Published: May 14, 2008 02:37 pm            

Congressman proposes sweeping energy changes

LEBANON, Ind. — More refineries and more crude oil to process are among solutions to the energy crises proposed by Indiana Congressman Steve Buyer, R-4th.

Solving the energy crisis means the U.S. must rebalance its energy portfolio.

Buyer wants to open the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve and areas of the continental shelf to oil exploration; build more nuclear power plants; make it easier to build oil refineries and nuclear power plants and provide nearly $5.67 billion in incentives to develop alternative fuels.

Loan guarantees would encourage companies to build “environmentally responsible” nuclear power generating plants.

“We have to get the U.S. into reprocessing/recycling of nuclear waste,” Buyer said. In France, which generates 94 percent of its

electricity through nuclear power, 80 percent of spent nuclear fuel material is reused, he said.

Buyer introduced “The Main Street USA Energy Security Act of 2008” in press conferences Monday in Lebanon

and six other Indiana cities.

The bill, House Resolution 6001, would give tax credits for wind, solar, geothermal and other renewable energy resources. It would authorize the U.S. Energy Department to study how liquified coal could be blended with ethanol, biodisel and other biomass sources to power cars, trucks and aircraft.

It would also add a fourth Department of Energy Bio-Energy Research Center to develop coal, biomass and celluosic ethanol sources. Purdue University, Buyer said, would be an ideal location for that center.

Buyer said his bill is based on the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

The bill would decrease reliance on foreign oil, produce more electricity, boost the use of “clean” coal, encourage conservation and

support renewable energy, he said.

Buyer anticipated political attacks on his suggestions.

Sen. Hillary Clinton’s proposal to suspend the gasoline tax over the summer is “neither wise nor prudent,” Buyer said. “If you want to be

president of the United States ... you have to focus on the supply side,” he said.

As a semi-tractor pulled up to the diesel pumps, Buyer said it could cost the driver $1,500 to fill his tanks.

It’s unfair to blame retailers for gasoline prices, he said.

“There’s a reason you have convenience stores, where they sell gasoline.”

With gasoline nearing $4 a gallon and diesel fuel on the way to $5 a gallon, it’s “extremely important to national security” to balance the nation’s energy portfolio, Buyer said.

Currently, “nothing focuses on how we are going to solve this problem,” he said.

The world-wide “tremendous upward pressure on prices” is “a fundamental issue of supply and demand,” Buyer said.

A gasoline station operator makes about 5.4 cents per gallon, said Scot Imus, executive director of the Indiana Petroleum Marketers &

Convenience Store Association. Competition, payments to credit card companies and other factors affect the profit, he said. In 2007,

the margin was 7.7 cents, he said.

        

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