On Friday, Seventh District Congressman made stops in Southwest Missouri, including Neosho and Anderson, to unveil a new energy plan and to discuss the impact of increasing energy prices on families.

Blunt stopped at Neosho’s Snak Atak, located on Missouri Highway 59 south of Wal-Mart, and at Anderson’s ‘Stangs convenience store, located just off of U.S. 71.
In Neosho, he talked with Heather Murray, a single mother and college student at Joplin’s Missouri Southern University.

Murray told the congressman she has been greatly impacted by rising fuel prices.

“I’ve cut down on some of our family’s activities,” she said. “I used to take my little boy to the movies on Sundays. But now, we don’t get to do that so much anymore.

“Every aspect of my life has been hurt by that. I had to disconnect the Internet from my house, because we just couldn’t afford extras. Now, when I need to use the ‘Net for school, I have to use it at the college. Just small parts of my everyday life have been affected. I’m buying cheaper food at the grocery store. It might not be as good as the name brand items, but now I find myself having to get that because it’s what I can afford. I’m a single mom and I depend on my income alone.”

Murray talked with the congressman as she pumped $10 worth of gasoline into her tank.

“If I put in small amounts, it doesn’t hurt as much,” she said, as her purchase came to just over 2 ½ gallons of fuel.

Steve McIntosh, an aide with the congressman’s office, said he has been seeing many stories like Murray’s during the energy tour.

Blunt said the current gas crisis may soon get worse.

“My guess is about two months from now, when people will be filling their propane tanks here and their fuel oil tanks in the northeast, that’s when the gas crisis will become an energy crisis,” said Blunt. “Truly, part of the solution is in using our resources better.”

Blunt said his energy plan had three main points: opening up domestic American energy such as exploring for energy far off of the country’s coasts, promoting energy conservation and efficiency, and providing incentives into new technologies.

“This all of the above proposal  opens up domestic, homegrown American energy — from oil and natural gas, to biofuels, nuclear energy and a host of other alternatives, while encouraging greater incentives for conservation and the development of new technologies,” said Blunt in a prepared statement. “This is the kind of balanced approach we need to bring down the price at the pump.”

Under the first part of the congressman’s plan, titled “American energy,” Blunt proposes to:

• Open deep water ocean resources in the United States, which he said would provide an additional three million barrels of oil a day, as well as 76 trillion cubic feet of natural gas;

• Open the Arctic Coastal Plain, which will provide an additional 1 million barrels of oil a day, and;

• Allow the development of shale oil resources in the United States, which could provide an additional 2.5 million barrels of oil daily.

The second part of Blunt’s plan calls for tax incentives for businesses and families who purchase more fuel efficient vehicles, providing a cash prize for the first person to develop an economically feasible super fuel efficient vehicle which gets 100 miles per gallon, and providing tax incentives to businesses and homeowners who improve their energy efficiency.

Under new and expanding technologies, the third part of the plan, Blunt proposes:

• To spur development of alternative fuels through government contracting;

• To extend for 10 years the tax credit for alternative energy production, including wind, solar and hydro-power, and;

• To eliminate barriers to the expansion of emission-free nuclear production.

“I will keep working with my colleagues in Congress to take action on this package as soon as possible,” Blunt said.