Murphy’s Position On Developing Energy Reserves Needs Explaining

To the Editor:

Since Congressman Chris Murphy has been tapped by Democrats to repeat his run for Congress, we can only hope he will explain to voters why he opposes developing oil and natural gas reserves in deep water areas of the Gulf of Mexico.

Murphy and many of his Democratic colleagues oppose opening those areas to energy extraction because they are beholden to Luddite environmentalists who raise the specter of oil spills despoiling beaches in Gulf Coast states. Consider this, however: when Hurricanes Rita and Katrina roared through the Gulf, a small number of the thousands of oil rigs in the Gulf suffered structural damage, but there wasn’t a single, serious spill! If that’s not a real-world test, I don’t know what is.

Of course, we need to encourage alternative energy supplies. But in the meantime we will also need huge amounts of oil and natural gas to power our industries, light our cities, heat our homes, and propel our vehicles. Developing domestic oil and natural gas supplies will both reduce our reliance on America-hating producers such as Venezuela and Iran and reduce traditional energy costs as we make the decades-long transition to alternative fuels.

Congressman Murphy talks a good game about growing up in a manufacturing family, but his opposition to greater domestic production of oil and natural gas make him one of those who are destroying our manufacturing base and driving poor and middle-class Americans deeper into debt and despair.

Dale N. Walter

19 Fairchild Drive, Newtown                                           May 16, 2008