By: Brandon Williamson and interviewed by Kristin Van Veen-Hincke/Vikki Cooper & Associates
July/August 2010

It is no secret there is a fair amount of anti-oil and gas sentiment in Congress today. However, there are politicians in Washington fighting tirelessly for the rights of America’s energy producers. One of these supporters is Congressman Todd Tiahrt, Representative from Kansas’ fourth district. Congressman Tiahrt knows the problems and hardships America’s energy producers are facing, and unlike most members of Congress, has a plan to get America’s domestic energy production back on track.

Representative Todd Tiahrt (R-KS)

Congressman Tiahrt believes first and foremost America needs to pursue complete energy independence and stop spending tax dollars to import energy. “I’ve been to the Middle East,” said Tiahrt. “I’ve seen miles and miles of skyscrapers built with American petrodollars. Those buildings should be in Wichita, Kansas or Oklahoma City or Tulsa. They should be in America. It’s just wrong for us not to pursue energy independence and use our natural resources.”

The anti-oil movement in Congress has been bolstered as of late by the BP oil spill. The Obama administration has seen fit to try and put a freeze on all drilling leases in the Outer Continental Shelf. “They’ve got a great deal of pressure from the environmental groups not to allow it, but I think we move forward,” Tiahrt stated. “We have produced oil and gas offshore for a very longtime. We are going to have to shake them loose. We are going to have to grab them by the nape of the neck and shake them until they turn loose of these leases and there’s no reason for us not to pursue energy independence.”

Coming from Kansas, Congressman Tiahr t understands the need for domestic production and the importance of surface drilling. “It’s much safer and easier to produce surface oil wells,” Tiahrt said, “and essentially, we are at ground level so [the spill] should have no impact on what we are doing in America to become energy independent. We cannot keep trying to borrow money to fund programs we don’t need and one of the ways you do that is you start producing energy independently as a nation because it increases the revenue stream, it increases the jobs. It’s just the right thing to do at this point in time.”

The BP gulf oil spill is not the only obstacle in the path of America’s energy producers. In the President’s recent 2011 budget proposal, he rescinded the existing production tax incentives used to motivate the oil and gas industry’s investors.

“We’ve got to keep these incentives in place,” the Congressman commented. “[The President] will destroy the independent oil and gas explorat ion and ser vice industry by taking away the necessary financial incentives to get people involved in this process. Ninety percent of the wells are independently produced and if he goes forward with this, we won’t find investors. They are flying blind and in that blindness they think we can eliminate the incentives to become energy independent and I oppose that strongly. We have to have them.”

Along with President Obama rescinding production tax credits in his budget proposal, there has been legislation introduced that would negatively affect America’s oil production companies: Cap and Trade – Under cap and trade legislation, the right to emit carbon (such as engine exhaust) would have to be purchased from the government in the form of a credit. Surplus credits could be traded and sold between companies. The idea is this would lower the amount of air pollution.

However, the cost of the credits could very likely be shifted to the consumer, as businesses would have to drive up costs to afford carbon credits. “I think cap and trade legislation would be a death knell for our economy,” said Tiahrt. “I think it would place us at a terrible disadvantage. We would lose more jobs. It would ship them offshore. It would put us in the worst position to make things. We have to build things here. We can’t be a service economy.”

Congressman Tiahrt believes those who support cap and trade legislation or a drilling moratorium need to stop living in a dream world or start practicing what they preach. “[President Obama] doesn’t get it and the people who enjoy living in an air conditioned apartment in New York City and Washington and Los Angeles and enjoy driving a car with nice leather interior and air conditioning, they don’t get it either,” the Congressman stated. “As soon as you sell your car and decide to walk, you come talk to me.”

In recent years the debate to allow or prohibit drilling inside the 19,000,000-acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) has become very heated. Those opposing the production of wells in ANWR believe it would harm the surrounding environment and wildlife, but these are common misconceptions. “It’s so much safer to drill onshore and we only need 1,800 acres to fully utilize the reserves up there, so we ought to be moving forward today,” Tiahrt said. “To listen to these environmentalist groups that think we have this pristine, mountainous, caribou-running surface up there that’s going to be destroyed is absolutely false. This is a minimization with no impact to the environment. It can be done easily. When we are done producing the natural resources, we can leave without a footprint behind.”

Congressman Tiahrt believes by not taking advantage of this opportunity, we hinder America’s chances to become energy independent and solve the unemployment problem, while making our economy less competitive worldwide.

The obstacles that America’s energy producers face are clear. Congressman Tiahrt knows these problems, and has a plan to fix them. Recently Tiahrt introduced his Energy Freedom Plan. It is a three-part plan intended to lower the cost of energy, increase domestic production and invest in newer forms of renewable energy that will take us into the future of energy production — conserve, produce, discover.

“Just as we have to utilize our natural resources, we have to still drill and we have to make sure that we do continue to use what is economically viable as far as renewable and alternatives,” Tiahrt explained. “We’ve got to utilize our natural resources in coal and in crude oil and in natural gas, and I think conservation is good for all of us. It’s good for our pocketbooks. It’s good for the environment. It’s just a good thing to do, to become more efficient that’s what I think conservation is.”

By making changes to conserve our energy, such as raising mileage standards for automobiles, or smaller changes such as driving less, carpooling, or driving slower, we can lower the price of gas. We can also lower the cost of gas by allowing for more domestic production and meeting America’s demand for oil. To meet our rising demand for oil, Congressman Tiahrt believes we must tap into the billions of gallons of oil available in ANWR and the OCS.

Congressman Tiahrt believes that by conserving our energy and allowing for more domestic production we can strengthen our economy, making it possible to research and develop newer forms of energy like solar and wind, or more abstract forms of energy, such as photovoltaic cells. “Vaclav Havel, the first president of the Czech Republic said, ‘we didn’t leave the bronze age because we ran out of bronze,’” said Tiahrt, “and we did not leave the iron-age because we ran out or iron, and we won’t leave the oil age because we run out of oil. New technology will take over, but we aren’t there yet.”

Congressman Tiahrt believes the stigma held against oil and gas producers can be resolved by showing those critical of the industry how America’s energy producers are making this country strong. For example, only one state experienced an increase in employment in 2009. “That’s North Dakota because we discovered oil under private property,” Tiahrt explained. “If it had been public property, they would have lost jobs too, but because it was private property they were able to extend the economy in North Dakota. Moving us toward energy independence put them in the positive side of the job growth instead of job loss.”

Congressman Tiahrt has announced his intentions to run for a Senate seat in the upcoming Congressional elections. He has already begun campaigning and is eager to work toward getting America back on track. “We are on a bad path right now,” he said, “but you know, America is a country of second chances and we’ve got a second chance in November to change our government, and I think we are going to see a change of power in either the House or the Senate and maybe both.”