Gas Price Reduction Act of 2008

He (John Cornyn) gave an overview of the new Gas Price Reduction Act of 2008, a bill he has co-sponsored in the Senate, which is designed to address the high price of gas at the pump and to provide a balanced approach to America’s long-term energy needs.

If passed, the bill would provide for expanded drilling off the U.S. coastlines, bringing in an estimated 14 billion barrels of oil. It would also provide for oil exploration in shale regions of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, with a potential of 800 billion to 2 trillion recoverable barrels of oil.

“When you think about roughly 3 million barrels per day that could be provided, that’s 3 million barrels less that we would have to buy from Venezuela, and Hugo Chavez,” Cornyn said. “Or from Iran and (Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad.”

The bill would also look at expanding fuel alternatives, including increased development of electric vehicle technology, using sugar cane-based ethanol rather than corn-based, and exploring the use of nuclear energy for generating electric power, rather than coal.

Finally, the bill would authorize increased funding and staffing for the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, which would provide increased oversight and transparency of commodities trading and speculation.

Cornyn said he purposely left drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge out of the bill, because its controversial nature might prevent its passage in Congress. However, he said he would support a repeal of the drilling ban in ANWR, if it were to come into future legislation.

Congress is the problem right now when it comes to opening up 85% of our resources that are currently out of bounds because of laws passed by Congress dating back to the 1980s.”

Tyler Morning Telegraph, 7/1/2008