drilling to lower gas prices, in ten years our economy will still be tied to oil like an anchor. That’s economic disaster.

• In ten years gas prices are going to be high whether we drill here, because demand in China and India is exploding.

• The price of oil is set by the global market, not by what’s produced next door. When it comes to how much you pay, all oil might as well be foreign oil.

• Even worse, any oil drilled here may not even stay here – and the same goes for the profits. We could be selling off parts of America to foreign or multinational companies, who take the profits overseas and then send the oil to China and India.

Only a small percentage of public lands and offshore areas are still protected from drilling, and those are valuable natural resources that cannot be replaced.

• The U.S. is already in the midst of a tremendous drilling boom.

• The oil and gas industry already has access to more drilling than it knows what to do with – literally. It has nearly 45 million acres of public lands, more than it can drill effectively.

• The industry should responsibly drill in those areas before we hand over more of the public’s land and coasts.

Offshore drilling threatens serious, irreparable damage to our oceans, coastal communities, and fisheries.

• More drilling means new roads, pipelines and processing facilities on beaches that today are pristine.

• Current drilling in the Gulf of Mexico has already destroyed more wetlands than exist between New Jersey and Maine.

• More drilling will mean more oil spills on beaches, more toxic waste, and more air pollution.
• There have been 187 oil spills offshore just in the Gulf of Mexico between 1981 and 2005 – about 1 per month.
• Hurricanes Katrina and Rita alone resulted in 125 spills from platforms, rigs, and pipelines, totaling 685,000 gallons

• Drilling also harms local communities and coastal economies that depend upon healthy resources for tourism, recreation and fishing.
• Seismic surveys and toxic pollution associated with drilling harms fisheries and the seafood industry.

THE SOLUTION

In the next few weeks, we need to help families left holding the bag for eight years of misguided energy and economic policies.

• We need to end tax breaks for Big Oil, which makes enough money already.

• Instead of subsidies to the most profitable companies on the planet, let’s give that money directly to families.

• We just need to stop the bleeding.

In the next few years, we need to get off the energy sources that have sapped our economy dry.

• What we need is to get moving with technology that already exists, so that when Americans drive past a gas station – they can just keep on driving.

• We need cars that go further on a tank of gas and we need them to be affordable.

• We need cars that you can plug in overnight and that a lot of the time don’t use gas at all.

• Most of all, we need a comprehensive American energy production plan that increases our energy independence and boosts our economy. It’s time to invest in clean, homegrown energy sources.

If we get started now, in ten years, we can create millions of new clean energy jobs, head off the worst of climate change, and clean up the air.

The only way we can protect ourselves from paying a fortune for gas is by using less gas.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Any Member of Congress thinking about more drilling needs to be asked three questions:

• When will more drilling lower my gas prices?

• How much will more drilling lower my gas prices?

• Last year, did you vote for making our cars go further on a tank of gas? How about for encouraging more renewable energy, and for repealing subsidies to Big Oil?

There’s no reason to think more drilling will lower gas prices – but there’s every reason to think the people talking the loudest are really looking to boost Big Oil’s already sky-high profits.

• They’re the same people who top the list of campaign cash from big oil, and the same ones who didn’t even want to make our cars go further on a tank of gas.

Every Member of Congress should be on notice: if you throw in with Big Oil now, the check will come due with the American public.

Talking Points: Olympolitics 2008 - Beijing

Democracy in China? The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) survived pro-democracy movement in 1989 and has been in power in China for over 50 years. It is the world’s largest political party with more than 70 million members, but that figure represents only 5.5% of the Chinese population.

• Some feel prospects have never been better for democracy in China.
• There were 87,000 protests in China in 2005, some very violent
• 20% of Chinese university graduates in 2007 remain unemployed
• China has promised to keep the Olympics open in every aspect, but has denied the Visa of Team Darfur organizers, including Olympic Gold Medal Speed Skater Joey Cheek. China has also increased surveillance and shutdown many online journalists during the Olympics.
• Many journalists were thrown out of the uprising in Tibet last March. Many human rights activists in China are jailed for their work.

China’s Human Rights Record: China promised complete openness for foreign journalists and to improve its human rights record before the games. Amnesty International has noted an increase in human rights abuses since China was awarded the Olympics. Is China cleaning up its act?

