America's Energy Future Debated | Voice of America - English
Amid record-high gasoline prices, America's energy future has emerged as a major issue in this year's U.S. elections.  VOA's Michael Bowman reports from Washington, Democrats and Republicans are offering markedly different plans to address the issue.
Likepeople in many countries, Americans love their cars and the freedom totravel wherever and whenever they please. But a surge in gasolineprices is squeezing family budgets and forcing many people to altertheir driving habits. With anger rising across the country, U.S.politicians are responding with a flurry of proposals. TexasRepublican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison's plan focuses on increasingU.S. oil production by authorizing drilling in, among other places, anecologically-sensitive region in Alaska. Speaking on the  television program, she argued that, at a time when globaloil output barely matches demand, it makes no sense to forgoopportunities to boost crude supplies. "Ifwe do not increase the production in this country, we are not going tobring the price of oil down. We are not going to bring the price ofgasoline at the pump down, and we are not going to become independent[from foreign sources of oil]," said Hutchison. PresidentBush has also urged expanded drilling in Alaska, but leaders in theDemocratically-controlled Congress say it would take years before theinitiative actually yielded oil, and the added production would onlymarginally boost domestic supplies. More fundamentally,Democrats say the long-term key to addressing America's energy needs isnot to scour the earth in search of finite reserves of fossil fuels,but to stress conservation while redirecting consumption towardsalternative energy sources. North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan also appeared on . "Wehave got to address renewable [energy sources] in a very significantway. Yes, we should produce more, we should drill more, but you cannotdrill your way out of this," said Dorgan. "We have to have a different energy mixbecause 60 percent of our oil now comes from of our shore. This is allabout change." Gasoline prices havecontinued to rise, despite a leveling off of U.S. consumption asAmericans drive less and rely more on public transportation. Thatfact has led some to argue the real culprit behind the current spike inoil prices is speculation by energy investors. Some lawmakers inWashington are calling for stricter regulations on energy tradingmarkets as well as new taxes on oil companies that are enjoying recordprofits. "Thereis nothing at this point that justifies the price of oil or gas in thiscountry with respect to supply and demand. Every month since Januaryour domestic crude supply has gone up. Demand is going down becausethe economy is slowing, and yet the price of oil is going through theroof. Why? Because there is an orgy of speculation going on in thefutures markets," added Byron Dorgan. But oil companies say new taxes on energy providers would be counterproductive and unwarranted. "Ifyou look at the first quarter of this year, the profit the industrymade was 7.4 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Averagemade 8.5 percent. The problem we have now globally isthat supply and demand are very close," said Red Caveney, who heads the American Petroleum Institute. "That creates the platform forpeople to enter into these commodity markets." Caveneysays boosting oil production would reduce the expectation of continuedtight oil supplies and discourage market speculation. Thepresumed presidential nominees of both major U.S. political partiesoppose expanded Alaska oil drilling and say the United States mustchange its energy consumption habits. In addition, RepublicanJohn McCain is proposing a temporary lifting of federal gasoline taxesto ease the strain on Americans' wallets. Democrat BarackObama says the savings would be minimal and would rob the government offunds needed for road construction and other infrastructure projects.Instead, Obama has proposed a $1,000 tax cut for middle-incomeearners.