Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R MN6) unveiled a bill that will cut the red tape that has helped make energy prices reach record highs. It is plain and simple. It removes the red tape, but also seems to remove the biggest blockade to domestic energy…. the politics. 

Bachmann Unveils Legislation to Curb Rising Gas Costs
Authors “Emergency Energy Cut-the-Red-Tape Now Act”

Washington, D.C., Jul 7 -

Today, U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann (MN-6) unveiled key legislation, the Emergency Energy Cut-the-Red-Tape Now Act, which would allow Americans to tap our national energy resources and provide relief from off-the-chart gas costs. In announcing this legislation, she stated:

“Gas prices are continuing to spiral out of control and Congress has done nothing to give Americans the relief they deserve. Record high prices are having a major impact on American consumers and businesses, from the way people travel to the way they do business to the food they buy at the grocery store.

“Sadly, the United States is the only country in the world that discourages using its own energy resources. Our country imports 10 million barrels of crude oil every day. We’re also importing 1.3 million barrels of refined gasoline. However, we have the ability to be energy independent. We have the knowledge and expertise right here at home to procure and refine these products, get them to the pump, and create thousands of American jobs in the process.

“My bill, the Emergency Energy Now Act will give the Secretary of the Interior the ability to open the ANWR, oil shale reserves, and the Outer Continental Shelf, and streamline the refinery process. And if the price of oil exceeds $100 a barrel, the Secretary will be required to waive leasing and permitting regulations to open up these energy stores.

“Once these federal lands that have been off-limits are open to exploration, we would immediately begin to tap into our own resources, helping make us less dependent on foreign energy sources and reducing the cost to consumers. It’s clear that the American people are hurting and need help now. Congress must allow for the immediate opening of these lands and allow American companies to help our nation by exploring, producing, and putting these sources of energy into production now.”

Some estimates indicate that the permitting process adds 5-6 years to the time it takes to build a refinery. Also according to estimates an offshore oil platform takes seven years and an estimated 1-5 billion dollars before oil or gas can be recovered from one area.

The following is an Op Ed by Congresswoman Bachmann (R MN6) from the Pioneer Press. 

July Fourth, 232 years ago, the fathers of this nation signed their names to one of history’s greatest documents. These signatures were far more than symbolic: Each man whose name was inked on that parchment was committing an act of treason against the British Empire.

When they said that “we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor,” these were not mere words. If they fell short in their task, the gallows awaited. As Benjamin Franklin warned: “We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

And when they issued that declaration, it was not simply the attempt of 13 small colonies to throw off the chafing yoke of British rule; it was one of the most important human endeavors ever undertaken. The American colonists did not simply launch a revolution against a king and parliament on the other side of the Atlantic — they launched a revolution against millennia of human history where men and women were denied the right of self-rule.

On that hot July summer day, they launched a revolution not just for their own independence, but for the cause of independence itself. It was a bold experiment that shook the Earth — and the Earth is still shaking.

With the words “all men are created equal,” our founders set in motion a journey toward freedom that would lift up the face of the world. Today, millions live in freedom and peace — here in America and around the globe — because of the rebellion they began.

So on July Fourth, we should all take time to reflect on how truly blessed we are to live in America — to be able to call this land our home. For this truly is history’s greatest nation. Yes, at times we’ve struggled and stumbled and let ourselves down, but there is no question: A more just or virtuous country the world has never known.

And we must also take time to honor those brave souls who have fought in every generation so that our flag and our freedoms would endure. From Bunker Hill and Gettysburg to the farthest reaches of the globe, fields of battle are stained with the blood of fallen patriots who gave everything for this country and its people. These heroes have earned our undying gratitude.

Since our earliest days when a colonial militia took on the world’s most intimidating military might, the British regular army, Americans have braved anything and risked everything for our home and our dreams. With love, courage and steel resolve, Americans have turned the daring experiment of 13 rebel colonies into the greatest Republic in the history of nations.

But what is it that inspired the colonists of Roanoke, Jamestown and Plymouth to face death in order to carve out new lives on this foreign continent? What made America’s colonies thrive and grow beyond anyone’s prediction? What led these colonists to put everything on the line to form an independent union? What force created the Constitution, put a man on the moon and brought down the evil empires of the 20th Century? What has made America the world’s leader in science, medicine, commerce, politics, and most important, in our commitment to integrity and justice?

What defines that unique American character? What reservoir gives strength to that unconquerable American spirit?

America is built on a rich history and a set of timeless values we have always held dear. Many of our political ideas, though perfected here, can be traced back to Greece and Rome. But what makes America unique is that we are the only country in the world built — from day one — on hopes and dreams.

