Senator DeMint declares Victory and thanks you for your support. It’s your hard work that got the job done!

Dawn of Energy Independence?
by Rep. Jeb Hensarling and Sen. Jim DeMint

In just two weeks, on Oct. 1, Americans could be celebrating American Energy Freedom Day. That’s the day the bans on oil shale and offshore drilling for oil and natural gas in America will expire.

Right off American shores there are reserves estimated to hold over 20 billion barrels of oil and 97 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. And in the west, oil shale is estimated to be between 800 billion and 2 trillion barrels of oil — that is more than three times the proven oil reserves in Saudi Arabia alone.

So-called “compromise” legislation being considered in Congress would increase energy taxes and only open up a fraction of these vast reserves, while permanently banning nearly 80% of our energy resources offshore. It would be irrational in a national energy crisis to create any new ban on American energy, and that’s why the best solution is for Congress to allow the current bans to expire on Oct. 1.

Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and the Democrats love to preach that drilling will not solve all of America’s energy problems. No kidding — we all know that. Yet while drilling alone obviously won’t solve every problem, tapping these important sources of American energy is desperately needed to lower gas prices and reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil.

For more than 20 years, Democrats have blocked access to this American energy by including a ban on offshore drilling and oil shale into the yearly appropriations bills passed by Congress (or by including them in ‘Continuing Resolutions’ that keep the government functioning until appropriations bills are passed). Leave it to the liberal mind to find a way to revert back to the failed policies of Jimmy Carter during an energy crisis. We realize that this 1970’s anti-energy mentality is tired, wrongheaded and simply out of gas — no pun intended.

But here’s the good news — if Congress simply does nothing, then on Oct. 1 Americans will be free to pursue vast amounts of our own energy. That’s right — once the current bans expire, we can finally be on our way to developing energy in America for Americans. We say it’s time for Congress to get out of the way.

Increasing our nation’s own oil and gas supply is critical to our energy security, but we must also give Americans the freedom to pursue other sources of American energy. For months, we’ve made clear that we need conservation, but not just conservation. We need renewable energy, but not just renewable. We need alternatives, but not just alternatives. We need to produce more energy of all types in America so we can drive down the cost of gas and increase our energy independence.

As we pursue these alternative and renewable energies, the only way to help ease the pain at the pump TODAY is to begin to meet the ever-increasing demand for energy. It is commonsense policy to drill here and to drill now so we can keep our nation strong and secure.

It seems likely that Democrats, beholden to the radical left, will try to stop American Energy Freedom Day by sneaking a new drilling ban in a spending bill that Congress MUST pass to keep the government functioning before the current ban expires on the last day of September.

How reckless will Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid be? We’ve seen press reports in which they are so adamant about enacting a new bans on oil shale and offshore drilling that they have started to talk about a government shutdown. Rather than help lower the cost of gas and home energy for struggling American families, they remain beholden to left-wing environmentalists. This is a battle we shouldn’t have to face, but one that we cannot shy away from.

So far, 155 Republican representatives and 39 senators have joined us in writing these Democrat leaders a letter warning them that we will oppose any attempt to extend the ban on American energy beyond Oct. 1.

Make no mistake; the upcoming energy showdown could be the most important vote we take this year.

If you believe that it is good for America to increase our dependence on foreign oil by continuing to send hundreds of billions of dollars each year to other countries to supply our oil and gas, then that is your right. But if you think we should drill here and drill now, join us in letting the Democrat leadership know that we want to celebrate Energy Freedom Day on Oct. 1. If you believe that it’s time to produce American energy and lower gas prices — stand up and tell all these Democrat leaders to step aside.

One way to support our cause is to go to our Web site and sign the online petition to Pelosi and Reid.

Nothing in Congress ever comes easy, but this actually could. All that Congress must do is cause no harm by doing absolutely nothing. For Democrats, that’s easier said than done.

Great video from a local Texas TV station that followed Congressman Hensarling as he gathered signatures to protect American Energy Freedom Day.

“This will help turn this around so again hopefully next time you fill up it won’t be quite as painful.” ‘Thank you,’ said a woman as she signed today. “Let me sign that thing,” interrupted another Athens resident. “All I want to do is get my signature on here. That Pelosi woman is nuts.”

