By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Senator Jeff Sessions (R) from Alabama sent a letter to President Obama calling his energy policy “defeatist” and listing several policy chains that he says could increase domestic energy production and lead to a lowering of gasoline prices.
In his letter to the President, Sen. Sessions said, “I am writing today to urge your Administration to take overdue but necessary action to confront soaring gasoline prices. In the last three years, gas prices have doubled, draining the disposable income of millions of hardworking Americans. In 2011, the typical U.S. household already spent $4,155 on gasoline, almost 10 percent of their income. Yet some analysts now predict prices may rise this year to more than $5.00 per gallon.”
Sen. Sessions told the President, “we should explore a variety of energy resources—most especially those which do not put taxpayer dollars at risk—I respectfully disagree that we cannot utilize our remarkably vast untapped energy reserves to provide Americans with much-needed relief.
I reject the defeatist view that says the nation that won two world wars, pioneered space travel, and overcame the Soviet Empire is now helpless in the face of high prices at the pump. We are not at the mercy of dictators, cartels, and events beyond our control.”
Senator Sessions told the President that he should restore the 2010 oil and gas lease plan. Where the Bush Administration had planned on 31 energy lease sales between 2010 and 2015 the Obama administration has just had two lease sales. Sen. Sessions also said that the administration should tap the nation’s shale oil reserves, approve construction of the Keystone pipeline to Canada, “end the de facto moratorium on permitting for offshore oil and gas production,” maximize energy production from federal lands, “grant all necessary waivers and approvals to oil and gas refineries” to maximize production, and abandon the President’s plan to raise $40 billion in new taxes on the oil and gas industries.
Sen. Sessions concluded, “America has the potential to fundamentally shift the balance of power in global energy production—to produce more energy, more efficiently and more cheaply, than your Administration has recognized. Such bold steps will broadcast an unmistakable signal to the world that not only places downward pressure on prices in the near-term but helps deliver a future of abundant, affordable energy. Moreover, unlike costly short-term stimulus, achieving energy independence would provide long-term relief to both struggling families and our indebted treasury.”
In a speech on Thursday President Obama said, “There are no quick fixes to this problem. You know we can’t just drill our way to lower gas prices.”
Senator Jeff Sessions is the senior member of the Senate Budget Committee and a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee.
To read Senator’s Sessions Press Release
http://sessions.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressShop.NewsReleases&ContentRecord_id=c10c0f38-9f5b-094c-3831-af1955f16eee&Region_id=&Issue_id
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