It's time to use our energy resources

I, for one, am angry.

I am angry about gas prices. No, I'm not only angry at the Saudis for refusing to increase their oil production as requested by President Bush on a recent visit to Saudi Arabia. I am even more angry with Congress.

Runaway environmentalism is to blame. We have vast resources of energy right here in this country.

ANWAR, the Gulf, and the coast of California all have been shown to have vast proven oil reserves which amount to billions of barrels of oil, enough for decades.

What oil is to the Middle East, coal is to the US. We have enough for at least a century, according to many sources.

We have developed environmentally safe methods of not only obtaining it but using it efficiently with minimal emissions.

Then let's talk nuclear power. No reactor has been built since before "The China Syndrome" scared the population of the U.S. into thinking nuclear power could never be a viable option for energy, yet many countries in Europe get much of their energy from this source.

Environmentalists have such a stranglehold on energy legislation in the U.S. that we are hamstrung from using our own available resources.

Never mind that the footprint left by developing these resources would be relatively small and would create jobs for Americans and create taxpayers generating untold billions of tax revenue dollars and pouring the profits back into our own country rather than shipping them overseas.

Had we developed these resources years ago, we would be using them now and would have much more leverage when it comes to oil speculation and wouldn't have to worry so much about dictators like Hugo Chavez making threats for the purpose of driving up oil prices.

Nobody wants us to find alternative sources of energy more than me, but until then, we are stuck.

Send a message to your legislators that you have had enough and demand that we be allowed to use our own resources.

Chuck Guy

Elk Grove Village