…One after another, adding their name to the list, supporting Hensarling’s stated desire to create American energy in America for Americans.

Senators Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia) and Norm Coleman (R-Minnesota) have now added their names to the letter supporting American Energy Freedom Day. This brings the number of senators to 38 who have pledged to oppose legislation extending the bans on offshore and oil shale energy exploration. 41 votes are needed to deny Democrats the 60 votes they need to extend the bans in the Senate. Let’s keep up the pressure. We’re must stop Pelosi and Reid from canceling American Energy Freedom Day.

The news of American Energy Freedom Day is spreading. Keep it up, and continue to encourage your friends and family to sign the petition!

Here’s CNN’s profile on EnergyFreedomDay.com:

As House Republicans continue to focus on energy policy, Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina and Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas launched a new Web site Tuesday that highlights October 1 as the day the congressional ban on offshore oil drilling will end unless Congress takes some action to continue the ban.

The site prominently features a YouTube video clip of DeMint and Hensarling discussing energy policy and encouraging the public to contact their representatives in Congress about lifting ban on offshore oil drilling and oil shale recovery. The site also contains a clock-like widget counting down the time until October 1. Visitors to the site can copy the HTML code for the widget so that they can embed the countdown clock on their own blogs or Web sites. Visitors can also sign an online petition on the site and read a blog about energy policy.

UPDATE: Welcome HotAir fans!

From Investor’s Business Daily:

A report from the Energy Department’s Argonne National Laboratory states that “even a moderate estimate of 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil from oil shale in the Green River Formation is three times greater than the proven oil reserves of Saudi Arabia.”

“Present U.S. demand for petroleum products is about 20 million barrels per day,” the Argonne report notes. “If oil shale could be used to meet a quarter of that demand, the estimated 800 billion barrels of (currently) recoverable oil from the Green River Formation could last for more than 400 years.”

Production from domestic oil shale deposits could reach 10 million barrels a day — virtually tripling our current domestic production — according to a report by the Energy Department.

36 Senators have now signed this letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) vowing to support American Energy Freedom Day.

Dear Senators Reid and McConnell,

It is our hope that Democrats and Republicans will stand together to support American Energy Freedom Day on October 1, 2008. On this day, the current prohibitions on oil and gas exploration off the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and in the oil-shale fields of the West will expire, giving Americans the freedom to access their own energy and providing them with relief from sky-high prices at the pump.

We strongly encourage you to allow the expiration of these prohibitions on American energy exploration and production, as scheduled under current law, and we will actively oppose any attempt to extend them. Now is not the time to deny Americans access to their own energy supply.

Thank you for your consideration. We look forward to working with you to ensure a victory for the American people on American Energy Freedom Day.

This letter will be sent to Senators Reid and McConnell after the Senate returns from its August break. Contact the Senators who have not signed it and urge them to sign this pledge to protect American Energy Freedom Day.

Never one to rush to Republicans’ defense, today the editors of The Washington Post strongly endorse offshore drilling and scold Democrats for using three false attacks against American energy. The editorial states that, “the United States can no longer afford to turn its back on finding all the sources of fuel necessary to maintain its economy and its standard of living.” Below is a summary of the editorial’s findings:

