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.