World Mining Exploration News

Coleman outlines plan to reduce gas prices

U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman told a group of Rochester businessmen Wednesday that the United States can bring down the price of gasoline by opening up the Outer Continental Shelf to oil exploration as part of a broad mix of energy options.

Coleman, a Republican who is seeking a second term in the U.S. Senate, also predicted that the clamor from a public battered by the soaring price of gasoline — now hovering at $4 a gallon — will lead to a bipartisan consensus on the need to drill off the nation’s coasts.

“Right now, we’re being held hostage to Saudi sheiks and thugs and tyrants like (Venezuelan President Hugo) Chavez and (Iranian President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad, because we don’t have the options. It’s like fighting a fight with one hand tied behind your back,” Coleman said.

Coleman disavowed any intention of trying to score political points against his DFL opponent, former comedian and talk-show host Al Franken. He said the debate over offshore drilling doesn’t necessarily have to be partisan. But in a pointed reference to Democrats’ past opposition to drilling, he noted that there is currently one party playing the role of obstructionist by “saying, no drilling.”

Coleman also suggested that unlike himself, Franken had been inconsistent on the issue of offshore drilling, having recently changed his mind as gas prices have risen.

“Mark my words: The folks on the other side are going to be for drilling as Al Franken is now,” Coleman said.

Coleman is considered to be in a tough election battle with Franken, and as the price of gas has risen to record heights, so has its potential as a political issue.

Franken’s response

Andy Barr, a Franken spokesman, said Franken is not opposed to offshore drilling, but said it was dishonest for Coleman to say that it would somehow solve the problem of high gasoline prices.

“It’s just not the truth,” Barr said. “What Al has talked about as a way of lowering gas prices for people in Rochester is to go after the speculators and market manipulators, who are bringing up the cost of gas.”

Experts say it generally takes five to 10 years to build the infrastructure to draw oil out of the ground. So a decision to drill offshore wouldn’t change the dynamics of supply and demand in the near term. But Coleman argued that a political commitment to develop domestic oil reserves would drive the “speculative froth” from the oil futures market, into which hedge fund groups and others are currently pouring billions of dollars, driving up the price of oil.

“If we tell the world today that this is our Manhattan Project, that if that call is clear and unequivocal, then it will have an impact on the futures market,” Coleman said.

Coleman said offshore drilling is only one part of an energy puzzle to secure the country’s energy future. He said the energy equation also should include building 20 to 30 nuclear power plants, using clean-coal derived fuel, and putting greater reliance on solar and wind, as well as on conservation.

“There’s also a simple formula: You’ve got to produce more and consume less,” he said.

Cost to business

One stop Coleman made on his campaign tour in Rochester was to Midwest Specialized Transportation Inc. During a brief presentation, chairman Al Koenig told Coleman that Midwest has spent $4 million more on fuel from a year ago, a 65 percent jump.

Koenig said the high gasoline prices have yet to be fully felt by consumers. He said there are often multiple surcharges that a product passes through as it goes through the manufacturing process. And the full effects have yet to be passed on.

“A lot of people are absorbing and are trying to absorb it, but this fuel thing is just taking a toll on the overall costs of goods,” Koenig said.

Later, Coleman called the times as challenging as any he’s seen in 30 years of politics.

Criticis challenge

Critics say Coleman is part of the problem. Protesters gathered outside Midwest Specialized Transportation, holding up picket signs. Liz McLoone, an area labor leader, said Coleman has had six years to work on behalf of working families, but hasn’t. Instead, he voted to give tax breaks to big oil companies, she said.

Coleman defended his vote, saying that the tax breaks for oil companies were part of the 2005 energy bill that also included breaks for biofuels and renewable energy, such as wind and solar.

“I have been one of the few folks in my party that actually has voted to take those tax breaks for oil companies and move some of them to renewables, so you got to get past the political rhetoric on that,” he said.