MEDIA RELEASE                                                    CONTACT:For Immediate Release                                           Greg Moore (cell)May 11, 2008                                                          (603) 568-8159
Stephen Praises Senator Gregg For Commitment To Energy IndependenceCongressional Candidate Calls Out Representatives Who Voted Against Energy Exploration
MANCHESTER, NH- 1st District Congressional Candidate John Stephen today praised U.S. Senator Judd Gregg for his sponsoring the "American Energy Production Act of 2008," which would remove many of the restrictions on domestic oil and gas production and allow the United States to produce up an additional 24 billion barrels of oil.  The legislation also suspends filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for 180 days.  In addition, the act removes restriction on biomass and other alternative energy sources.  The bill is expected to come for a full vote on Monday.

"It's high time we took seriously the importance of expanding our domestic energy supply, but it's a shame that it took $3.50 a gallon gas to get Congress to act," Stephen said.  "Senator Gregg realizes the need to move now and begin to utilize the oil, gas and oil shale that exists in the United States to reduce our prices for gas and to decrease our dependency on foreign oil.  Right now, Americans are getting soaked at the pump and our appetite for oil from the Middle East, Venezuela and other parts of the world is driving our foreign policy.  This is an issue about both national security and getting gas prices under control.  This is long overdue, and Senator Gregg deserves a lot of credit for moving forward, he has long been a supporter of expanding the domestic energy supply."
Stephen pointed out that, over the past six years, representatives from the 1st Congressional District have repeatedly voted against new domestic energy exploration.  Jeb Bradley repeatedly voted against new energy exploration in Alaska (Roll Call #135, 2003; Roll Call #122, 2005; Roll Call #209, 2006) and against lifting the moratorium on offshore oil and natural gas production (Roll Call #192, 2005; Roll Call #356, 2006).  Rep. Carol Shea-Porter voted to place off-limits oil shale reserves in the Rockies (Roll Call #1171, 2007).
"The price of gas has skyrocketed over the past few years in large part because of Congress' inaction on increasing domestic supply," added Stephen.  "Unfortunately, our own representatives in the 1st District have been part of the problem.  We need leaders, like Senator Gregg, who won't be a roadblock to efforts to achieve energy independence.  If we had taken action six years ago, we'd already be seeing lower prices now."