Also, some of these politicians not only want to deny consumers the benefits of America's vast untapped oil and gas reserves, they also advocate confiscatory taxes on oil company profits -- a policy guaranteed to make gasoline, natural gas, and home heating oil scarcer and more costly by suppressing investment in energy production and infrastructure. These politicians blame oil company profits for high gasoline prices. They have it exactly backwards. Profits are high because prices are high, and prices are high because of rapid growth in global demand for petroleum products (a consequence of U.S.-led global economic growth) and the supply disruptions caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Less recognized is probably the most important factor, psychology, which is driving the futures markets and is exacerbated by years and years of Congress refusing to solve a national problem of crisis proportions. The markets are clearly betting against an intellectually coherent Congress.

Congress enacted a windfall profits tax in 1980, and repealed it in 1988 -- three years before it was due to expire. Congress repealed the tax because it backfired. The tax reduced U.S. petroleum production, made America more dependent on OPEC oil, and ended up costing more to administer than the revenue it raised. Today's oil company profits fund tomorrow's investments to expand the energy supply and, thus, lower energy prices. For example, since 2002, Chevron's earnings were $32 billion, and the company invested $32 billion--exactly what it earned.

Similarly, Exxon Mobil’s average annual net income during 1995-2004 was $13.8 billion, and average annual capital investment was $14.0 billion. Whether Congress realizes it or not, with the certainty that the sun will rise in the East tomorrow morning, the so-called “windfall profit taxes” will stifle investment, shrink supply, and make gasoline and other petroleum products more costly to consumers.

Of course, legislators talk a good game and while they think their words are sound, in reality their words are all sound. Like every other member of Congress, these Representatives are complaining that gas prices are too high and something has to be done about it. But the actions of such Congressmen don't match their words. By voting against allowing drilling in ANWR, that legislator's actions say that energy prices are not yet too high.

As many Americans are now faced with much higher heating bills that they can't afford, money that will have to be diverted from buying other goods and services, harming the economy, Congress needs to get SERIOUS about unlocking our enormous domestic energy resources in Alaska, off the coast of California and in the Gulf of Mexico. The provisions in the budget bill to open ANWR and some of America's offshore oil and gas resources are only a small first step in the right direction.

I STRONGLY URGE you to make sure you put the interests of your constituents -- like me and my neighbors who work to make this nation what it is today -- ahead of a few radical environmental pressure groups, who have been spreading misinformation about ANWR for decades. There is not a single person in America who is both awake and conscious that doesn’t understand that developing additional domestic supplies of oil is a strategic crisis of epic proportions.

Please, SUPPORT U.S. oil exploration in ANWR, increase domestic supply, decrease dependency on foreign oil, improve national security and bring DOWN high gas prices.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Red State Patriot

P.S. When the opportunity permits, please give some thought to dramatically reducing Federal and State gasoline taxes, which in some cases amounts to $ 0.63 per gallon. This is more per gallon than the profit of the oil company. How can any decent person be part of the buffoon-rhetoric directed by Congress toward oil company executives when the government itself is profiteering in a time of war at the expense of the national economy, industry and the economic welfare of all citizens and immigrants who must depend on transportation to work and support their family. Put another way, what is in the best interests of the American citizen is by definition in the best interest of the United States of America. For all that is precious in America, use some common sense and lower the taxes, create jobs and stimulate the economy.

(You may want to send this letter to your Representative in Congress.)

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