MEGAN LEE Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Tuesday, July 1, 2008 12:00 am
High energy costs are a top concern for Wyoming citizens, Sen. Mike Enzi said in Casper Monday afternoon.
"Everybody goes to fill up their gas tank and notices what gas costs right now," Enzi said. "And even in the energy state of Wyoming, we're concerned about that huge cost."
The senator discussed energy issues during a Rotary Club luncheon at the Parkway Plaza Hotel and Convention Centre.
Democrats in Washington, he said, decided recently to talk extensively about global warming, but they realized that the American people are more concerned about gasoline prices now than ever before.
"There are good ideas from both sides, but we need to do everything in the area of energy expansion that we can do," Enzi said. "Alternative energy, solar, nuclear, exploring for more oil and using all the coal technologies - everything."
Economy expansion in countries like China and India could further affect oil prices in the United States, he said, because those countries provide competition for the same sources of oil. Enzi suggested that using oil from within our own country is the only solution to high gas prices.
"We need to do more exploration here in the United States," he said. "We have some vast resources here."
Thanks to a heavily regulated energy industry, a new refinery hasn't been built in the United States in 40 years, he said.
And 60 million acres of land that has been leased for drilling hasn't been drilled yet because the permitting process can take five years or more. Some sites that would be ideal for drilling aren't being used at all, he said, like an area about 100 miles off the coast of Louisiana. There, 400,000 barrels of oil a day could help fulfill the one million additional barrels of oil a day needed in the United States.
"We have some energy problems coming up. Wyoming could be a part of the solution in that," Enzi said. "Wyoming already is a part of the solution in that. I think that we can get American oil from American soil, and we can pay Americans the $130 a barrel that's currently going overseas. I think if we do get that other million barrels a day in place, the price [of oil and gas] would drop substantially."
Contact reporter Megan Lee at (307) 266-0589 or megan.lee@trib.com