For those waiting patiently for Wisconsin Secretary of State Doug LaFollette to chime in on the issue of gas prices, here’s his press release of today, in its entirety:
Better Choices
Sacrificing our coasts will not bring down – and keep down – energy prices. Drilling our coasts will not solve the problem of high natural gas prices. It simply takes too long to develop a natural gas field to impact prices in the short term. The estimated long-term drop in natural gas prices from drilling new sites is so small that the average American would likely not notice it at all.
The honest answer to our oil problem is to use less of it, and that means better fuel economy faster and a shift toward renewable energy. Instead of the failed policies of the past, it’s time to break our addiction to fossil fuels by shifting our priorities-and our policies toward creating a clean energy economy.
Instead of offering real solutions on energy, global warming and transportation, we are being given false solutions and empty promises. Congress should continue to raise the fuel economy of our cars, encourage the use of renewable energy like wind and solar power, and adopt other, existing energy-saving technologies that cut pollution, curb global warming and create good jobs. These solutions do not require us to put our beaches and our favorite vacation spots on the chopping block.
Thanks for weighing in, Doug. Now you can get back to guarding the state seal.
Robert Murphy posted what would seem to be a reply to the fallacies in our good Secretary’s chain of reasoning, except it is from two days ago. Rather priescient.
In sum:
“…there is an even stronger argument for opening up ANWR: because of its impact on oil prices in the future, relaxing federal prohibitions would cause current oil producers to change their pumping decisions right now. Even though the additional barrels from ANWR wouldn’t physically hit the market for years, current knowledge of this fact will alter current behavior, leading to rapid relief at the pump.”
The state of Wisconsin should hire Robert Murphy to bring some good sense to the capital.
http://www.mises.org/story/3047
Comment by Axel Riemer — July 30, 2008 @ 1:11 pm
I think that Mr. La Follette’s comments were well thought through. I think that your comments were a bit childish and uncalled for.
Comment by Joe Alfred — July 30, 2008 @ 2:24 pm
Doug La Follette is not only the Secretary of State but a respected environmentalist with a world wide reputation. So it seems strange that you insist on making snide remarks when he makes a perfectly reasonable comment on our current energy situation. Of course, I suppose that to you, Free Market means keep on driving that SUV and keep on buying oil from people who really don’t like us, just as long as the oil companies get rich in the process. And, of course, drill, drill, and drill some more, even though the oil companies refuse to drill in areas they already own. If only there were more ‘think’ and less ‘tank’ in your ideas!
Comment by David Markham — July 30, 2008 @ 5:03 pm
Doug La Follette is a nut who has advocated for a “one child per family policy for something like three or four generations.” He’s also had several run-ins with the state’s ethics board, being fined $500 just a couple years ago. If his name wasn’t “La Follette,” he’d have a hard time getting a job as a bus driver, much less Secretary of State.
And since he’s such an environmental expert, he might recognize that we’ll be drilling offshore because of high OIL prices, not high “natural gas” prices.
Comment by Christian Schneider — July 31, 2008 @ 8:31 am
Defenders of Doug La Follette, to arms! The internal combustion engine cannot be defended! Sure, the Sec. of State has wasted precious energy and paper in composing his press release, but when it’s on issues we agree with, such waste is justified!
It does not matter that his office has nothing to do with national energy policy; it does not matter that La Follette unethically stored his Miata in state-sponsored parking, perhaps making him seem a hypocrite – he has spoken from his state-funded office and we must listen and defend him!
To arms!
sb
Comment by Stu Barnes — July 31, 2008 @ 8:42 am
[...] So tell me more about what Doug LaFollette has done in office… Filed under: WI Secretary of State — randallmelchert @ 8:00 am July 2008 – he weighed in on gas prices arguing that drilling is not the answer (http://www.wpri.org/blog/?p=203). [...]
Pingback by So tell me more about what Doug LaFollette has done in office… « RandyMelchert.com — September 10, 2009 @ 8:11 am
Your response to Mr. LaFollette’s thoughtful and complex reaction is petulant, dismissive, emotional, petty, and immature.
No wonder the GOP keeps losing voters such as my family and I, for whom a politician of Mr. LaFollette’s character, dedication, and honesty far more resembles the Republicans of our fathers than the current bunch of hysterics who were abducted by Swift Boats and apprently cranially probed till nothing was left.
Oh, and look! Randy Melchert! Who could have guessed that!?
Time to abandon the GOP altogether. What a bunch of larcenous, mendacious, politicking, simple-minded losers in an era when this state and this nation is desperate for real men who can exert real leadership.
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