House Committee Hearings on Continuance of the Department of Energy

Open E-mail to Rep. Neugebauer:

Randy,

I would like you to set up House Committee hearings concerning continuance of the Department of Energy.

Start with the fact that the present annual budget of the DOE is $27 billion. $11 billion each go to Nuclear Security and Energy & Environment. The other $5 billion goes mostly to "Science".

Congress established the DOE in 1977. It was primarily based on the oil crisis of 1973 from the Arab oil embargo. The intent of the DOE was to establish an energy plan, which would make the US less vulnerable to variable oil supply from Arab countries.

The questions that the Committee should now be asking Sec. Chu are:

1. Is our economy now less vulnerable to variable supply from the Arab countries than it was 34 years ago?

2. If it is, what part did the DOE play in the change? Did the improved drilling technology of private companies have a more significant effect? Did and does the DOE help those private companies in any way? If so, how?

3. If our economy is still significantly vulnerable to variable oil supply from Arab countries, what is the DOE now doing about it?

4. The average DOE budget was $20 billion per year over the past 34 years, which totals $680 billion. What did the American public get for its $680 billion?

I'm sure there are other questions that the Committee will develop. Chu will try to defend his position by the use of gobbledygook, meaning pie-in-the-sky predictions of the great things yet to come.

The fact remains that we should be closing down the Department of Energy as a basic money waster. It has accomplished nothing significant in the past, and there is no reason to believe it will be different in the future. I believe we are now less dependent on Arab oil than we were in 1973, but that is the result of positive action on the part of private drilling companies, in spite of DOE regulations to minimize that production particularly through permit control. I will only mention the Splendora and other solar energy fiascos.

We obviously need to maintain Nuclear Security. That responsibility should be transferred to the Department of Defense, where it belonged in the first place. The DOD can the have the responsibility to see that the program is being operated efficiently.

Will we eventually run out of gas and oil? Obviously we will, but exploration even with DOE interferences has continued to increase our reserves. Private industry has all the incentives it needs to supply energy, and we can depend on it to utilize all technology necessary for continued supply in one form or another.