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Upton in Dowagiac backs Pickens plan 'to do it all'

By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
Friday, August 22, 2008 10:19 AM EDT

"Gas prices are hurting everybody. That is for sure," U.S. Rep. Fred Upton said in Dowagiac Thursday afternoon flanked by Police Chief Tom Atkinson and Cass County Sheriff Joe Underwood.

"It's hitting everybody's pocketbook. It's hitting every business. It's hitting our local officials as well - police chiefs, sheriffs in other counties, firefighters, ambulance folks. There have been serious reductions in their budgets as a result of these higher prices" said Upton, R-St. Joseph, who is spending his congressional recess blasting the Democratic leadership while promoting a comprehensive, long-term energy plan.

Flanked by Dowagiac Police Chief Tom Atkinson and Cass County Sheriff Joe Underwood Thursday afternoon, U.S. Rep. Fred Upton makes his case in front of a city police vehicle parked in front of the fire station. "Unfortunately, when gas prices go up, the call volume doesn't go down, Atkinson said. His department spent $13,643 on fuel in 2001 compared to a projected $33,622 this year. Fuel for all of Dowagiac's vehicles went from $46,314 in 2001 to an estimated $143,038 for 2008.

"Superintendents can't cut transporting kids to school because they've got to learn," Upton said. "Another thing you can't really cut, either, is public safety. We as taxpayers rightly demand safe streets and safe neighborhoods. At the time you take police and firefighters off the road, you're impacting really the life and safety of people throughout our nation. I'm fact-finding throughout my district, so when I go back to Washington, I can continue to encourage that we take up a comprehensive, long-term energy plan that not only focuses on more supply - which we need - but also looking at conservation, alternative fuels, the works."

In two weeks Upton will be on an energy panel with T. Boone Pickens.

"We've seen his message on TV," Upton said. "He wants to do it all. We need to do it all. I support the Pickens plan because I know if we don't, you're only going to see those Wall Street speculators continue to push those prices up to $150 or more per barrel. That's the last thing we can afford."

Upton also supports Sen. John McCain's stance on offshore drilling.

"He went on an offshore rig just this week," Upton said. "That's the right approach to take. A drilling rig just started on line last year. It's 150 miles off the coast in the Gulf of Mexico. It took 11 years to get all 27 of the different permits, from start to finish, and cost BP more than $3 billion on the application and on all the construction that had to take place, but today it's producing 250,000 barrels a day and has been since December of last year. Nine thousand feet down, they can literally hit a half-dollar coin. It's remarkable. Even with Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, there was no spillage out in the Gulf at all."

"By taking some prudent steps now," Upton said, "and looking at more supply, conservation, etc., in the short term we can continue to see these prices come down a little bit. Who ever thought we'd smile at gas at $3.79? That's a heck of a lot better than $4.20 a couple of weeks ago. But that's not where we ought to be knowing it was only $2.30 a gallon last summer."

"It's had a direct impact on how we do business in Dowagiac," Atkinson acknowledged. "Back in 2001, we spent $13,643 on fuel. In 2008, the price is now $33,622. How do you budget for that kind of increase? You can't. We try to improvise best we can. We do bike patrols as much as we can. We're doubling up some of our patrols. We're walking. Everything we can to provide service while saving dollars. Unfortunately, when gas prices go up, the call volume doesn't go down. We're busy all the time."

Added Underwood, "The county has 521 square miles to cover," compared to Dowagiac's four. "Calls are increasing. They're not going down. Several years ago my fuel bill was about $20,000. Today, as I look at it, it's almost $60,000. I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to get through the rest of the year without having to go back to commissioners for an increase to cover the things we need to cover. Just in the past two weeks, we've had eight different fatalities in the county. How do you budget for those type of things. We can't say, 'Well, we can't go.' Everybody's impacted by the cost of fuel. We're looking at alternatives and ways to save, but the problem is the calls are not stopping."

Dowagiac has a fleet of seven vehicles and three bicycles.

The sheriff operates 25 vehicles, also has three bicycles and is running on empty in the marine budget for lake patrols.

Atkinson points to public services in general.

"Street repairs, paving, all of the services the city provides, all require fuel," the chief said. "There's an impact there as well."

"Benton Harbor told me it already cost them an officer," Upton said. "They're getting smaller cars."

"I wanted Congress to stay in session," Upton asserted. "This is a big issue. It impacts everybody. Frankly, it impacts the poor more than anybody else because they aren't able to afford the new car with better gas mileage. They've got old cars and surely can't afford gas at $4 a gallon. What we ought to be doing as a nation is working on a bipartisan plan. Rather than ignore the problem and go home for a break, as we have this entire month, I believe we should have been called back to D.C. to work on this problem because I'm convinced that if we brought up a comprehensive, long-term plan, allow amendments to it and let the chips fall where they may, we'll end up with a decent plan at the end of the day that's going to be good for America, good for American families and good for workers of all classes of folks as we try to help our economy pick up some steam.

"Our state's hurting," Upton said. "We're hurting even more because of these gas prices."

Since legislative solutions are long-term plans, how would Upton convince voters desperate for immediate relief of that need?

Such a plan "does send the message to Wall Street that we're finally serious about doing something," in Upton's assessment. "We've had a moratorium on offshore drilling for twentysome years. We know those permits take some time to get through. Obviously, we want it to be safe and environmentally sound. We haven't had a serious spill in more than 40 years off our shores.

"But we need to expand nuclear, too," Upton argues. "I'm a supporter of the hybrid electric car. I think that is a great vehicle that will help wean us off fossil fuels. But you've got to have something at the end of the plug that's going to allow those batteries to be charged when they get into the showroom. Sadly, I was informed just two weeks ago that in Michigan we're likely to have rolling brownouts within the next decade if we don't have more electricity generated."

