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With people furious over high energy prices, it's a sure bet that political candidates will take up their cause. And there are signs it may be shaping up as one of the biggest issues in Utah's fall campaign. The body politic is groaning under the weight of high energy prices. But if you think you have it bad fueling your car, you may have it easy compared to one interest group.
Farmers are getting hit hard by an issue politicians are beginning to notice. Fueling up a tractor can cost close to a thousand dollars. Hauling livestock by truck costs a couple thousand dollars. And chemicals? Many are based on fossil fuels. So, at the Utah Farm Bureau annual meeting, energy tops the agenda.
Leland Hogan, president of the Utah Farm Bureau Federation, said, "We can't keep up with the dollars that are necessary to pay the bills."
Bill Howard grows alfalfa and raises hogs and cows. He says, "It's really hurt us. We've had to up our price on the beef going out and the hogs going out.
Rulon Fowers says it was already tough to break even on his alfalfa, and with fuel and fertilizer at record highs, he's losing 25 percent of his revenue.
Perhaps that's one reason Congressional candidates, including Utah Republican Jason Chaffetz, went all the way to Alaska to get votes. They toured the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Chaffetz, the Republican candidate in the 3rd Congressional District, says it should be drilled for oil. He says, "Five dollar gasoline affects every single American. We can't stand it any more, and we want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem."
Bennion Spencer, the Democratic candidate in the 3rd Congressional District, is trying to seize the issue from the opposite direction. He says, "I do not think that we're going to drill our way out of this problem, and we have to look for alternative sources of energy, which includes oil shale development, solar and wind power."
Farmers tend toward drilling and blaming environmentalists. Hogan says, "Here, in this country, we're sitting on energy abundance that we have not got access too."
Spencer says oil companies are taking fat profits while sitting on unused drilling leases. "It strengthens their position with stockholders. They're not doing anything to get the oil out of the ground," Spencer says.
Chaffetz argues the wildlife refuge can be drilled with little environmental impact. He says, "It's vital to our national security. Every ounce of oil that we can get here domestically as opposed to some foreign entity just adds to our national security."
In Congressional districts across the country energy is emerging as a hot topic. In fact, even Bennion Spencer acknowledges Chaffetz's trip to Alaska may do some good by getting people talking about the number one issue.
E-mail: hollenhorst@ksl.com
