By Janet Jacobs
There aren’t any short-term solutions to the high price of gasoline, although there could be long-term fixes, according to Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) who represents Navarro County in Washington D.C.
“There’s not an easy short-term answer to high gas prices,” he said. “We need supply options.”
“We’re using, and we’re not replacing what we’re using,” Barton said in an interview with the Corsicana Daily Sun this last week. “I believe if they’d let us drill in the U.S. where we know there is oil and gas we could replace some of that.”
Currently, there are federal and state restrictions in drilling in parts of Alaska, on the California coast and the East Coast.
Barton said he wouldn’t support other solutions, such as a higher gas tax.
“Raising the gas tax would decrease demand, I don’t think that’s helpful, but some of my liberal friends do,” he said. “But the average driver in Corsicana, that’s the last thing they want is higher taxes.”
Another solution he does support is construction of more refineries. Last year, the price of gas escalated because of a shortage of refinery capacity. Barton said he supported an idea in the past of putting a refinery in Navarro County, which failed because of the permitting process. However, the construction of more refineries would increase capacity and could bring down prices some, he said.
“They could also show more flexibility in gas in non-attainment areas,” he said, referring to the Environmental Protection Agency’s stance on low-emission fuels in cities like Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. “The EPA has authority to give waivers, but only in extreme situations.”
Another long-term solution might be to switch more of the nation’s fleet of cars to diesel. The diesel prices are high because refineries are busy refining gasoline, he pointed out.
Diesel isn’t popular because of the environmental issues in the past, but the newer diesel fuels are cleaner, he said.
On other issues, Barton said he’s optimistic.
“Texas’ economy is good — home prices and retail,” he said. “Drilling actually helped the economy stay strong.”
Texas imports more energy than it produces, but the booming oil and gas industry is helping the general economy, Barton said.
The nation’s not in a recession, although he does believe we’re in a slower growth period that could go into a recession.
Locally, Barton said he supports the idea of the proposed two new gas-fired power plants, although he said he would also support them if they were coal-fired.
“The emissions of a natural gas plant are primarily water vapor and a little nitrogen oxide, but compared with coal it’s almost nothing,” he said. “The key is determining the limits from a health standpoint and being within the limits.”
“They’re simply not a health threat,” Barton said. “Most people support modern, environmentally efficient power plants. I certainly do. I support more construction of lignite plants. I’m convinced it can be burned in an environmentally safe way.”
Barton voted against both Democrats and Republicans in several key votes last year and early this year, including reauthorization of the higher education act, and the funding for several departments, primarily for fiscal reasons, he said.
“It’s really frustrating the tendency to rubber-stamp everything in Washington,” he said. “We need less government. We need less spending, and to keep taxes down.”
The government needs to figure out how to pay for a program before it chooses to spend the money, Barton said.
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Janet Jacobs may be reached via e-mail at jacobs@corsicanadailysun.com
