Published: May 17, 2008 12:37 am            

Shimkus talks about energy crisis

By TESA CULLI

tesa.culli@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — Soaring gasoline prices are the result of a supply-and-demand problem as well as a weak U.S. dollar — both of which could be partially alleviated if the U.S. opened some of its coal reserves, according to U.S. Rep. John Shimkus.

“First, we have to recognize this is not a short-term problem, it’s long term,” Shimkus said Friday. The congressman was in Mt. Vernon holding open office hours to speak with constituents. During a short break, Shimkus discussed the issue of gas and oil prices.

“There’s no magic bullet or quick fix,” Shimkus added. “We need to bring on more supply.”

Shimkus said the U.S. has the supply in the form of coal fields and oil and gas reserves on the Outer Continental Shelf and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

“The Outer Continental Shelf has billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas,” Shimkus said. “We have to start accessing those.”

Shimkus warned the move to increase supply could take years to affect the price of gas at the pump.

“That’s why we can’t delay,” Shimkus said. “The longer we delay, the higher the price will be.”

The weak overseas dollar is also affecting gas prices, as the U.S. purchases more and more of its supply from overseas.

“If we used our own reserves, that wouldn’t be as big of a factor,” Shimkus explained, adding the New York Mercantile Exchange has a lot to do with the prices.

“The exchange is the equivalent to energy people as the Board of Trade is for farmers,” Shimkus said. “The members of the exchange board are betting that [Congress] is going to do nothing to open up the supplies. With that, they bet the price will go up, which forces the prices up. ... The only way to affect the trading floors is to bring on more supply. ... It’s going to take consumers adjusting to a degree and consumers getting outraged before anything gets done.”

Shimkus said the immediate problem of high gas prices can’t be fixed immediately, but some of the cost impact could be mitigated with additional supply, which needs to be done at the same time science and research are under way. Hybrid and electric vehicles that are affordable to the public are part of the research Shimkus said needs to be moved forward.

        

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