S10640 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE November 19, 2008 

IDAHOANS SPEAK OUT ON HIGH 

ENERGY PRICES 

Mr. CRAPO. Mr. President, in midJune, I asked Idahoans to share with 

me how high energy prices are affecting their lives, and they responded by 

the hundreds. The stories, numbering 

well over 1,200, are heartbreaking and 

touching. While energy prices have 

dropped in recent weeks, the concerns 

expressed from June remain very relevant. To respect the efforts of those 

who took the opportunity to share 

their thoughts, I am submitting every 

e-mail sent to me through an address 

set up specifically for this purpose to 

the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. This is not 

an issue that will be easily resolved, 

but it is one that deserves immediate 

and serious attention, and Idahoans deserve to be heard. Their stories not 

only detail their struggles to meet everyday expenses, but also have suggestions and recommendations as to what 

Congress can do now to tackle this 

problem and find solutions that last beyond today. I ask unanimous consent 

to have today’s letters printed in the 

RECORD. 

There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the 

RECORD, as follows: 

I was/am in full support of your GPRA Energy Legislation. You were right on. Please 

continue to fight for energy independence for 

Idaho and the U.S. This is essential to our 

national security and prosperity. It is never 

too late to do the right thing (even if we 

should have done it ten years ago). Please 

keep the pressure to allow Congress to vote 

on crucial energy legislation. We deserve to 

know how our Congress stands/votes on important issues like this. I am also in favor of 

the President calling an emergency session 

of Congress to pass energy legislation. It is 

that important. 

Drill here, drill now, pay less. 

TERESA, Twin Falls. 

Since July 11, [2008,] crude oil prices have 

declined over 16% yet gasoline prices at the 

pump have remained steady. When is Congress going to start putting real pressure on 

the oil companies to stop gouging the American consumer? If Congress wants to turn the 

economy around, then start by addressing 

energy prices. The oil companies raised gas 

prices as crude oil prices escalated but there 

is no indication that the reverse is true as 

crude prices continue to come down. Enough 

is enough. 

GALYN. 

You have expressed a desire to hear of our 

experiences and hardships with the rise in 

gasoline prices. I have a daily routine when 

I get to work. I get online and check for recent news on gasoline prices and so forth. 

The next thing I do is check on local gas 

prices by utilizing Mapquest.com. It is severely disappointing to see that our eastern 

Idaho gasoline prices have stabilized at $4.12 

a gallon when the national average is below 

$3.90 a gallon, according to a recent 

yahoo.com article. Be that as it may, $3.90 is 

still a harsh amount. This has become a pain 

not only economically but domestically as 

well. Between my wife and I for the last 

month and a half, there has been strife about 

our finances and being able to afford the 

next meal, the bills, and all that we wish we 

could do to make an advance in finances. 

Colleagues and friends would argue the same 

domestic problems. So you see that this 

problem is not only hurting America economically but socially as well. 

I have done my part in decreasing the 

amount I drive and the amount of times I fill 

up on gasoline but this can only go so far. I 

bought a scooter back in June just before 

gasoline prices hit $120 a gallon and it has 

saved a percentage of what we would have 

spent on filling our car. Americans are aware 

of the problem and doing what they can with 

reservation to consequences that may arise 

in their conservation efforts. The question is 

not ‘‘what should Americans do to avoid the 

high prices in gasoline?’’, rather; the question is ‘‘Why is the American government 

not making a reasonable effort to free its 

people from economic desperation?’’ 

Start drilling now; let us build up a reserve 

and release the current one, let us start 

looking for alternatives and renewables. Our 

understanding will progress as the science 

behind these progresses. 

Sincerely, 

MICHAEL, Rexburg. 

Since I do not have unlimited income (I am 

an underpaid Idaho teacher), or someone 

paying my fuel bills, the rising cost of gas 

and diesel is taking spending money out of 

our pockets and into our tanks since we need 

to drive to perform many daily activities. 

We also spend less at other retailers since 

the money went for fuel. We also get less for 

the same dollar at the store since the price 

of goods has gone up due to the rising costs 

of shipping using diesel fuel which is the 

most expensive and should be the cheapest 

since it costs less to make and comes off 

first in the processing of crude oil to fuel. 

