RELEASE: Zack Space Did Not Vote to Drill

Release:

A recent essay from Rep. Zack Space (D-Dover) claims that he supports "drilling for more oil right here at home" just like voters in Ohio's 18th Congressional District.

Oh, really?

Space claims to have "voted to increase domestic oil drilling because I believe that any comprehensive energy plan that has a chance of succeeding must have increased drilling as part of the equation."

When did this vote take place? And where, because it certainly didn't happen in the U.S. House of Representatives. Space has blocked numerous efforts to bring bills to a vote that would specifically open up lands in Alaska and the Intermountain West (e.g. Colorado) and coastal waters for drilling. In fact, the most recent "energy" bill Space has voted on ensures that off-coast drilling remains a fantasy.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi admitted to reporters that the bill was not a drilling bill: "We're not trying to give incentives to drill …" (Washington Post, 9/17/08)
The bill does pretend to lift the ban on drilling in oil- and natural gas-rich coastal waters but – and this is important – the federal government will keep 100 percent of any drilling revenues (aka, taxes) and not share a single cent with coastal states.

Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, one of those coastal states that would be impacted said this about this bill: "It's dead on arrival in the Senate … The Senate will never pass a bill without sharing, in my view." (Congress Daily, 9/15/08)

And the Charleston (WV) Daily Mail in an editorial said: "A drilling bill that does nothing … Pelosi's plan is a slap in the face of Americans … Americans need to be as independent of foreign oil producers as possible. The public sees that. Yet Democrats refuse to pursue policies that will increase American oil production." (9/18/08)

Continuing his essay, Space discusses releasing "excess oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR)" and says that's a "good start."

Actually, what Space supported was releasing 70 million barrels from the SPR, which would take care of the country's oil consumption for about four days. Then what? Release another 70 million barrels for another four days? And then another 70 million for another four days? The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is in place to ensure that the U.S. can meet its energy demands in case of a national emergency, such as suppliers in the Middle East deciding to shut down the pipelines or, as we saw recently, Mother Nature wrecking oil platforms and refineries along the Gulf Coast, which is our main domestic supply center.

So the oil that's in the SPR isn't "excess;" it's vitally necessary. And releasing it on political whims is the height of irresponsibility.

Space's essay fails to mention anything about coal. That's not surprising since coal hasn't been at the forefront of any agenda he's pushed in Congress. While Space claims that the latest sham no-energy energy bill will help coal operators in the 18th Congressional District, he must have forgotten one very important thing: In January 2007, Space voted for a bill that prohibited all federal agencies from using certain alternative and "unconventional" fuels, such as coal-to-liquid technologies. Otherwise known as Section 526 in H.R. 6, radical special-interests groups demanded these advanced fuels be banned because they emit more greenhouse gases than oil-based fuels, or so the groups claim.

No legislation passed in the House since that day has repealed Section 526, keeping coal-to-liquid projects far out of reach. In fact, Space voted against a bill that would have repealed Section 526.

But that's not all the latest no-energy energy bill Space supports does to give short-shrift to coal in the 18th Congressional District. Instead of reducing the coal excise tax in 2013, the bill keeps those taxes high for an extra five years – until 2018. The current tax rates are $1.10 per ton from underground mines and 55 cents per ton from surface mines; the reduced rates that operators will have to wait 18 years for are 50 cents per ton from underground mines and 25 cents per ton from surface mines.

Imagine how many jobs could be created if coal mines were paying less taxes.

Still, Space insists that the bill he voted for was a "a victory" for the 18th Congressional District. Maybe he was reading a different bill from the rest of us.