Gas Prices Fuel Campaign Battle
By Joseph Gerth
It became clear yesterday that one battle in this year's congressional election will be fought at gas stations, as Republicans and Democrats blame each other for oil prices that are at an all-time high.
During a press conference at a Thorntons gas station on Dixie Highway yesterday, Republican Anne Northup called for opening protected areas in Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico and coastal areas for oil drilling to combat high gas prices and make the United States less reliant on foreign oil.
"This is the No. 1 issue" in the election, said Northup, who is seeking to retake the 3rd District seat she lost two years ago to Democrat John Yarmuth.
Describing energy as a national security issue, she said, "It's the No. 1 issue for more than just the pain at the pump. ... We are paying these dollars out to countries that don't even like us."
In a conference call later, Yarmuth said the cost of gas has spiked not so much because of supply problems but because the Bush administration's economic policy has led to a sagging dollar and that its war in Iraq has destabilized the Middle East.
"What we've seen out of Anne Northup today is essentially further endorsement of the Bush-Cheney oil policies and energy policies that have gotten us into the mess that we now face," he said.
Northup's plan would allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, as well as on the east side of the Gulf of Mexico and the continental shelf in coastal regions.
She said such drilling would bring the cost of oil down immediately even though it would take years to get those oil wells on line. She favors development of oil shale as a fuel source, clean coal technology and streamlining of the process to build oil refineries and nuclear power plants.
Yarmuth said he backed a moratorium on oil shale development because he and other Democrats aren't convinced current technology allows it to be done in an environmentally sound manner.
He favors looking at nuclear power but supports taking away billions of dollars in tax breaks from oil companies and spending them to develop renewable energy.
Yarmuth also voted for legislation last week to penalize companies that own oil leases in the United States but don't drill for oil. He said the companies would rather purchase oil from Nigeria and Venezuela than drill for their own at home.
Yarmuth also criticized Northup yesterday for owning up to $500,000 in stock in oil companies and for accepting $300,000 in contributions from people and political action committees associated with the oil industry.
Northup took aim at the Democratic Congress' decision to penalize oil companies not using their existing oil leases, saying that the companies are using their leases but that the leases are on land that doesn't necessarily have significant pools of oil.
6/18/2008
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