FROM OUR READERS: Big Oil fleecing consumers
To the editor:
Gas prices are at all-time highs, and Nevadans are paying the price. Families who were already struggling to make ends meet are now feeling even more squeezed. Small-business owners and ranchers are suffering, and executives in our state's top industry worry that people may not be able to afford to drive here and enjoy Nevada's world-class entertainment.
Consumers are paying through the nose while Big Oil is laughing all the way to the bank. That's why I could not believe my eyes when I read the Review-Journal's recent editorial defending Big Oil and its practice of fleecing Nevadans and consumers across the country with high gasoline prices.
While oil companies are boasting to their investors about their record profits, the Review-Journal cited numbers from oil lobbyists to tell a sob story about how oil companies are suffering. Apparently, the oil lobbyists forgot to mention that last year alone, the five largest oil companies had profits of about $120 billion.
It is time for real change. It is time to protect consumers, take on global warming and improve our national security by reducing America's reliance on oil.
Drilling our way to oil independence simply won't work because America has only 3 percent of the world's oil reserves. Instead, we should be using American ingenuity to harvest the unlimited renewable energy resources that are literally in our own back yards to make our country energy independent and create good-paying jobs in Nevada.
New oil drilling in Alaska would replace oil imports for only two years. Meanwhile, capturing one week of Nevada's sunshine could provide enough energy to fuel every car and truck in the United States for an entire year. And there is enough geothermal energy beneath our feet to power our nation's economy emissions-free for more than 2,600 years.
Nevada has vast renewable energy resources. But until recently, the technology to use these resources in our cars did not exist. However, advanced battery designs, including some developed right here in Nevada, have brought us to the very edge of a technological revolution. Soon, we will be using advanced super-efficient solar cells and geothermal plants to "fill up" flex-fuel, plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles and drive them and our economy with clean, renewable power. Building these vehicles here and fueling them with our own locally produced green energy would cut pump prices in half, reduce our reliance on oil, and create good jobs in every corner of our state.
These are just some of the solutions we will be working toward when the Senate begins working on our energy bill this month, but there is more that needs to be done.
Automakers can and should build more efficient vehicles. Oil companies can and should offer low-emitting, American-made renewable fuels at the pump. Manufacturers can and should make more efficient appliances and lighting. And finally, we need a national renewable electricity requirement so that Nevada can sell our clean energy credits to other states while cutting our own electricity bills and strengthening our state's renewable energy industries.
"Drill, drill, drill" is the old way of thinking. Nevada has it all -- sun, wind and geothermal. By harnessing these resources and America's unstoppable spirit we can save money, create new jobs and stop global warming -- all while making our country safer.
Sen. Harry Reid
WASHINGTON, D.C.
THE WRITER, A DEMOCRAT FROM NEVADA, IS MAJORITY LEADER OF THE U.S. SENATE.