1. MYTH - “Drilling is pointless because the United States has only 3 percent of the world’s oil reserves. This is a misleading because it refers only to known oil reserves… those estimates were made using old data from now-outdated seismic equipment…. In 1987, the MMS estimated that there were 9 billion barrels of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. By 2006, after major advances in seismic technology and deepwater drilling techniques, the MMS resource estimate for that area had ballooned to 45 billion barrels. In short, there could be much more oil under the sea than previously known. The demand for energy is going up, not down. And for a long time, even as alternative sources of energy are developed, more oil will be needed.”
2. MYTH - “The oil companies aren’t using the leases they already have. According to the MMS, there were 7,457 active leases as of June 8. Of those, only 1,877 were classified as ‘producing.’ As we pointed out in a previous editorial, the five leases that have made up the Shell Perdido project off Galveston since 1996 are not classified as producing. Only when it starts pumping the equivalent of an estimated 130,000 barrels of oil a day at the end of the decade will it be deemed ‘active.’ Since 1996, Shell has paid rent on the leases; filed and had approved numerous reports with the MMS, including an environmentally sensitive resource development plan and an oil spill recovery plan that is subject to unannounced practice runs by the MMS; drilled several wells to explore the area at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars; and started constructing the necessary infrastructure to bring the oil to market. The notion that oil companies are just sitting on oil leases is a myth. With oil prices still above $100 a barrel, that charge never made sense.”
3. MYTH - “Drilling is environmentally dangerous. Opposition to offshore drilling goes back to 1969, when 80,000 barrels of oil from an offshore oil well blowout washed up on the beaches of Santa Barbara. In 1971, the Interior Department instituted a host of reporting requirements (such as the resource development and oil spill recovery plans mentioned above) and stringent safety measures. Chief among them is a requirement for each well to have an automatic shut-off valve beneath the ocean floor that can also be operated manually. According to the MMS, between 1993 and 2007, there were 651 spills of all sizes at OCS facilities (in federal waters three miles or more offshore) that released 47,800 barrels of oil. With 7.5 billion barrels of oil produced in that time, that equates to 1 barrel of oil spilled per 156,900 barrels produced. That’s not to minimize the danger. But no form of energy is perfect or without trade-offs. Besides, if it is acceptable to drill in the Caspian Sea and in developing countries such as Nigeria where environmental concerns are equally important, it’s hard to explain why the United States should rule out drilling off its own coasts.”

The Washington Post editors recognize, just as supporters of American Energy Freedom Day do, that while our nation should be free to pursue a variety of new energy sources (nuclear, hydrogen, geothermal, hydroelectric, wind, solar, and more) ending the bans on American oil and gas is the critical first step to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

While much of the discussion of new exploration for American oil is centered around offshore drilling, it’s just as important to understand that oil shale in America’s West holds even greater potential.

Heritage Foundation has pointed out that: “[T]he U.S. has the world’s largest oil shale deposits. A recent RAND Corp. study estimates that there are 1.5 trillion to 1.8 trillion barrels worth of oil shale in Green River Formation, which goes through Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. That is three times the proven oil reserves of Saudi Arabia.”

And Powerline has a very interesting post on oil shale, including this chart from the Institute for Energy Research showing America’s oil shale “dwarfs” the amount of total petroleum reserves located in other countries:

As Powerline writes:

Unfortunately, the Democrats have been able to place these vast reserves off-limits. Now, one country has announced plans to develop its shale oil resources, but it isn’t the United States, it’s Jordan: “Energy-poor Jordan said on Sunday it was in talks with Anglo-Dutch group Royal Dutch Shell on an agreement to extract oil from the desert kingdom’s 40-billion-tonne oil shale reserves… JEA president Wael Saqqa said exploiting the 40-billion-tonne oil shale reserves in 26 areas of Jordan “would provide the kingdom with oil for the coming 700 years.”

Under the leadership of the Democratic Party, the United States continues to be the only country in the world that is deliberately devastating its own economy by refusing to develop its energy resources.

Millions of Americans are experiencing pain at the gas pump this summer and they are looking to Congress for some real answers. On Sunday, the editors of the San Diego Union Tribune assessed the situation and determined their previous opposition to offshore drilling no longer made sense.

No amount of conservation – an important tool in its own right – will eliminate the need for increased production in the near term. So, unless we are willing to become almost totally dependent on oil pumped from the ground in the volatile Middle East and Persian Gulf regions – a very dangerous course – the United States must boost its own output significantly.

This page long has joined the chorus opposed to the mere prospect of any drilling rigs in San Diego County’s coastal waters. But circumstances, most notably America’s increasing dependence on foreign supplies, have changed. So has the safety record of offshore drilling operations along the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts. The risk of another massive oil spill has been greatly reduced by improved technology and federally enforced safety standards…

And while Congress is opening up coastal waters to spur domestic production, it should lift the ban on drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge – a vast untapped petroleum supply that is far removed from human activity.