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Democratic congressional delegation tout energy independence Wednesday, Jan 11, 2006 By Wesley Brown Arkansas News Bureau JACKSONVILLE - With a waste-to-energy gas plant as a backdrop, Democrats in Arkansas' congressional delegation prodded the Bush administration Tuesday to make a commitment to lessen the nation's dependence on foreign oil. "Americans more than anybody want energy independence," said U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., during a news conference at Waste Management Inc.'s Two Pines Landfill in Jacksonville. The landfill is the site of a pilot facility where Waste Management will supply energy to more than 2,000 homes in North Little Rock by converting hazardous gases emitted from the dumpsite into clean-burning energy. Lincoln and her Democratic colleagues, Sen. Mark Pryor and Reps. Vic Snyder and Marion Berry, appeared together to tout biofuels and other renewable energy sources as ways to move the U.S. toward energy independence. Lincoln said Arkansas' five Democratic lawmakers have sent a letter asking President Bush to make energy policy a national priority. Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., did not attend the news conference. Rep. John Boozman, Arkansas' only Republican member of Congress, supports the Bush administration's energy policies. "We all as a delegation have written a letter to President Bush letting him know that our approach to energy has to change," Lincoln said. "He has not provided the leadership that this issue requires, nor the amount of attention that the American people want him to devote to this issue." Lincoln said that the United States, which imports nearly 60 percent of its oil from foreign sources, was falling behind other countries in crafting a national energy policy. She cited several South American countries that are producing biofuels made of sugar and corn. "Ecuador is exporting biofuels into the United States," Lincoln said. "That is ridiculous, just ridiculous." Clint Reed, executive director of the Republican Party of Arkansas, said Bush made energy independence a priority when he was running for president in 2004 and has followed through with the first energy plan in more than a decade. Reed said the energy legislation that Bush signed into law in the fall provides more than $14 billion in tax incentives for alternative energy resources, and more than $1 billion in tax credits for research and new technologies in the area of ethanol and biodiesel. "President Bush has shown great leadership in recognizing the need for a national energy plan and working with Congress to see that it was implemented," he said. At the Jacksonville event, other lawmakers also pitched renewable fuels as an energy alternative. Pryor said importing more than 20 million barrels of foreign oil into the U.S. a year is not good for the nation's trade balance, currency valuation or work force. "We have to acknowledge we have a problem," he said. "We are missing opportunities to make America stronger by having a smarter energy policy." Snyder recalled several oil crises over the past three decades that led to volatile energy prices and fuel shortages. "Let's not make those mistakes again," he said. Tommy Foltz, president of Patriot Biofuels Inc. of Stuttgart, said America's national security is at risk because of a growing reliance on OPEC oil. Float's startup company is building a state-of-the-art facility in Stuttgart that will be able to produce biodiesel fuels from soybeans and other organic matter. The Stuttgart businessman said discussion of a national energy policy must move beyond partisan politics, warning that last year's run-up in energy prices was a "gathering storm." "That storm is now upon us," he said. Sales of biodiesel jumped 60-fold between 2000 and 2005 to 30 million gallons per year. The U.S. Department of Energy has forecasted sales to reach as high as 1.2 billion gallons a year in the next decade. Yet, only a few months ago Murphy Oil Corp. CEO Claiborne Deming said suggestions that the U.S. must replace the nation's dependence on oil and gas with renewable and unconventional energy sources is a laudable but unreachable goal. Those statistics will not change much by 2015, or even over the next 30 years, Deming said during an economic forecaster's conference in November. At the same time, energy demand in countries such China and India are growing exponentially. "The system is going to be under more stress than it is now," Deming said. |