Nuclear "is greenhouse gas emission-free," he said. "Both the Cook plant and Palisades in our congressional district are considering the process of adding another generator. That would be great news. You're talking about $10 billion in construction for each of those facilities, thousands of jobs, no greenhouse gas emissions and really looking to the future in terms of providing and generating electricity. That kind of signal would tell the Wall Street folks we're getting serious."

Upton said "we ought to be looking at Canada," which is producing 1 million barrels a day of oil from tar sands and increasing that figure to 4 million barrels a day within the next five years.

"It's productive at $80 a barrel," he said, "but it has to be refined. One of the reasons BP is expanding its facility over at Gary (Ind.) is because they'd like that pipeline to come down here. That's why it was so important last summer, when they were getting their permits approved, that we worked to make sure they did not increase discharge into Lake Michigan. That was a big bipartisan issue and we blocked additional discharge from going in. They want to expand that facility because they see long-term that's where that supply is going to come."

"We need to look at natural gas," Upton said, "we need to look at clean coal. All of these things. Short term that has worked already. The proof is in the pudding. It's a two-step process to lift the moratorium (on drilling) on the outer continental shelf. When President Bush announced he was going to lift his part of opposition to offshore drilling, the price of oil was $145 a barrel. Within a day, that price fell to about $115 today. If we do nothing, guess what's going to happen? It's going to go right back to where it was, then it's going to pass that record and go even higher. I'm convinced there is bipartisan support to increase offshore drilling, and with it, a continued decline in the price of gasoline which will benefit not only every consumer, but obviously, the people we depend on to protect our streets and neighborhoods."

Asked about what happens to spent fuel from additional nuclear plants, Upton answered, "I'm one who wants to have the spent fuel recycled. Jimmy Carter stopped that from happening back in the '70s, but since then the French do it, the Japanese do it, the British are going to do it and the Chinese just have to get their cameras in and they'll figure out how to do it. That's coming and there is no reason why we shouldn't be doing it here. I'm working with my chairman, a Democrat, on crafting legislation that we plan to introduce in the next Congress so we can actually build a facility to recycle it. As we expand nuclear capacity - 45 to 50 plants is what I hope we can do by 2030; the Chinese are going to do 100 new plants in that same span and the French are building a plant now - there is going to be a worldwide shortage of enriched uranium. Why not reuse the uranium that's currently being used, like the French do? We can recycle 90 percent of it," then dispose of waste in Yucca Mountain. "We know we've already got enough waste to fill that up" without recycling.

Asked about the reluctance to go after oil shale in western states such as Colorado, Upton explained, "All of our drilling involves safe environmental regulations that have to be followed. The first step is to get the Department of the Interior to approve the lease. Then, with that, comes a whole number of other regulations and permits that have to be approved. An amendment on last year's appropriation bill said no funds can be spent by the Department of the Interior to process any application in those three states which we know hold 1.5 trillion barrels of oil in reserve in that oil shale. This isn't Yellowstone or the Tetons. This is BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land. This isn't clear-cutting or chopping off mountains and making Colorado look like Ohio or Iowa. This is simply putting a probe down, heat it to about 600 degrees, it separates the oil from the shale, you convert it to a slurry and get it to a refinery. It's viable again. About $80 a barrel. But by six votes, the amendment to deny the Department of the Interior a dime to process these applications was approved in the House. So, you change three votes and that process starts again. I'm convinced we can switch three votes from last year, knowing that the price went from $2.30 a gallon last summer to where we are today. We want to have an opportunity to revote and shift those votes. We hope the Fiscal Year 2009 Department of the Interior budget will be up next month. Again, that would be part of a comprehensive, long-term energy bill."

"Part of the problem" in building new refineries is the supply itself of crude to existing refineries.

"Last month," he said, "Mexico told a major refinery operation in Texas it was going to get 15 percent less than thought because the wells "simply are drying up. We're only getting 50 percent of the oil today that we got from Alaska in 1995. That new well in the Gulf isn't going to produce 250,000 barrels a day forever. At some point it dries out, so you have to have some vision and think about the long-term impact of what you need to do to continue to have supply.

"But at the same time, we've got to focus on conservation. I voted to increase the mileage standards for automobiles. I'm terribly excited about the GM Volt, which I saw a couple of weeks ago, and it's ability to go 40 miles without recharging. It will be in showrooms by 2010. I know it's going to cost more, so I'm supportive of legislation to help consumers have a tax credit when they purchase an electric hybrid. Wouldn't it be nice to tell a lot of those nations we're sending $750 billion a year to, 'We don't have to send you as much because we're starting to produce it here in America.' That means we're going to generate our own electric hybrids produced with clean coal technology and nuclear as well."

Upton recalled his trip a few weeks ago to Tulane University in New Orleans to participate in a national energy debate with a panel of four Republicans and four Democrats.

"Afterward, I met with the folks at Shell," he said. "We talked even more about their strategy. They're the ones who are really pushing this hard. They want the permits to be funded so they can begin the process of extracting that oil from the shale knowing we have 1.5 trillion barrels there. That's as much as the Saudis have. That would be a great thing. More supply means you're going to have downward pressure on prices. It needs to happen. It's driven by speculation to a large degree, so if you can show we're actually going to do something, instead of reject it, that sends the signal to speculators that they shouldn't bet the ranch it's going to go back up to $150 or $160. Every single day this summer when that gas price was going up, we were grumpy, wondering why we didn't fill up the night before. We're tired of those price increases, but they're going to happen again if we don't come back with a comprehensive, long-term, bipartisan plan. That's why we should have stayed in session in August. We didn't, but let's hope the job gets done in September before the election."

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