When we spend less the retailers get less and 

it becomes a vicious circle. Let us start 

using our own oil and uncap the wells in our 

country just sitting there. The wildlife will 

be just fine in Alaska and elsewhere as long 

as we are careful while drilling and transporting the oil. We need to quit fueling the 

Arab terrorist groups by buying their oil at 

inflated prices or at all. Do not tell me the 

Saudis are our friends. The only thing they 

like about us is our money. 

MEL, Post Falls. 

Why do not the forces to be work together 

to get this solved—or is there no representation for improving the energy quantity? 

JIM. 

We received an email at work stating that 

you would like to know how we felt about 

high energy prices, along with ideas on how 

to improve the situation. The energy prices 

are a nuisance to me. I can handle the $50 per 

week it takes me to get to and from work. 

What concerns me are my neighbors who 

may be on the edge, or who need gasoline to 

make a living (trucking, farming, construction). 

To me the solution seems simple. Increase 

the supply. Let us drill in ANWR. A vast majority of Alaskans favor the proposition. We 

could do so in an environmentally responsible way. Let us drill in the area between 50 

miles and 200 miles off the coast in those 

areas where the population is for it. I understand in Virginia, most are in favor of it. I 

understand that we are the only country 

that prevents its people from doing this. 

And, by the way, why have not we opened a 

refinery in the last 25 years? Many say that 

even if we drill in ANWR, we will not see any 

oil for 10 years. That may be, but if we had 

acted 10 years ago, we would be reaping the 

benefits of it now. Besides, that might convince foreign countries who have raised their 

prices so much that we are serious about 

using our own resources and it may convince 

them it is time to lower prices. The solution 

to energy problems is going to take leadership, not short-sighted thinking. 

Also, we need to start building power 

plants powered by nuclear energy. A power 

plant that uses petroleum for its power 

source should no longer be allowed to be 

built. We can no longer afford to waste petroleum like that, nor should we pollute the 

air with those wastes, when we can capture 

and process all nuclear wastes safely. 

Of course we can use solar energy including wind where feasible, but that will not 

solve our energy needs in the future. 

We should also not use crops that we need 

for our food supply to produce ethanol, especially when it takes more energy to produce 

the ethanol that we receive from the resulting fuel. No wonder food prices are through 

the roof. 

Some want to blame oil companies for 

making excessive profits. A profit of 6 to 8% 

does not seem excessive to me. When did it 

become illegal to make a profit in this country? Higher taxes will not lower the price of 

gasoline. Let us level the playing field and 

remove excessive regulations. Sure, global 

warming is taking place, but we are not the 

cause of that. It has to do with solar cycles. 

Spend a winter in Idaho if you want to see 

global warming at work. The farmers I know 

had to plant late this season because their 

fields were covered with snow. The temperature in the world decreased last year. It did 

not increase. Global warming is not the 

problem. High energy prices are crippling 

the economy. The polar bear population has 

increased, not decreased. We are being sold a 

bill of goods that we cannot afford to buy. 

I know that the liberals are against everything I have proposed. We are opposed to 

their supposed solution of raising taxes. So 

does that mean that we have a stalemate and 

nothing is going to be done? We need leadership. 

NORMAN, Idaho Falls. 

I own a small 5-employee, garbage company that services the cities of Kuna and 

Melba and indeed the recent run up in diesel 

prices from $3/gallon to the current $4/gallon 

in the last ten months has been a major impact on my business of transporting solid 

waste for my small communities. I have seen 

my fuel bill increase by nearly $4,000/month, 

a 63% increase in that time frame. 

As difficult as that is for me, the run up in 

prices has had a major impact on my employees and their ability to come to work 

and this is so true for all of Idaho’s employees, particularly those on the very bottom of 

the economic scale of which there are too 

many in Idaho. 

I could go on longer, but you know the impact. More importantly, I think you need to 

hear from your constituents regarding the 

solutions. We need a Manhattan-style 

project to electrify our transportation sector 

of this country. We need tax incentives for 

production and purchase of electric vehicles. 

We need tax incentives for wind, solar, 

lithium ion batteries and electric motors 

(retrofitting out current gas fleet with electric drive trains will provide a sustainable 

new job creation and a finance business 

model that will be a boon to our poor, who 

are being priced out of transportation, and 

this will be paid for from displaced fuel dollars from foreign oil purchases). We need to 

re-industrialize the USA to create high paying jobs in the energy sector that will give 

us sustainable energy so we can get out of 

our many oil entanglements throughout the 

world. 

