Mike Enzi: “As prices continue to escalate, some would say we are in an energy crisis. We are at a point where we continue to see…”

“As prices continue to escalate, some would say we are in an energy crisis. We are at a point where we continue to see the global demand for energy increasing as countries such as China and India develop. At the same time, the demand increases, the Democratic Congress is not taking the steps to increase our domestic supply. Some of the policies we are seeing will have a detrimental effect on that supply. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 included a number of important incentives for the domestic exploration of many new natural resource supplies. It aided in the production of affordable domestic energy. We are now seeing a number of proposals from the other side to repeal these important provisions. In the 109th Congress, we attempted to pass important legislation to streamline the bureaucratic process that made it impossible to build an entirely new refinery, and that is what has been happening for the last 30 years. That legislation was repeatedly blocked at the expense of the American people, who continue to suffer as refiners struggle to keep pace through expansion. Supply and demand--you can buy the oil, but unless the oil becomes gasoline, you cannot use it, and unless it is in enough of a quantity of gasoline and enough of a supply, the price will go up. It will provide complications. Since November, gasoline prices have increased almost 50 percent. The price of gas averaged $2.20 a gallon at the last election. Now the average is $3.15 a gallon.”