My message from the last post was sent out to my elected officials and Sen. Coleman happened to get one. He also answered me already.

Please take a moment and read what I sent, then read Sen. Coleman’s response below. 

Dear Mr. Aplikowski:

 

Thank you for taking the time to contact me concerning the price of gas at the pump.  I agree it is critical for domestic development of energy, which is why I recently introduced a bill, the Energy Resource Development Act of 2008 (S. 3126) – to expand our domestic energy production.

 

I believe it is critical to act boldly to address our energy security crisis in the near term, which is why my bill, S. 3126, calls for diversifying America’s energy portfolio to take advantage of the United States’ many domestic fuel resources by opening up portions of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) for oil and gas development, fully funding the nation’s renewable energy and energy technology programs, developing coal-to-liquid technology, and boosting our nuclear energy production. 

 

To begin with, S. 3126 would open up most of the OCS to oil and gas development in a way that protects the environments and economies of states in new development areas.  There are an estimated 18 billion barrels of crude oil and 77 trillion cubic feet of natural gas that could be produced in areas currently under moratoria.  If developed, this could reduce America’s trade deficit by $145 billion by offsetting oil imports.  The federal proceeds of this new development would fund a new Energy Independence Trust Fund that would go to fully fund all renewable energy, energy efficiency, research and development, and technology deployment programs from the last two omnibus energy bills, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Energy Independence Security Act of 2007.  Additionally, the fund will provide resources for a new ethanol pipeline loan guarantee program and fund new nuclear energy production incentives.

 

My bill would also invest in coal-to-liquid fuel and nuclear energy.  S. 3126 will utilize our 250 year supply of coal by creating a new standard for the production of fuel from clean coal, often called coal-to-liquid technology, while ensuring that the latest, cleanest technology is used during its production.  Meanwhile, one of the cleanest energy technologies available is nuclear, and this legislation would accelerate the resurgence of nuclear energy production in the United States by improving the loan guarantee program for nuclear production, creating a nuclear investment tax credit, and increase training for the nuclear workforce.

 

I sincerely believe that we can solve the energy crisis we are facing if America takes bold action to utilize the domestic resources at its disposal.  Please know that I will continue my commitment to free America from foreign oil.

 

Thank you once again for contacting me. If I may be of further assistance to you in the future, please do not hesitate to contact me again.

 

Sincerely,
Norm Coleman
United States Senate 

 

There is a word that appeared 8 times in my letter, but none in the Senators. That one word is kind of the key to my letter and I just don’t think the Senator heard what I said. 

[ssssiiiiiggggghhhhh]

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 at 9:57 pm and is filed under 2008, Coleman vs Franken, MN US Senate, National, Politics, Take Your Cob and Shove it. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.