McIntyre and Pelosi cost over North Carolinians $1.68 a gallon

Washington, DC – Between the time Rep. McIntyre voted to make Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House the actions/inaction of Congress has resulted in a $1.68 per gallon price rise for a gallon of gas. Will Breazeale and the Republicans in Congress have a plan that would actually reduce it by $1.98 per gallon.

McIntyre and Pelosi have blocked drilling for the extensive oil deposits in North Alaska and off shore in the lower 48 states. Cuba is allowing the Chinese and others to drill in areas that US companies are prohibited from drilling by Congress. McIntyre and Congress have also blocked any new gasoline refineries being built – even though the damage from Hurricaines’ Rita and Katerina showed how shockingly short of refinery capacity we are.

McIntyre voted against legislation that would have eased restrictions on building refineries and also against building refineries on abandoned military bases. He also has voted against drilling for oil. He has also voted to increase taxes on gasoline producers – even though gasoline is one of the most taxed commodities already with the Federal government and the states taxing many times the oil companies’ profit on a gallon of gas.

What the USA needs is a comprehensive policy on energy – drilling for new oil where it exists here in the US – building new nuclear power plants – allowing our abundant supplies of coal to be mined and used to provide clean affordable power – encouraging private enterprise to develop new alternative sources of energy – allow US oil companies to expand their refining capabilities – end subsidies for converting corn to ethanol, which does little to expand energy supplies but greatly inflates the cost of food.

Candidate Will Breazeale and the Republicans in currently in Congress have a plan to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and reduce the price of gas. The estimate is that rather than $4.02 per gallon it would be $2.04 per gallon. These are not pie in the sky proposals like windmills and solar. There is nothing wrong with wind and solar - but they will not substantially reduce our dependence on foreign oil for years. They are not proposing punitive taxes on the people who actually produce oil and gas.

Here is an estimate based on data produced by the Office of the House Republican Whip:

Republican Plan to Lower Gas Prices
Bring onshore oil online (ANWR, Shale)$0.70 -$1.60
Bring deepwater oil online (OCS)$0.90 -$2.50
Bring new refineries online (none since ’76)$0.15 -$0.45
Cut earmarks to fund gas tax holiday$0.18
Halt oil shipments to SPR$0.05
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Savings (at least):$1.98

The people of North Carolina deserve better representation than Mike McIntyre costing them up to $2.00 a gallon – they need Will Breazeale working to keep their money where it belongs – in their own wallet!