The price of gasoline and the future of America’s energy consumption are the main topics on the minds of voters in Tennessee’s first Congressional district, leading candidates told News Channel 11.
“We're buying our oil from people who hate us and hate our freedoms and quite frankly hate our religion,” said U.S. Rep. David Davis, R-Tennessee 1st District. “That's a very dangerous prospect to me."
"If you make less than $10 an hour, you can't afford to go to work if you go more than 15 or 20 miles,” said 1st Congressional District candidate Phil Roe. “We don't have mass transportation to move these folks."
Davis supports HR 3089, the so-called "No More Excuses Energy Act", an almost year-old House measure that would end a ban on domestic drilling, expand American production, fast-track the construction of refineries, and encourage alternative fuel sources.
“We need to drill in ANWAR, we need to drill off the outer-continental shelf, we need to use clean coal technology, we need to build new refineries, and we can do that on old military bases,” Davis said. “We need to use safe nuclear power. We need to do it all. We're too dependent on foreign governments."
Davis said a vote for energy independence would send a clear message to OPEC, and fear of competition would trigger an immediate drop in gas prices.
"It's much more complicated, it's going to take a more comprehensive approach for energy," said Roe, the current Mayor of Johnson City, Tennessee and a retired physician. Roe says he supports a long-term energy plan, something he believes should have happened after the oil embargo of the 1970's.
"We've had no policy whatsover since then," said Roe who wants Congress to approve a long-term solution beyond just domestic drilling. He believes Americans must learn to conserve energy, supports government encouragement of alternative energy, and backs the expansion of expanded domestic oil production. "I guess the analogy I use is, if you're hungry and you have a refigerator with food in it, open the refigerator and get it out and eat it,” said Roe. “You have sources of energy right here."
News Channel 11 will focus on the candidates’ stands on healthcare reform in our next report airing Friday, July 11th, at 6 p.m..
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