Kristi Noem Thinks Oil Is Renewable Fuel

Last updated on 2011.05.11

A constituent writes to South Dakota Congresswoman Kristi Noem to express concern about rising gasoline prices. Here's an excerpt from her response in a May 6 letter, in which she appears to suggest that oil and gas are renewable fuels:

It's time we found an energy solution that ends our nation's addiction to foreign oil and reins in energy costs. Last Thursday, the U.S. House passed the first of three bills designed to set the production of domestic energy back into motion. H.R. 1230, the Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act, passed with bipartisan votes. The measure requires the Obama Administration to promptly conduct offshore oil and natural gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and offshore Virginia.

The U.S. House is expected to take up two other bills—the Putting the Gulf Back to Work Act and the Reversing President Obama's Offshore Moratorium Act—that will end the Administration's de facto moratorium on offshore drilling in a safe, responsible and transparent manner and allow for new offshore lease sales. I co-sponsored all three of these bills because I believe our nation has renewable energy options that simply have not been utilized. We need to move toward a combination of responsible domestic drilling and alternative energy production that includes wind energy, ethanol and other biofuels.

If Kristi wrote essays like this for her online poli-sci class and internship, she'll get an F. The most glaring error: she refers to a commitment to "renewable energy options," but the three pieces of legislation she cites deal mainly with offshore oil drilling. Read the bill texts:

1. HR 1230: all about oil and gas leases.
2. HR 1229: does mention wind, but the focus is oil and gas leases and exploration.
3. HR 1231: all about oil and gas.

All three bills are sponsored by Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA). He and the other sponsors of HR 1230 have taken $8.8 million from the oil and gas industry. Noem is just starting to reel in the Big Oil money, with Exxon Mobil sending her $3000 this spring. Votes like her aye on HR 1230 should open a few more greasy checkbooks.

Additional errors in Noem's letter:

1. There is no moratorium, de facto or de jure. Oil companies simply have to follow rules, no matter how much they contribute to Noem and her fellow Republicans.
2. The bills Noem cites will not lower gas prices.

p.s.: Kristi digs it, but Christie doesn't: Republican Governor Chris Christie opposes the drilling these bills would open up off his New Jersey shore.