Our nation mobilized itself to re-tool its 

whole industrial base during WWII to create 

a war machine, plus provide all the oil needed to win that war in the short span of 4–6 

years. In the same short time frame we have 


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November 19, 2008 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S10641 

bankrupted ourselves in this senseless oil 

war in Iraq. We need to understand that we 

need to get off of fossil fuels. 

We can and we have to do better. The country needs strong leadership and I have 

watched you, you are a person of integrity. 

You can give us the leadership, even though 

it will not be the party line. I pray you have 

the courage to make a difference. 

The American public deserves a choice to 

our energy needs and tax incentives for solar 

and wind energy for our homes, will take us 

in that direction. I know this is not consistent with the Big Business energy and 

automobile business model, but I think they 

do not see the wisdom of making hard 

changes, tough choices and creating our own 

energy future. 

The whole period of deregulation we have 

just gone through has not been healthy for 

our country. Deregulation, from Enron to 

sub-prime lending is bankrupting our country. For the past 60 years the housing market has been stable and predictable. Deregulation has been regulation for the wealthy 

and well-positioned. We cannot continue to 

steal the hope for the middle class on the 

back of the rich. 

There have been two major fallacies foisted on the American public. One is that tax 

cuts will stimulate jobs and drilling oil will 

reduce gas prices. The wealthy citizens of 

our country and the oil companies can be 

multi-national citizens and their allegiances 

are to their own wealth accumulation, just a 

factor of human nature. 

We do not have nationalized oil, therefore 

oil drilling will benefit the oil companies and 

the highest bidders in the world market, yet 

the American public is led to believe, oil 

drilling will have an appreciable impact on 

our local gas prices, but indeed the nations 

with more wealth, able to bid and buy the 

commodity will benefit. We are a debtor nation, unlike China. Producing our own 

source of energy is critical to changing that 

reality. 

Tax cuts given to the wealthiest of our nation, without a requirement that those tax 

cuts be re-invested in the USA leaves those 

individuals the option to take those tax cuts 

and invest them in the country of their 

choice, wherever they can get the best return, again leaving the human instinct of 

wealth accumulation to play out. 

If we invest our tax cuts, in our own country and our own energy interests, that will 

create local high paying jobs, we will be investing in our own future, taking us out of 

the status of debtor nation. 

By the way, I, as well as Warren Buffet, am 

in the tax bracket that was advantaged by 

the big tax cuts, and I and Warren Buffet 

have both felt we would be glad to forego 

those tax cuts for a strong economy. 

Again, I ask that you have the courage to 

engage with any in congress, in a bipartisan 

way, who is of a like mind to take us to energy freedom. Jay Inslee the representative 

from Washington State is a great proponent 

of energy issues and a person like you, who 

is a person of integrity. I pray that our representatives in Washington will have the 

sense of urgency required to take the bold 

steps needed for the American People. 

As well, I might suggest, your staff get the 

hearing minutes from a Senate hearing held 

this week on the energy grid where T. Boone 

Pickens gave testimony where he stated ‘‘we 

cannot drill our way out of our current energy crisis’’ proposing wind energy as a 

major part of the solution. It was a very enlightening hearing. 

Thank you for your concern for the plight 

of your constituents. 

TIM, Kuna. 

As a person living on a fixed income, I find 

that the soaring costs of energy in all forms 

are creating a considerable burden on me. 

With gas at $4 per gallon, the cost of everything is sky rocketing. 

The U.S. is being held hostage by two bit 

dictators in the energy market. And it is unnecessary. We are a country that put a man 

on the moon over forty years ago, yet we 

have not found ways of using our abundant 

coal resources in an environmentally safe 

manner, and I am not seeing anything being 

done about it. Why? 

We spend hundreds of billions on foreign 

oil imports yet we allow a few vocal nuts to 

keep us from developing our own resources. 

We must tap the oil in the Alaska Wildlife 

Reserve. Contrary to their claims, oil production and wildlife are not incompatible. 

The noise and bustle of drilling will cause 

the animals to leave temporarily, after the 

drillers leave and the pumps and pipelines 

are in place they will return. 

We are often told that the lack of refinery 

capacity is also a cause of high gas prices. 

How many new refineries are currently 

under construction? How many are planned? 

When was the last completed? 

ALFRED, Twin Falls. 

