Quotable: John Hoffmeister

Quotable:

"In the United States, access to our own oil and gas resources has been limited for the last 30 years, prohibiting companies such as Shell from exploring and developing resources for the benefit of the American people. It is not a free market. According to the Department of the Interior, 62% of all on-shore federal lands are off limits to oil and gas developments, with restrictions applying to 92% of all federal lands. The Argonne National Laboratory did a report in 2004 that identified 40 specific federal policy areas that halt, limit, delay, or restrict natural gas projects. The problem of access can be solved in this country by the same government that has prohibited it. Congress could have chose to lift some or all of the current restrictions on exploration and production of oil and gas. Congress could provide national policy to reverse the persistent decline of domestically secure natural resource development.

There is simply no way to keep up -- let alone get ahead of demand -- except by producing more oil and building more refining capacity. That's because of the makeup of the barrel of crude. Only a third to a half of a barrel of crude oil can be used to make these products. We can't use more than half of a barrel of oil to make diesel and aviation fuel. To meet this demand we need more capacity. So we need policies that enable both more crude supply and more refining. Higher taxes would only serve to diminish the expansion capacity of this critical capital investment. I urge you on behalf of American consumers to resist such punitive policies."

John Hoffmeister, CEO (Shell Oil Company) to Senator Patrick Leahy