Senator Mitch McConnell Takes Lexington Herald Leader To Task Over Its Editorial.

Read the H-L's editorial piece, and Senator Mitch McConnell's piece below:

Gas tax doesn't ease burden on consumers
By Mitch McConnell

At issue | July 22 Herald-Leader editorial "Ad's high-octane distortions; McConnell dishonest about gas tax, Lunsford“

The Herald-Leader editorial board thinks Kentuckians ought to pay higher gas taxes — and my opponent agrees. I believe differently.

Kentuckians don't want their taxes to increase, especially at a time of record high gas prices.

There's a better way. I have a plan to help solve our energy crisis, bring down the price at the gas pump and reduce our dependence on Middle East oil. The Gas Price Reduction Act can be summed up in four words: find more, use less.

I urge both parties to come together and pass this common-sense legislation. The bill, which has 44 co-sponsors in the Senate, calls for a three-pronged approach: greater energy exploration, technological innovation and more conservation.

America is the third-largest oil-producing country in the world behind Saudi Arabia and Russia, yet you would never know it by the extreme restrictions placed on energy exploration here. With gas prices topping $4 a gallon, the vast majority of Americans think we need to unlock more of our own natural resources to help bring prices down.

So the Gas Price Reduction Act would allow responsible energy exploration off the Outer Continental Shelf at least 50 miles from the coast, where states choose to do so.

The potential is great. These areas off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts contain more oil than total U.S. imports from all Persian Gulf countries over the last 15 years combined. Yet 85 percent of the shelf is off limits.

We also should scrap an ill-conceived ban on developing the oil shale in western states. Oil shale in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming alone could yield up to 2 trillion barrels of oil — that's more than three times the proven oil reserves of Saudi Arabia.

Yet last year, some in Congress imposed a moratorium on developing this important resource. My legislation would repeal the prohibition and allow exploration to move forward.

Just as Americans must find more energy to fix this crisis, we must also use less. So my legislation supports greater federal funding for research and development of plug-in electric cars and trucks. That's also why I supported the first increase in fuel-efficiency standards for cars and trucks in three decades.

The bill also would strengthen U.S. futures markets, in effect putting more ”cops on the beat“ to make sure that excessive speculation does not drive up the price of oil.

The Gas Price Reduction Act should be just the beginning. We should also fund greater use of clean coal-to-liquid technology to make use of an energy source Kentucky has in abundance.

The coal we can mine in this country alone would be enough to supply our nation for more than 250 years. What Saudi Arabia is to oil, America is to coal. We should make greater use of this natural resource and help Kentucky's economy at the same time.

Proposals like these can win bipartisan support in Congress and be signed into law. Kentuckians deserve no less from their elected officials. Lawmakers must realize that the price of gas is more than just a number on a sign; it's real money out of people's pockets that affects their daily lives.

I recently received a letter from a nurse at a kidney dialysis center in Elizabethtown. Many of her patients must travel from surrounding counties for life-saving dialysis as often as three times a week. That quickly adds up to hundreds of miles traveled per week, and with the high price of gas, some patients cannot afford it and are forced to skip treatments.

Hard-working Kentuckians trapped in terrible circumstances like these don't want to see Congress delay any further. And they sure don't want or deserve higher gas taxes, as the Herald-Leader and my opponent support.

The Gas Price Reduction Act is a common-sense solution both parties can embrace to help America find more energy and use less. I intend to keep working in the Senate to pass this much-needed legislation to lower the price of gas, bring relief to Kentucky families and reduce our dependence on Middle Eastern oil.

Any thoughts?