Published: May 13, 2008 03:10 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.



Rod Rose writes for The Lebanon (Ind.) Reporter.