• China has come under scrutiny from international groups because of its oil ties to the Sudanese government, which is responsible for genocide in Darfur and the displacement of more than 2.5 million people. China has been resistant to UN Security Council resolutions condemning Khartoum.
• China’s suppression of protests in Tibet turned violent earlier this year. The Protest began March 10 on the anniversary of a failed 1959 Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule. The Chinese took Tibet by force in 1951. The exiled Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama, has met many times with Beijing urging greater religious and cultural freedom for Tibet.
• The CCP continues to suppress journalists and political opposition, as well as protests.
• Although Amnesty International noted an increase in human rights violations in China, Chinese authorities want AI to take into account their new economic policies which have brought millions of people out of poverty.

“Ping Pong Diplomacy”

• In the 1970’s a Ping Pong match between China and the U.S. thawed relations between the two countries and led to a visit of China by President Richard Nixon. The event coined the term “Ping Pong Diplomacy”, which denotes a sports exchange that helps to improve inter-nation relations.
• Cultural Diplomacy or “sports” diplomacy encourages people-to-people exchanges:
• The North Korean National Taekwon-Do Demonstration Team last year did a Goodwill Tour of the United States, impressing crowds of Taekwon-Do fans across the nation.
• This summer, the NBA is hosting U.S.-Iranian basketball games.
• Last February, the New York Philharmonic took a trip to the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea)
• In 1989, the Soviet national baseball team visited the U.S.
• In January of 2007, U.S. wrestlers visited Iran.

“Can the Olympics Democratize China?” (“Moji”, Foreign Policy in Focus, August 4, 2008)

“Why Dissing China Ought Not to Become An American Sport” (Steve Clemons, The Washington Note, October 2007)

“Breaking Taboos: Mixing Sports and Politics with Team Darfur” (John Beckett, Foreign Policy in Focus, August 1, 2008)

“Heroes of Beijing: The Triumph of the West” (Alan Bairner, Foreign Policy in Focus, July 30, 2008)

“State of Surveillance: Big Brother on the mainland has become more efficient at watching your every move” (Jerome A. Cohen, South China Morning Post, August 7, 2008)

“China’s Jailed Champions” (Jerome A. Cohen, South China Morning Post – Council on Foreign Relations, July 26, 2008)

“Charm Offensive: How China’s Soft Power is Transforming the World” (Josh Kurlantzick, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Publisher – Yale University Press, 2007)

Amnesty International China and the Olympics

“People’s Republic of China: The Olympics countdown – broken promises” (Amnesty International, July 29, 2008)

News and Other Web Resources:

Essay: Special agents at the Olympics: Diplomatic Security Service helps keep games safe (Donna Scaramastra Gorman, Christian Science Monitor, August 5, 2008)

“China’s Olympic Challenge: A Case of Dignity” (Nancy Pelosi, San Francisco Chronicle, August 3, 2008)

“China’s Repression of Civil Society Will Haunt It” (Minxin Pei, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, August 4, 2008)

“Rumors and Riots” (Minxin Pei, International Herald Tribune, July 8, 2008)

“Olympic Pressure on China” (Preeti Bhattacharji and Carin Zissis, Council on Foreign relations, June 17, 2008)

Rings: 2008 Beijing Olympics Blog, New York Times

Report: Protests over Beijing home evictions (Associated Press, CNN Asia, August 4, 2008)

“China Blames Attack on Muslim Separatists” (Edward Wong and Andrew Jacobs, New York Times, August 5, 2008)

“Getting in Shape for Games, China Strengthens Ties With Neighbors” (Edward Wong, New York Times, August 5, 2008)

“Beneath Veneer of Zeal, Beijingers Have Olympic Issues” (Andrew Jacobs, New York Times, August 5, 2008)

“Hundreds of websites still censored at Beijing Olympics” (Los Angeles Times Entertainment Blog “Web Scout”, August 5, 2008)

“China tightens security following attack in west” (William Foreman, Associated Press, August 5, 2008)

“Terrorism in China” Q&A’s (Tania Branigan, The Guardian, August 5, 2008)

“Bush gives mixed appraisal of China ahead of visit” (Reuters, The Guardian, August 4, 2008)

“Olympics Host China Comes Under Fire for Human Rights Concerns” (Talea Miller, NewsHour on PBS, August 5, 2008)

“China Terrorizes Tibet” (Editorial, New York Times, March 18, 2008)

Amnesty International Releases on China