| September
20, 2002 Hon.
George W. Bush, President of the United States
The White House
1600
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington DC 20500
Dear
President Bush: On behalf of over 200,000 members of the National Grange,
I would like to commend you for your leadership in the fight against terrorism.
One important area of strategic vulnerability that our nation faces in this fight
is our reliance on imported oil. Currently the House of Representatives and the
US Senate are meeting in Conference Committee to workout an agreement on a bi-partisan,
comprehensive National Energy Plan that will meet the goal of reducing our nation's
dependence on imported petroleum. At this critical juncture in these negotiations,
it is important that you and your Administration weigh-in publicly and strongly
support two key provisions that will substantially increase domestic energy production.
The Senate
legislation, S.517 contains an important provision to increase the use of domestically
produced renewable ethanol from our nation's farms. This provision would increase
flexibility in the formulation of gasoline by eliminating the Clean Air Act 2
percent oxygenate mandate. It would also establish a 5 billion gallon renewable
fuels mandate by 2012, with bank and trade program to allow for flexibility of
implementation. The
House legislation, HR 4, contains a major provision to authorize the exploration
and production of the petroleum resources of the Coastal Plain region of the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in an environmentally sound manner. The environmental
impact of this development would be nominal, impacting 2,000 acres or less. However,
the ANWR region could contribute more than 1 million barrels of oil a day to our
national energy security. Combined,
these two sensible programs could displace more than 20 billion gallons of imported
petroleum annually. Given our dependence on foreign oil, it is important that
both of these two major domestic production incentive programs be included in
the final compromise legislation. Neither program, by itself, can contribute as
much to our national goal of achieving domestic energy security as both of these
programs can contribute together. The National Grange strongly urges you to use
all of the means at your disposal, including your full Constitutional authorities,
to persuade the Congress to adopt balanced national energy legislation that includes
both increased domestic production of ethanol as well as the development of the
petroleum resources from the ANWR during this session of Congress. Sincerely,
Kermit W.
Richardson, President
National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry
|
