Arkansas State Representatives Urge Federal Gov't to Lower Gas Prices

Four Arkansas State Republican Representatives are urging the federal government take immediate action in order to lower the price of gasoline. Today, Reps. Dan Greenberg of Little Rock (Dist 31), Bryan King of Green Forest (Dist 91), Roy Ragland of Marshall (Dist 90) and Jon Woods of Springdale (Dist 93) issued the following joint statement:

"We're approaching a scenario where $4.00 a gallon is a cheap price for gas. And when liberals in Congress propose burdening our energy industry with increased taxes and wasteful mandates, they are ignoring the laws of supply and demand by kicking our economy when it's already down. The only way to lower the price of energy is to lower production barriers and inefficient mandates and thereby increase the number of energy suppliers.

The USA is the only country in the world with access to proven oil reserves on its land and off its shores that refuses to take advantage of its resources. If we use reasonable environmental protection measures, technological advances could grant us access to over a trillion barrels of domestic oil – enough to meet our energy needs for a century – without relying on unstable foreign countries and greedy foreign cartels, and while preserving our environment for future generations.

We are just four of the one million Americans who have signed the pledge and support the "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" initiative available online at (www.AmericanSolutions.com/DrillNow), which supports the exploration of proven domestic energy reserves and reduces our dependence on unstable foreign countries We ask other other citizens to sign this pledge, so that hard-working Arkansans won't get hit in the wallet every time they go to the gas station. We also believe we need to reduce impediments to energy production on a variety of fronts.

First, we need to expedite the approval process for refineries. The last oil refinery was built during the Ford Administration; none have been built since because of a U.S. legal system that stifles progress and innovation and allows delay for almost any reason imaginable. We are currently forced to import refined fuel from other countries because of insufficient domestic refining capabilities. Second, we need to reduce or eliminate the wasteful fuel mandates and requirements that are driving up both the price of food and the cost of gas. The success we had in cutting the food tax last session has been offset by higher food prices, created by short-sighted government regulations, that we see the results of every time we go through the grocery checkout line. Finally, we need to examine the energy successes of Western Europe that have been based on environmentally friendly nuclear power.

In short, these are much more palatable, serious, and productive solutions than the failed ideas currently on the table in Congress: higher taxes on energy companies, socializing energy production, and unsuccessfully begging Saudi Arabia to pump another half-million barrels of oil every day. We would be much better off increasing our own domestic production capacity, and we urge the federal government to take action on this front immediately.

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