Email from (D)Senator Bill Nelson about high gas prices

See, persistence pays. Last week I was pushing for you to send an email to your Senators about the high price of gas and I said that I would email my Senators everyday. Well, Democratic Senator Bill Nelson of Florida emailed me back and here is what the email says:

Thank you for contacting me about the price of gasoline. Like you, I find the price run up in the past few years shocking.

Recent testimony of one oil company executive before Congress showed oil should only be $55 per barrel based on the rules of supply and demand. But the price is being bid up to unrealistic highs by unregulated speculators and investors.

Oil prices have also gone up sharply in recent years due to volatility in major producer nations, such as Iraq and Iran. History reflects similar spikes circa 1973 with an OPEC oil embargo related to the Yom Kippur War, 1979 with the Iranian revolution, 1990 with Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and the first Gulf War, and since 2003 with the war in Iraq combined with increasing demand in India and China.

So we’re trying to hold OPEC’s feet to the fire. I support pending legislation that would allow the U.S. to take cartel members to court for fixing prices or colluding on the supply of oil.

Regarding oil speculators, Congress just passed legislation I cosponsored to give the Federal government the authority to regulate energy traders. I also recently introduced S. 3134, which would ban unregulated speculative trading of oil futures and other energy commodities.

But we need to act to break our addiction to foreign oil and switch to alternative fuels.

Thirty years ago, in the wake of gas shortages and long lines at the pump, the President declared the need for the U.S. to become energy independent. Unfortunately, little has been done since then to break our addiction to foreign oil. And having only three percent of the world’s oil reserves means America cannot drill its way out of this crisis.

We need to develop alternative fuels–like ethanol– and make it from things we don’t eat. And we need to do it with the same sense of urgency and focus that President Kennedy brought to landing men on the moon. Until we’ve done this, we need to conserve as much oil as possible by raising fuel-efficiency standards for all vehicles and further increasing the production of hybrid cars.

I appreciate your thoughts on this issue. And I will continue to support measures that provide our nation with real alternatives to our reliance on oil.

At least there is something in the works. By the way, John McCain has changed his stance on digging in ANWR, he say’s that it is time to lift the moratoriums on oil exploration.

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