We are eternal optimists. It is why we embrace freedom when others fear it. It is why we are so often the first or the highest or the fastest. It is why Lewis and Clark braved the unknown and why abolitionists eradicated the evil of slavery. It is why we led the fight against communism and the fight against polio. For America, we have always believed, nothing is out of reach.

And it is this spirit that we need to call upon now if we are to get America moving in the right direction. Where is our Marshall Plan for energy independence? Where is our Manhattan Project for energy security? Where is that pioneering, unshakable drive that refuses to accept failure and never stops until the mountain is climbed?

It is in renewing our most important national resource — the American spirit — that we can not only overcome our problems but that we can make the 21st Century America’s greatest yet. And what better day to forge this resolve than July Fourth?

Republican Michele Bachmann of Stillwater represents Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.

So, on July Fourth, we should all take time to reflect on how truly blessed we are to live in America — to be able to call this land our home. For this truly is history’s greatest nation. Yes, at times we’ve struggled and stumbled and let ourselves down, but there is no question: A more just or virtuous country the world has never known.

The Republican Party of Minnesota has finally gotten back to the issues. They have launched a new petition on their website. 

I support the Republican plan to reform our energy policy, including increased domestic drilling, responsible use of nuclear and clean-coal power, and developing new technologies that reduce our dependence on foreign sources of oil.

You can sign up here. 

I’m going to give credit for finally catching on, and will asume it is because over 1.2 million people have signed on to the American Solution’s Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less viral campaign. Beggars can’t be choosers, and better late than sorry. 

PS: I am sooooooooo going to take credit for Congresswoman Bachmann signing on this morning. Why? Cuz I can!

The following came through to the True North INBOX earlier today

“Minnesota
State Sen. Amy Koch (R-MN) – “Feel free to add my name to the list. I think it is simple and clear. Bravo!””

Is this the only MN politician who supports Americansolutions.com Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less campaign…

The emailer is referring to the American Solutions campaign Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less which has a nifty feature to see if your elected official has signed on to it. I just checked the website, and State Sen. Amy Koch (R) is the only elected official in Minnesota that has signed on so far. I think we need to change that. 

If you’re an elected official here in Minnesota or running for office, please go sign the petition.

Crossposted at True North

I’m growing very tired of the liberal anti-growth - anti-cheap energy rhetoric, so I will cut and paste this one very slowly for the politicians and media lackeys out there. 

Washington politicians are accusing oil companies of “stockpiling” federal energy leases to keep supplies low and prices high. They claim “Big Oil” holds leases for 68 million of acres of federal leases that are not currently producing energy.  The following will help separate fact from fiction in the “68 million acres” sound bite. 

The Claim: “Energy companies are not using 68 million acres of federal lands already open to energy development.  If we extrapolate from today’s production rates on federal land and waters, this means that Big Oil is stockpiling an additional 4.8 million barrels of oil and 44.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas each day.” – The Truth About America’s Energy: Big Oil Stockpiles Supplies and Pockets Profits , page 2.

The Extrapolation: To arrive at the production numbers above, it appears as though the authors of the report “extrapolated” as follows:

• Roughly 23 million acres of onshore and offshore federal land are producing 1.6 million barrels per day today.

• Roughly 3 times as many onshore and offshore federal acres – or about 68 million - are leased to oil companies, but not currently producing oil or gas.

Therefore, the authors conclude, the United States could be producing 3 times as much oil – or an additional 4.8 million barrels per day – if the lease holders for the non-producing federal lands started producing oil today.

The Reality: America Cannot ‘Extrapolate Its Way Out of an Energy Crisis

The Washington politicians mentioned in the quote are the liberals who are opposed to oil exploration most often heard screeding about Big Oil. Worthless Walz is a pro at regurgitating Washington talking points. 

Using the very same extrapolation, the Institute for Energy Research has calculated that the United States could produce an additional 160 million barrels of oil per day if the government leased all 2.46 billion onshore and offshore acres in the federal estate. That’s almost double the amount that is produced on a daily basis in the entire world.

Using the very same extrapolation, the Institute for Energy Research has calculated that 9.4 billion non-produing acres of the moon could produce an additional 654 million barrels of oil each day.

Got it yet? They don’t have any more proof that there is oil under the 68 million acres then they do if there is oil on Mars. You don’t just drill a hole in the ground and end up with oil. 

Go read the rest so when you see someone borrowing the anti-energy and anti-growth Washington liberal’s rhetoric, you can smack then down. 

No seriously, trust me, you need to go read the rest!

The Hard Facts:

• 97 percent of Federal offshore areas are not leased.

• 94 percent of Federal onshore areas are not leased.

Big Labor’s lobbyist for Congress, El Tinklenberg. 

