Bennett grilled on energy dependence
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By JEFF DEMOSS
Standard-Examiner staff
jdemoss@standard.net
Senator calls for offshore drilling, oil shale development
OGDEN -- Energy prices and American dependence on foreign oil dominated an informal discussion Monday between members of the small-business community and Republican U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett.
Bennett, in a rare visit to Ogden while the Senate is in recess, told an intimate crowd of about 20 that with world demand for oil rising faster than production, America needs to tap its vast offshore oil deposits and accelerate oil shale development to tame prices.
"You cannot repeal the law of supply and demand," he said. "The only way to get prices down is to find more, use less, or both."
He said 85 percent of the nation's offshore oil reserves are currently off limits to drilling, and a moratorium on oil shale activity is keeping as much as 3 trillion barrels locked up in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming.
While acknowledging it will likely be "five to 10 years" before efforts to expand those sources translate into an actual production increase, "simply the promise that it's on the way, in the pipeline, would have an impact on the psychology of the market," he said.
He touted conservation as the most immediate means of moderating energy costs.
"We need to start getting Americans into hybrid cars," said Bennett, noting that he drives a Ford Escape hybrid SUV.
Plug-in hybrids that get up to 100 miles per gallon should be widely available within two years, he said.
Some in attendance suggested other ways for businesses to reduce their dependence on oil.
Joe Stumpf, co-owner of Salt Lake City-based ski company 4FRNT Skis, said 75 percent of the ski industry is based on petroleum.
He suggested federal tax credits for companies interested in exploring alternatives to oil for their source materials.
"We could switch to soy right now, but getting the bigger companies to do it would be almost impossible," Stumpf said.
"Big companies are slow to act. Change comes from groups like us," he said.
Bennett also touched on the American health care system, which he called "perverse" and "badly broken."
He and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., teamed up last year to create a bill that would shift control of health care dollars from employers to individuals, who would then go out into the marketplace and find their own coverage.
He said the measure came from a "truly bipartisan approach" and estimated it would save $1.5 trillion in federal spending over 10 years.
On the topic of illegal immigration, Bennett favors creating a guest-worker program to solve labor-shortage issues, but without tying it to citizenship.
"We need a very high fence, with a very wide gate that swings both ways."
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