A Response...

The first of many responses to the letters I wrote to my congressmen arrived in the mail today.  This one is from Senator Bennett dated July 28, 2008 and reads as follows:

Dear (my name),

Thank you for your letter regarding domestic production of energy resources.  I appreciate hearing from you and welcome the opportunity to respond.

I share your concern regarding our nation's need to develop domestic resources of energy.  It makes sense to engage in more domestic production given the instability of foreign energy sources.  Accordingly, I support developing a comprehensive national energy policy that increases our independence from foreign oil by allowing the safe and environmentally responsible development of domestic energy resources.

I strongly believe that to meet our country's energy needs, it is important to develop a well-diversified energy policy that relies on all current energy sources, including coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear, hydroelectric, geothermal, solar, and wind power.  Our energy policy must include a viable strategy for developing and employing natural resources.

I support the responsible exploration and development of natural resources on public lands, including a very small portion of ANWR, to oil and gas exploration.  It should be understood that of the 19 million acres in ANWR Congress has already designated more than eight million acres of ANWR as wilderness, which are permanently protected from development.  Of the remaining acreage, only 2,000 acres - an area one-third the size of the Salt Lake International Airport - are being considered for oil exploration.

I had the opportunity to visit ANWR, and saw first-hand the area considered for exploration under current proposals.  I was struck by the extent to which new technology has reduced the impact of oil exploration on the land.  Moreover, our nation has some of the most stringent environmental regulations in the world governing the development and extraction of natural resources.

One of our nation's greatest challenges is to become energy independent.  You are correct that our domestic oil shale and tar sands reserves are not being developed at the rate they should.  I have worked throughout my Senate career to facilitate development of these resources, but we keep running into difficult roadblocks.

There is more recoverable oil from shale in Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming than in all of Saudi Arabia.  Development of these resources would be a logical step to help extricate ourselves from the energy crisis.  To that end, I worked with Senator Pete Domenici and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources to insert a provision in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 requiring the Department of the Interior to promulgate commercial leasing regulations for oil shale.  The Congress adopted this measure with significant bipartisan support.  We include a statutory timeline by which the secretary of the interior had to complete final regulations.  Because nearly all of Utah's oil shale is located on public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management in three Utah counties, the federal government is an indispensible partner in this effort.

Congress included a rider in last year's omnibus appropriations bill that prohibited the Department of the Interior from using any federal funds to issue final regulations for oil shale.  I strongly opposed this moratorium, and have tried unsuccessfully to repeal it.  I joined Senator Allard in an amendment to repeal the moratorium in a Senate Committee on Appropriations markup of a supplemental funding bill held on May 14, 2008.  Unfortunately, the amendment was defeated by one vote.  Understandably, industry is unwilling to make long-term investments until they finally see the government's rules of the game.  This creates unnecessary delay and high opportunity costs.

I will continue to work to resolve this issue and find other opportunities to repeal the moratorium.  Without the ability to develop our domestic resources, it is difficult to even begin the steps toward energy independence.  Thank you again, for writing.

Sincerely,

Robert F. Bennett

United States Senator

RFB:prw