Lawmakers call for more domestic drilling

By Austin Kinghorn, Baytown Sun
Published February 2, 2006

With the nation's energy policy having big ramification on the industrial Baytown landscape, local lawmakers reacted to the President's proposals in his State of the Union address, the day after members of a site selection committee for the nation's first clean-coal burning power plant — a hallmark of Bush's clean air energy plan — paid a visit to the area.

In Tuesday's speech, Bush railed against America's dependency on foreign oil, saying the country is "addicted" to oil imported from unstable regions of the world but shied away from expressly calling for expanded domestic drilling. A proposal to open the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to drilling has been blocked by Congress.

Bush proposed the Advanced Energy Initiative, which would boost spending on clean-energy research by 22 percent. Most of the alternative energy sources the President advocated, however, are the same he has supported for years, such as zero-emission coal fired power plants, ethanol, solar, wind and nuclear technology.

The ultimate goal, Bush said, is to replace 75 percent of oil imports from the Middle East by 2025.

"By applying the talent and technology of America, this county can dramatically improve our environment, move beyond a petroleum-based economy, and make our dependent on middle Eastern oil a thing of the past," Bush said.

But while Bush's speech notably lacked a call for expanded domestic drilling, local lawmakers had no misgivings over voicing their support for increased domestic oil production.

"We can't be held hostage by Third World powers," said DeeAnn Thigpen, a spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, who represents part of Baytown. "Offshore drilling is a part of the answer to lessen the stranglehold."

Thigpen said Poe has filed legislation to open up portions of the east and west coast currently protected from drilling.

"He's a big proponent for cultivating our own resources and drilling of our own coast," Thigpen said. "Right now the U.S. produces only 3 percent of world's oil supply but consumes 25 percent of the total."

Bush had supporters for the goals set out in his address even across the aisle, including Democrat Gene Green, who represents west and northwest portions of Baytown.

Green said he supported the initiatives outlined by the President and even endorsed expanded drilling, which he said has been hampered by an agreement between the President and his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, to keep drilling away from the Florida coast.

"I just don't know how physically we can get there but I'd sure like it," Green said, referring to the 2025 goal. "My standard feeling is I want to do all the research we can to move away from hydrocarbons, but we have to get through the next 25 years."

But Republican Ron Paul, who represents Chambers County in Congress, agreed only with Bush's assertion that dependence on foreign oil is a problem, saying the proposed government programs are not the answer.

"Federal regulations on exploration, drilling, and refining are the primary reason America imports so much oil in the first place," Paul said. "The best 'energy policy' is the free market, with no subsidies and fewer regulations that limit supply."

Paul also said expanded domestic oil drilling is the best immediate plan to reduce soaring gasoline costs.

"I cannot agree that we need new taxpayer-funded programs to develop hydrogen and hybrid automobiles," Paul said. "Let these technologies sink or swim in the marketplace, without government assistance. Taxpayers should not be asked to pay for the development of technologies that later benefit private industry."

Even policy analysts at traditionally conservative think tanks such as The Heritage Foundation rallied against Bush's proposals for government subsidized clean air technologies. An article posted on the foundation's Web site by Senior Policy Analyst Ben Lieberman called for greater reliance on free market principles.

"Rather than expand government interference in energy markets and pick winners and losers from among emerging technologies, Washington should get out of the way and let market forces work," Lieberman said. "Streamlining energy regulations and removing federal restrictions on domestic energy production would have been a good place to start and should have been part of the speech."

Sterling Burnett, a senior fellow for the National Center for Policy Analysis, said the 2025 initiative was not so bold when considering that most of the United State's oil imports come from Canada and Mexico, not the Middle East.

"I found it a little ironic that a lot of the speech dealt with not being isolationist and not trying to close our borders and opening up markets, but when it comes to trade we've got to be isolationist," Burnett said.

But some elements of the President's energy plan, such as clean-coal burning plants, are already speeding toward reality. Local economic developers are working on a fast track timeline to tout the Cedar Crossing Industrial Park in Chambers County as the site Texas should submit to the Department of Energy for consideration as the future home of FutureGen, a clean-coal burning plant initiative backed by a $1 billion commitment from the Department of Energy.

A team from the state's committee that will choose one of nine Texas sites to recommend was in town on Tuesday for a four-hour whirlwind tour of Cedar Crossing.

Representatives from the Baytown/West Chambers County Economic Development Foundation and the Houston-Galveston Area Council — who are working in tandem to sell the area to the site selection committee — are remaining tight-lipped about Tuesday's meeting.

"I think everybody came away with an understanding of how valuable an asset the Cedar Crossing location is as it relates to the alignment with FutureGen and its potential spin-off industries," said B.J. Simon, an economic development specialist with the Baytown/West Chambers County EDF.

Simon did say the state's committee was particularly interested in a commitment from local industry to purchase the excess hydrogen that would be produced by the plant. One of FutureGen's selling points has been the reusable nature of the byproducts created by the clean coal gasification process, which include hydrogen and carbon dioxide.

"We're working on an express timeline to address all the technical issues in order to ensure we present this site as the site for Texas," Simon said.