Neither party has a real plan. Repubs are just making us more addicted to oil by providing us with more. The key to addiction is not to do more. Yes small cars Mr Bishop are a good idea, sorry all of you boat owners out there. Those with the big cars and the boats are forcing up the price of oil by their prodigious consumption. Demos have no plan either. They should be forcing American car companies to be making cars that get required mileage or at the very least taxing the heck out of the cars that don't.

Yes Bishop, the answer is to drill more or figure out how to get more oil. Are you serious????
Maybe we should have IQ tests before running for office.
Sad thing is so many buy into this answer.

ONe thing we have learned in the last year is that how much or how small a car we drive has no impact on the price of oil,

It's too bad the author didn't go: "Hmm, I wonder if Bishop's Democratic Opponent has any ideas on energy policy?" and then maybe called Morgan Bowen and asked.

Instead, Lee gives another Republican incumbent more column inches to soapbox and blather out a revisionist history about the last 12 years of GOP policies that put us in this gas crisis in the first place.

Isn't it great the Joe Cannon is "running" the Deseret Morning Republican Party Newsletter now?

Republicans claim to love the free market--unless it affects them or their constituents. It might be nice to require IQ tests for public office, but they could also do with a basic course in economic theory. . .

Yea for Bishop. Pelosi and her cronies are running scared, because they know they have no substance to offer the American people. We're all hurting, and so far the Democrat solution is to sue Hugo Chavez for not producing enough oil. Gimme a break! As to the SPR, they forced the president to stop making contributions. Has that done anything to reduce the cost of fuel? NO! Releasing oil from the SPR will only cause OPEC to REDUCE their oil production. That does nothing to solve the problem, it only makes it worse.

The energy party is the Republican party. My hat's off to Bishop and his colleagues for at least talking about the issue in a forthright way, and offering real solutions to real problems.

DRILL, BABY, DRILL!! The time for hand-wringing is past. People are hurting and it's only going to get worse. We must, no matter what we do, increase supply in teh short-term or it will take this country and economy down with it. Everything is impacted by oil. It will take years even decades to develop enough alternatives. Pelosi, who is worth over $50 million in net assets, isn't affected. TO most normal, middle-class america, this is a bread and butter issue and Congrsesman Bishop is exactly right!

...right here in the US. We live in the Uintah Basin of eastern Utah where there is a lot of oil activity right now, as well as natural gas. Regulations restrict a lot of what could be done with the oil shale and oil sands projects, as well as drilling permits, etc. We are too dependent on foreign oil, and we are supporting other countries when we should be trying to more independent with the resources we have, but are not using. Petroleum is used in many things, not just gas and diesel fuels. Look at the cleaning products and other products with petroleum distillates in them. Most anything made of plastic has a petroleum product in it. It is used on our road surfaces in asphalt. The list is endless. It's time for practicality, not politics.

Rob Bishop is absolutely right on this!
The Dems have no plan. They have done nothing to allow any meaningful action on many other problems besides energy.

Someone look at the bills the House has passed and tell us again about what the Dems have accomplished besides "just say no" although that is a last resort as they prefer to avoid even voting on major issues.

Sadly, many Republican Congresscritters are a clueless, stupid, gutless and greedy as the Dems are, and prefer to get along instead of speaking out like Bishop and risk the wrath of leadership.

If Matheson had any brains, he would be joining Bishop in demanding that Pelosi bring up the important bills.

If the Deseret News (and Tribune) editors had a brain they would join Bishop on this one too!

I wish I was represented by Bishop instead of Matheson.

The GOP has controlled congress for 12 years with 6 of those years with a GOP President. Yet during that time they did nothing to address this. Prices have been rising steadily and were at over $3.00 with the Republicans in charge and nothing was done. Now they want to claim its all the fault of the Dems.

They buried their heads in the sand, did nothing and are now upset because the other party is doing exactly what they did. I really think the GOP needs to change their mascot from an elephant sionce they seem to forget anything and everything at the drop of a hat.

Reality is that over the past decade or so we have reduced our processing capacity and increased our imports. The Oil Companies did this, not congress, not the president. Productive oil fields were shut down because it was cheaper to bring it in from OPEC. Its a mess that the oil companies themselves made as they merged and shut down production in search of the largest quarterly profit.

There are still lots of fields they can reopen and lots of places they can still drill, they are just taking advantage, again.

If we start using the Stragic Petroleum Reserve, as one poster said, OPEC will most likely slow down their production. The SPR is like food storage. It's there to be used in an emergency, and if used otherwise it must be replenished as soon as possible. The SPR would not last long if our foreign supplies suddenly became unavailable. We must do a better job of developing our domestic oil and gas supplies. It is available in abundance, but there are so many restrictions that it makes production difficult. We need more refineries, and they take a long time to construct and begin production. We must start now to plan for the future. Alternative fuel sources are also important. But look what is happening to the price of corn and products containing it. Some poultry producers who are dependent on a good corn supply are beginning to go out of business, or curtail business. The domino effect.

Radioactive Rob at it again.

To "POT CALLING THE KETTLE"... check up on your history. Yes, Republicans had a majority in the House, but not a functional majority in the Senate. It takes 60 votes to close off fillibusters in the Senate... and the Republicans NEVER had 60 votes in the SEnate, so things like opening ANWR to drilling... which failed by only one vote in the Senate a few years back, were never enacted. It was the DEMOCRATS who, for the most part, blocked drilling anywhere and continue to do that. Yes, we have to address the supply of a commodity like oil. It doesn't just materialize in thin-air. We must go out and drill for it. DEMOCRATS are in denial on this one, and they're seeing the sand shift underneath their feet with mom and pop constituent having to fill up their SUVs or cars with $5 a gallon gas. Again, Speaker Pelosi isn't really affected... She and her husband are worth $50 million or more in net worth....It's the hard-working average American family that is taking it in the shorts just because of environmental ideology!

To gratedane. I did check my history and the API (American Patroleum Institute). My fact are just that. Your pointing to a single, extemely controversial, attempt to drill in a wildlife refuge and I am pointing to a pattern over a long period. ANWR is not the end all be all of US oil production and should be kept in context.

Leave it to the gas bag to inadvertanly define his time in Washington as "Cotton Candy".

He rode into Washinton on the premise he would do something.

He will stay in Washington and continue to do nothing other than demonize the opposition as long as voters will buy his act.

What a Statesman!

I say open up the drilling now. It will lower prices in the near future, which is what we and our economy needs. When gas hits $1 a gallon, charge $2. Due to our circumstance, everybody will happily pay $2 a gallon. Take $1 from every gallon sold and ear mark it immediately for developing alternative fuels.

The Democrats can roll it up and smoke it! (No, wait that adds pollution to the air) The truth is painful. Thanks Rob for representing the convictions of most Americans!