Democrat Elwyn Tinklenberg, 6th District Congressional Candidate, has joined the Al Franken bandwagon. On EFCA, Tinklenberg is using the same “intimidation” fig leaf to cover up the same dirty little secret: They are doing the bidding of the Washington union special interests at the expense of Minnesota workers.

It’s not hard to figure out that, when 95% of Minnesotans support keeping their private ballot right, it takes a pretty powerful force to move politicians off of that issue. That powerful force in this case is the big money union campaign contributions and union political muscle being employed on behalf of Tinklenberg.

Like Al Franken, Elwyn Tinklenberg is also willing to smear thousands of honest, hard working 6th district business owners with his accusations of intimidation. His wild, unsubstantiated charges are hardly representative of a thoughtful, moderate legislator. They are fitting of the extremely liberal constituency groups that dominate today’s Democrat party.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R MN6) will be on CNBC & Fox Business tomorrow. She’s leading the fight to save the Middle class from the Alternative Minimum Tax. 

She will have a piece on Fox Business that should run throughout the day. 

She will also be on CNBC’s Squawk Box at 7:00 AM Minnesota time too. 

Tune in tomorrow to see how Bachmann is trying to help save you from the ATM. 

Oh, don’t for one second think the Independence Party’s nomination of El ‘Gas Tax’ Tinklenberg for the 6th District this weekend was some rousing sign of left leaning special interest ignorance by the lobbyist turned politician turned tragedy exploiter turned promise breaking politician. The Independence party simply unzipped their partisan fly and outed themselves for what they really are. People who believe with Democrats most of the time, but are simply too embarrassed to officially join the party of socialism. 

That being said, Tinklenberg exposed his own toeing of the Democratic party line too. He will support the Freedom to Goon Act. (emphasis mine)

Though Democrat Elwyn Tinklenberg just won the endorsement of the political insiders of the Independence Party in his run for Congress, he sure hasn’t shown any independence when it comes to the real issues facing Minnesota’s 6^th Congressional district voters.

Take, for example, his position on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). Under EFCA, the right to a private-ballot election is taken away in favor of allowing a union organizer to enter a worker’s home to “ask” her to sign a card instead.  Gone is the ability of Minnesota workers to vote their consciences free of pressure and intimidation, despite the fact that 95% of us want to keep that right.

Look at this page from Mr. Tinklenberg’s website and you’ll understand why he’s so enthusiastic about EFCA: A laundry list of endorsements from Big Unions.  That means big money campaign contributions and workers for his campaign pouring into Minnesota.

Where is the independence from this old-fashioned Democrat special interest and their very liberal agenda?  If Tinklenberg is caving in to special interests before he even gets to Congress, we shudder to think what he’ll do once he gets there.

That’s a strange definition of independence.

Big Labor and Special Interests own the Democrats and are as far from independent or non-partisan as you can get. The Freedom to Goon Act is as far from worker friendly as you can get. The point of the law would be to make it easier for Union goons to twist the arms of the average worker to vote for unionization since they would have to openly state their preference. 

For more of the Freedom to Goon Act (Card Check/Employee Free Choice) : Why you should care about card check 

Tinklenberg’s support of this anti worker privacy law is just further proof he is just another toe the Democratic party line candidate who will bow down before special interests. Afterall, he has made quite a name for himself being the special interest no wonder he’s pandering to special interests before he even gets to Washington. 

RF Flashback: A Knock Knock Reality 

I forgot it was trip night at Keegans last night and since my meeting got done early, I headed down there. I didn’t win. Congrats Watercooler! Boo on me because I was supposed to write this up. 

Here are some ramblings about the conference call from yesterday that Congresswoman Bachmann organized on Energy and Fuel Prices. (Rep. Michele Bachmann (MN-6), Rep. Marsha Blackburn (TN-7), Rep. Eric Cantor (VA-7), Rep. Phil Gingrey (GA-11), Rep. Tom Price (GA-5), and Rep. Adam Putnam (FL-12) are expected to join as well as a number of very notable bloggers (and me) from across the nation. )

I’m going to hammer out a quick summary here and then head to the cabin. This may be a bit of a stream of consciousness, but it will have to do.  

Each of the 6 Congressmen got a couple minutes to address the group. They each touched on different aspects of the Energy crisis and gave us some solutions they are proposing. 

As they all spoke, I was jotting down notes like mad. A few of the details that really need to be known in this debate are:

Our last refinery was finished in the late 1970’s. At that time we had nearly 350 refineries. Today, 40 years later, we have just under 150 refineries. The has produced a restricted ability to even increase refined fuel supplies, so every crude price hits us at the pump even more. 