I wrote a response to your email about energy yesterday and as I sat here another 

issue presented itself to me. This is on a 

community level. My wife and I (with bad 

forethought) bought The Roxy Theatre in 

Cascade. I say the above because now many 

people do not have the extra money to spend 

seeing movies or plays or concerts. Now after 

two years, seeing my available credit shrink, 

and energy costs of my theatre go up, I am 

looking at hard choices. I have chosen not to 

hire employees back. This further hurts the 

overall economy as there are 4 people who 

now have to find jobs. I have tried, but I cannot find a way to end this bleeding. The 

power company asked and got two very large 

rate hikes. Why are we spending almost 2/3 of 

all the fuel refined in the USA making power 

for the grids? We have been cut in the heel 

by a very small but loud group of people who 

say we should have no more reactors in the 

USA. Enough—the good of the few do not 

outweigh the good of the many. We have always been a nation formed on that. From my 

grandfather to my dad to my service in the 

military, I know that. I have served for the 

good of the many. I am still a police officer 

for the good of the many. It is sure not for 

the pay. I read bills all of the time that you 

all are debating on the Hill. I laugh; we 

spend millions of bucks to help out some performing arts center in New York. I provide 

the same arts to Americans too. I guess we 

are too small in Idaho or Cascade, I should 

say. We could all sit around and cry the 

blues, but nothing gets done. I put on my 

uniform 4 days a week and my theatre 

clothes 7 days a week, 364 days a year. I do 

this because it is for the good of the many. 

[I think earmarks should be allowed for 

projects that provide for the good of the 

many and my theatre would qualify for assistance.] You, sir, are elected to serve. I 

hear it just as much as you do. I do not mean 

that I am your boss. I mean we put you there 

because we feel you can fix it. I feel, given 

the responses you have seen, that Idaho’s 

gems have given you the ways to fix the 

problems you asked about. We have to all 

give something up. Again, I have not asked 

you to put me on a spending bill for aid to 

my 1939 theatre that I am sure will not make 

it through the year. The small business will 

not make it that long. When something big 

happens to this country, everyone asks for 

federal aid. Major snowstorms happen here, 

and it is not even reported. Four inches of 

snow in Florida and every news channel is 

calling it a disaster. We want this fixed before there is not debate about it. . . It will 

be a disaster that no one will have thought 

could happen. Many politicians say all of the 

time small business is the backbone of the 

USA. We are all hurting in this town. We are 

all getting close to going under. No joke, 

come up here, I will buy you a movie. I’ll 

show you around like when the mill closed in 

2000. We are on the threshold of something 

very bad. Thanks for your time, I know like 

me you do not have much to spare. 

f 

JASON, Cascade. 

PAYMENTS TO RADIO HOST 

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, several years ago, I started looking at the 

financial relationships between physicians and drug companies. I am doing 

this because I am concerned that there 

is very little transparency on this 

issue. I have also learned that the little 

transparency that does exist is not 

being enforced or is being enforced inconsistently. 

For instance, the National Institutes 

of Health requires researchers to report 

outside payments to their institution if 

they receive a grant from the NIH. But 

I have learned that some researchers 

are failing to properly report this 

money. 

Recently, I examined payments from 

pharmaceutical companies to a professor of psychiatry at the University 

of Cincinnati. I found out that she was 

not reporting tens of thousand of dollars in outside income. 

I then looked at a group of the 

world’s most prominent child psychiatrists, in particular, three researchers 

at Harvard who have taken millions of 

dollars from the drug companies. These 

doctors are funded by several NIH 

grants, but they were not reporting all 

of their money from the drug companies as required by NIH regulations. 

I then discovered a department chairman at Stanford who founded a company that was seeking approval from 

the Food and Drug Administration to 

market a drug for depression. The NIH 

is funding some research on this drug 

which was being led by this same Stanford scientist. Because there were some 

obvious conflicts with this situation, 

the NIH recently forced Stanford to 

pull this professor off the grant. 

I also sent letters to the University 

of Texas and Emory University about 

researchers at their institutions. 

I would now like to discuss another 

troubling aspect about the lack of financial transparency in medicine. 

‘‘The Infinite Mind’’ is a radio show 

that is independently produced but 

runs on over 300 public radio stations. 

It is possibly the most authoritative 

program on psychology and neuroscience in America. This show has won 

over 60 journalism awards. According 

to a biography of the show’s host, it 

has an audience of over half a million 

people. 

Back in my home State of Iowa, 

‘‘The Infinite Mind’’ is broadcast on 

most Sundays, early in the evening. 

My guess is that thousands of Iowans 

tune in. According to its own website, 

‘‘The Infinite Mind’’ prides itself on its 


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