There is nothing more annoying than getting into your car to go to work, and seeing your fuel light come on, again. The annoyance continues when you pull into your local gas station and see that the price of fuel has increased again.
Getting fuel is such a nuisance, but it is something we have to do in order to get from one place to another.We must purchase gasoline but, I believe we can do something about the price of gas.
Fuel prices have fluctuated drastically for several years now, and people are simply fed up. Personally, I am concerned that our nation is becoming more and more dependent on foreign oil and that dependence needs to be addressed.
In the early 1960’s, President John F. Kennedy stated: “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth.”
At that time, this idea was unheard of and hard to even imagine. However, it took less than a decade to achieve that goal, which I think speaks great volumes about our American ingenuity and determination. I am using this as an example because I believe we are facing a new challenge that calls for the same spirit and determination.
Clearly, the price of oil and natural gas has a tremendous impact on our nation’s economy. Therefore, we must address this challenge by requiring the United States to maintain current domestic oil and natural gas refineries, as well as opening new refineries across the country.
CountryMark, for example, is a company who refines 100 percent American crude oil from the Illinois Basin and is our only American-owned oil production and marketing company. In addition, this industry employs 20,000 workers in crude and oil exploration.
By sourcing American crude oil, we would enable ourselves to reduce our reliance on foreign oil, while also allowing dollars spent for this oil to remain in the Midwest—where they can support our local economies.
It is my hope that we can consider supporting CountryMark and similar initiatives and businesses. I believe that we must ultimately create and support competition for the big oil companies.
By encouraging independent oil and natural gas drilling companies, as well as independent refineries, we would create necessary competition with the major oil companies. This will ultimately decrease the price of energy, in addition to making us energy independent.
I understand that this is no simple task; however, it requires a new wave of thinking and ideas. We can no longer be dependent on foreign oil to fuel our economy and way of life. I truly believe that if we devote the necessary time and resources to the cause, and unleash the will and spirit of the American people, just as President Kennedy did, within four years we could be energy independent.
I have sent letters to all of our Hoosier Congressman and Senators, expressing the need for them to take action and I encourage you to do so too.
