Message to 110th U.S. Congress

Date: July 24, 2008

Robert William Butler Jr
11008 Threeawn Ct
Houston, TX 77086

Members of Congress,

Thank you for the opportunity for Americans like me to have a say on such important issues of Energy Independence, and more specifically the exorbitant prices consumers are paying for fuel in the greatest nation and economy on earth. As a resident of U.S. Congressional district 18, a native American, and a Texan of 58 years, I believe we can do much better.

No doubt, you are aware of the fact we are paying inflated world market prices for oil which are completely out of line with regard to corresponding fair market values. This does not have to be, and we ALL know it.

We are in an emergency situation, the cost of which continues to severely jeopardize national security due to the ongoing, fallacious energy crisis to which Americans are demanding immediate action from Congress.

It is completely absurd & ridiculous that we are not utilizing domestic reserves of oil, natural gas, and coal when we are sitting on 3 to 4 times the largest known supplies of fossil fuels anywhere else on the planet.

According to America’s major oil companies, American taxpayers are paying 2 to 3 times fair market prices, based on the actual costs. We have reviewed documented reports and published financial statements revealing real-world profit margins associated with the costs of production, refining, and distribution of energy products in the forms of gasoline, jet fuel (kerosene), diesel fuels, natural gas, and coal. These time-honored fossil fuels provide the sources of energy for the vast majority of transportation services, power plants, and industry, essential to the successful operation of our national economy, the prices for which fuels we are paying at the pumps do not remotely reflect their costs. This is not a mere inconvenience, but an egregious burden and injustice to American consumers.

No doubt, you are doing your best to see to it that Americans are not abused further by politicians and elitists who are not under the same severe financial pressures as most Americans, however we fail to see any sense of urgency and concern from representatives in Congress or the White House to address immediate needs and properly serve the best interest of all Americans. This is inexcusable, unacceptable, and must be resolved immediately for our economy to have any chance of survival.

May I remind you and others who are directly involved in this swindle and squandering of American taxpayers' wealth, these domestic natural resources belong to the American people, NOT U.S. Government entities and environmentalists who would attempt to regulate or control them through socialist entitlement programs.

The American people demand these discrepancies be dealt with accordingly.

Americans are totally dumbfounded by the obstructionist stance of majority party representation in the U.S. Senate and House standing in the way of speedy resolutions to this crisis, while working class citizens are literally starving and becoming insolvent while businesses are forced into bankruptcy. We do not have a choice! These problems cannot be resolved by any other means than lifting the various moratoria, allowing full, unhindered access to vast domestic energy reserves, facilitate drilling, refining, and distributing these products to our markets, thereby eliminating price fixing & gouging, speculation, etc., allowing supply & demand side economic factors of production to operate normally. Restrictions on building new facilities and upgrading existing refineries to handle increased capacities must be rescinded as well.

There are no logical reasons or rational excuses for holding out on these critical, essential measures.

You and your colleagues are experiencing political pressures now, the likes of which you have never seen notwithstanding the peoples’imminent revolt because of your irresponsible, criminal behavior of doing nothing more than posturing and pandering to environmentalists for maintaining their status among special interest groups and elitists whose agenda only accommodates the politics of a global economy and One-World-Government, not in the best interests of Americans.

The only viable solution to the aforementioned predicament is to DRILL!!! & BUILD!!! We must drill for oil & natural gas to alleviate absurd policies forcing the purchase of upwards to 2/3 of our energy supplies from O.P.E.C. thugs. We must also build new refineries and distribution networks to handle increased supplies in this market where costs would be minimized, efficiency would be maximized, providing the best economic solutions to consumers and creating badly needed additional jobs for our distressed economy.

We have the technology in place to accomplish these simple, essential tasks without investing taxpayers' money for useless schemes such as replacing fossil fuels with wind power which requires enormous capital investment and decades to fully develop to bring online. This type of system requires up to 90% back up from conventional power sources to achieve required reliability. We simply cannot afford the luxury of 100% redundant power sources at the prices we are now paying at the gasoline pumps. We must first reduce this unbearable financial burden on consumers, and develop alternative energy sources as time and budgets will allow.

WE are sick & tired of ridiculous, disingenuous excuses! It is now time to act with all haste, dispatch, and alacrity on these important issues tantamount to Americans' financial health, our economy, and national security. These issues should be viewed as urgent, serious matters for Americans, which you and your cohorts will regret ignoring by merely providing lip service as in the past.

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Robert W Butler, Jr