Letters to the Editor October 18, 2013

The real oil and gas ‘boom’

To The Editor:

While the oil and gas industry exhausts all means to block renewable fuels from competing with gasoline products at the pump, the Wall Street Journal reports that those same oil and gas companies are choosing to export, at record levels, the oil products coming from our American oil and gas “boom.”

That’s right, the American Petroleum Institute filed yet another lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency to block renewable fuels in gas blends because they say renewable fuels are not needed due to our thriving oil and gas production in America, which is less expensive than imported oil products and can save Americans money at the pump.

Federal law prohibits overseas shipments of most U.S.-produced oil, but refiners can export petroleum products created from that crude, including gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. The oil produced here at home is less expensive than the North Sea or Middle Eastern crude, so exporting American oil products abroad is more profitable for the oil companies than putting those products into the American market.

So what’s really happening?  Oil and gas companies are making a clear choice not to offer lower-priced petroleum fuels to the American consumer, but ship those products overseas at a higher price, and keep importing more expensive oil from places like Iran and Saudi Arabia for us American consumers to pay for – and meanwhile, filing every lawsuit and using every anti-competitive practice to block renewable fuels from further lowering prices at the pump.

This is the “boom” the American consumer gets when we have an oil monopoly over our transportation fuel supplies. Americans need a competitive choice at the pump, and we need an American renewable fuel which is less expensive, cleaner, and supports American agriculture rather than hostile Middle Eastern governments.

Americans spend $300 billion per year purchasing foreign oil. You want to stop our military conflicts in the Middle East? Take away the money, which means stop buying their oil.

Not one American soldier has ever been deployed to protect our ethanol reserves.

Dan Sanders
Vice president,
Front Range Energy

on Facebook on LinkedIn