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It’s time to let elected officials know we’re upset

Victor King
Published: July 23, 2008

The No. 1 economic threat to this nation and our well-being is the price of a gallon of gas. We as individuals and our nation are at risk.

We have watched the price of gas sharply increase, and to this day Congress has done nothing or even indicated it has a plan.

The quickest and most helpful thing Congress can do to reduce the price of gas right now is to lift the moratorium on drilling for oil in the U.S. and offshore.

Drilling offshore can be done safely now. Other nations are doing it. Drilling is one part of the necessary equation.

This inaction by Congress is totally irresponsible and political, and we are the ones paying a heavy price.

We can no longer remain silent and contain our anger.

It’s time you and I start taking action. Speak out and demonstrate our anger.

The sooner we get started, the quicker we will see results.

Call and/or write all of the following elected leaders:

-Rep. Eric Cantor
Washington office
329 Cannon Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-2815

-Sen. Jim Webb
Senate Russell Building C1
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-4024

-Sen. John Warner
225 Russell Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-2023

-Speaker Nancy Pelosi
235 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 225-4965

-Sen. Harry Reid
528 Hart Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-3542

Victor King
Gordonsville

Reader Reactions

Posted by ( Opa ) on July 30, 2008 at 6:36 pm

Economists do not agree with you, Mr. King. In the latest 03/08 National Association for Business Economics (NABE) poll the experts said that the subprime crisis is the greatest threat to the U.S. economy. Up from 18% in 08/07, 34% percent of the members of the NABE ranked the financial market turmoil from those loan defaults as the No. 1 threat to the economy over the next two years. 18% of association members listed excessive debt held by households and businesses as the top problem. KTrick 8:08 AM, I disagree that drilling is a “solution” combined with anything and that oil prices are at all influenced by talk of drilling. The world’s demand for oil is rising rapidly as the supply is decreasing and the environmental affects of its use are fast becoming catastrophic. I think industry and people will react only if and when they must and that oil’s time is past.

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Posted by ( KTrick ) on July 25, 2008 at 8:08 am

Drilling is a solution when combined with aggressive pursuit of alterative energy sources.
Just the mention of drilling lowers per-barrel oil prices - you needn’t be an “expert who knows economics or the oil industry” to read the news and see how oil prices drop at the mere mention of drilling. How much would they drop if we actually approved that drilling?

“No help until approx. 10 years from now”? The naysayers have been saying that for at least 8 years!

This has nothing to do with “being spoiled” and “filling our SUVs” - it has EVERYTHING to do with dumping hundreds of billions of US dollars into OPEC every year (money that does not come back into our economy) and swatching the price of food and goods soar due to higher transportation costs.

I’m all for the Pickens Plan and other ideas to conserve and create new paths for energy, but until people react and we actually have wind and solar infrastructure to support our energy needs, we need to continue to explore for oil in our own backyards.

Check out the Cape Cod Wind Farm project. It’s been on the slate for 6 years, but environmentalists keep filing lawsuits because it’s supposed to be plunked into the ocean between the Cape and Nantucket. The tree huggers want a greener planet, but they’re afraid it might infringe on their ocean views!
Ridiculous.

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Posted by ( password ) on July 24, 2008 at 11:34 pm

Did anyone else see an e-mail from the CEO’s of all the airlines about the speculators driving up the prices? Check it out.

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Posted by ( jayz ) on July 24, 2008 at 11:54 am

Mr. King I cannot agree with you. Why do we have to drill for more oil and build more roads. Now is the time to find alternate forms of energy and transportation. We Americans are so spoiled by cheap oil that we can see no other way out of our selfish ways except to find more oil to support the old way of doing business. My anger is driected to people like you who refuse to grow up and be energy and earth responsible.

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Posted by ( R.L. ) on July 24, 2008 at 11:18 am

At least 10 years from now we would not be as dependent on foreign oil. That may be what he is trying to say.

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Posted by ( rjma ) on July 24, 2008 at 10:19 am

Yea, right. All we have to do is drill in ANWR and offshore and gas will be $1/gal again. Whatever oil comes out of those fields will be priced at whatever the world price is. Why would you think it would be cheaper? Ok so it will increase supply on the market that will lower the world price a few cents. But the Energy Dept. says that will take at least a decade. We’d have more effect on prices by having a tax credit for getting our cars tuned or putting the right pressure in our vehicle’s tires. And that would happen a lot sooner.

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Posted by ( jeebus ) on July 24, 2008 at 7:22 am

How “quickly” do you think one can build an offshore platform? Then, how “quickly” do you think the refineries to process that new supply will be built? Are you hoping it will drop gas prices by Christmas? Why don’t we take advantage of this crisis and take the other fork in the road - pursue alternate energy sources! Drilling for more oil is just buying the fat kid bigger pants.

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Posted by ( El Debibble ) on July 24, 2008 at 6:58 am

Another expert that doesn’t know economics or the oil industry.

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