2011
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       HOUSE RESOLUTION 11-1013
       
       BY REPRESENTATIVE(S) Szabo,  McNulty, Acree, Barker,
       Brown, Conti, Holbert, Joshi, Kerr J., Liston, Looper, Massey,
       Nikkel, Priola, Ramirez, Scott, Stephens, Summers, Swalm, Vaad.
       
          CONCERNING THE EFFECT THAT A LACK OF DOMESTIC
       PRODUCTION AND REFINING CAPACITY HAVE ON HIGH
       GASOLINE PRICES AND COLORADO'S ECONOMIC
       RECOVERY. 
       
          WHEREAS, Colorado's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is
       currently at 9.2 percent; and
       
          WHEREAS, The average price of gasoline in the United States for the
       week of May 9, 2011, is $3.96 per gallon for regular unleaded, $4.21 per
       gallon for premium, and $4.15 per gallon for diesel, the highest prices
       since July 2008, and the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded in
       Colorado for the same week is $3.72; and
       
          WHEREAS, High gasoline prices will further cripple the economic
       recovery of the United States and Colorado, increasing the price of doing
       business and jeopardizing hard-earned economic gains; and
       
          WHEREAS, Increased prices for gasoline also hurt consumer
       spending, which is vital to our nation's economic recovery and to the
       creation of good jobs for American citizens; and
       
       
       
       
       
       
          WHEREAS, President Barack Obama has proposed increasing the tax
       burden on producers of gasoline by $3.5 billion, therefore increasing
       taxes on producers and consumers of gasoline; and
       
          WHEREAS, President Obama's policies have contributed to decreased
       domestic oil production by blocking domestic production through harmful
       moratoriums placed on new offshore development; and
       
          WHEREAS, It is in the United States' national security interests to
       limit and reduce our dependence on foreign sources of oil as our current
       dependence on imports constitutes 60% of our energy consumption; and
       
          WHEREAS, State-sponsored foreign energy suppliers have been
       increasingly able and willing to use their energy resources to pursue their
       strategic and political objectives, while major energy consumers such as
       the United States are finding that our growing dependence on imported
       energy increases our strategic vulnerability and constrains our ability to
       pursue a broad range of foreign policy and national security objectives;
       and
       
          WHEREAS, Dependence on foreign energy sources also puts the
       United States into competition with other importing countries, such as the
       rapidly growing emerging economies of China and India; and
       
          WHEREAS, The United States can decrease its dependency on
       foreign oil by taking steps to increase domestic production and reduce
       burdensome regulations on producers; and
       
          WHEREAS, Other actions that the United States could take to
       decrease gasoline prices include standardizing gasoline types throughout
       the country, as there are currently at least 17 different types of gasoline
       sold in the United States; increasing the responsible development of
       domestic refining capacity; and tapping into the 700 million barrels of
       crude oil stored in the United States Strategic Reserve; and
       
          WHEREAS, It is critical to the economic recovery of the United
       States and Colorado that gasoline prices stay low for consumers and
       businesses alike; now, therefore,
       
       
          Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Sixty-eighth
       General Assembly of the State of Colorado:
       
          That we, the members of the Colorado House of Representatives:
       
          (1)  Have passed several measures during the first regular session of
       the sixty-eighth General Assembly to create jobs and increase energy
       production in our state;
       
          (2)  Encourage President Obama, members of Congress, and other
       government officials to exhaust all efforts to keep oil and gasoline prices
       low for the benefit of consumers and businesses throughout the United
       States, as well as for the benefit of our fragile economic recovery; and
       
          (3)  Ask the federal government and Colorado state officials to
       remove onerous regulations and increase domestic oil and gas production
       to improve our national security and free the United States from a
       dangerous reliance on foreign oil.      
       
          Be It Further Resolved, That copies of this Resolution be sent to
       President Barack Obama; members of the United States House
       Committee on Energy and Commerce; members of the United States
       Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources; the Colorado
       Congressional Delegation; Governor John Hickenlooper; Secretary
       Steven Chu of the United States Department of Energy; Secretary Ken
       Salazar of the United States Department of the Interior; Dave Neslin,
       Director of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission; Mike
       King, Director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.
       
       
       
       
       
       
       ________________________________________________________
       Marilyn Eddins                        Frank McNulty 
       CHIEF CLERK OF THE HOUSE        SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE
OF REPRESENTATIVES                OF REPRESENTATIVES