These high prices are not just hitting the SUV drivers. These high prices are hitting everyone from families schools, businesses, and every one who uses energy. (note to all humans: That’s you) 

Our own policies are forcing us to put our future in the hands of people who hate us. We are dependent on foreign oil that comes from the dark corners of the world where those leaders hate our guts. Some of our politicians have been saying for years that we need to be independent for a decade and a half. That not only means renewables, but also increasing our oil supplies domestically. We need a full spectru, approach to solving our energy crisis: nuclear, domestic oil, renewables, clean coal, shale oil, etc. 

More proof on just how much these high energy prices are costing us can be clearly seen in fuel costs for Government agencies. The Department of Defense saw a $9 Billion INCREASE in their fuel costs. NASA’s went from $4.5 million to $18 million in a year. 

No Federal agency can research or use anything but old fashioned bubble up oil. The environutters have gotten bans on using some of the new sources for oil, such as shale or tar sands, because they may possibly have a slightly higher carbon content. Now that may have been reasonable when gas was $2 a gallon. In reality, no one probably cared much. But at $4 a gallon, is it?

Deputy Whip Eric Cantor started off his segment by saying they are hearing from constituents who are getting info off the blogs, and he thanked us for doing what we do. 

One of the very important things for people to keep in mind is that the Democrats are using rhetoric, not reason in this debate. People like SOTH Pelosi are saying it would take 10 years for the oil to hit the market. And sure, that is true, but the affects of the United States actually returning to more Domestic oil supplies would instantly lighten our dependence on rogue corners of the world, not to mention lower the speculative nature of pricing. 

The oil market wouldn’t be held hostage to despots, dictators, or the threat of one nut job blowing up a pipeline somewhere and lower supply overnight and unexpectedly. If the US could add a steady and reliable share to the world market, it would help stabilize the prices. 

We have to start doing something now to help the problem that is hitting every single working family in this nation, in a fast and responsible way. The average family is seeing a $100 a month increase, just on groceries, every month. That increase in food costs, is largely in part, because of higher fuel prices to grow, process, and transport the food. The time for us to act is now.

All 6 Congressmen “want energy prices down”. $2 gasoline is their goal, and we won’t even have a chance of getting their if we don’t try. 

We need to find a solution for this real crisis and pain that is on the backs of the American family. The other side wants the Federal Government to take over the industry and that should make your jaw drop. Congress and special interests have caused this problem by hand cuffing us. 

OK, I have to get on the road to the cabin. I know this is pretty fragmented, but I need to be on the road asap. This is just through the opening statements. I still have the Q&A to go. But chew on this today if you’re salivating at the chance to believe Democrats and their rhetoric. 

We cannot wait for the Manhattan Project in energy. That could take decades. We need lower energy prices NOW. The longer we wait, the farther off in the future the solution is. While Democrats are dragging their feet, you and I will be paying more for fuel and energy. Worse than that, we’ll be forced to LIVE LESS because our own Government is standing between us and lower energy prices. - AAA

I’ve been invited to join in a Blogger’s conference call with Congresswoman Bachmann and some of her colleagues to discuss Energy and Fuel Prices. It is taking place right now, (2:30 Central time, 3:30 Eastern). I’ll be posting on it afterwards, and maybe even attempt to do a little live blogging. 

Rep. Michele Bachmann (MN-6), Rep. Marsha Blackburn (TN-7), Rep. Eric Cantor (VA-7), Rep. Phil Gingrey (GA-11), Rep. Tom Price (GA-5), and Rep. Adam Putnam (FL-12) are expected to join as well as a number of very notable bloggers (and me) from across the nation. 

I am guessing that this will be a topic of discussion.

“I will vote to increase U.S. oil production to lower gas prices for Americans.”

Rep. Westmoreland of Georgia is getting members to sign a pledge to increase US oil. So far 141 members of the House have signed it. 

Stay tuned. 

2:34 - Waiting for Officials and a few bloggers are chatting about Energy. McCain is the topic dejur.His  ”Obscene profits” quote from McCain has a few of us worked up as well as his backbending stance on oil. He’ll allow states to decide on Coastal drilling, but now Alaska on ANWR, or other states for that matter. 

I don’t know who all is on, but I heard Ed Morrisey, Newsbusters, Redstate, and others. And Leo too. 

And bachmann is here now, so here we go. 

2:39 - Each of the members will speak for 2 minutes. 

This is also being broadcast live. 

I’ll be taking notes. Stay tuned. 

2:48 - This is a pretty big deal. Bachmann pulled together this conference and it is chalk full of great ideas and real solutions. As I said I am taking notes and will be posting more later. 

3:40 - OK, this was just great and so inspriring for me. Energy has been one of the most important issues for me and this group of Congressmen are actually trying to do something to solve this painful problem for us. 

Unfortunately errors crept into my schedule today and I now have to race to the cabin and back to the Cities by 7 tonight for a BPOU meeting. 

I have extensive notes and will be posting on them tonight and in the morning. 

Stay tuned.