KWES NewsWest 9 / Midland, Odessa, Big Spring, TX: newswest9.com | Congress Looking at Energy Alternatives

Congress Looking at Energy Alternatives

by Tracie Potts
NBC News

A three-pronged attack on oil prices is underway in Washington.

Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens has been pushing his energy plan in TV ads.

On Tuesday, he told Congress it's an emergency.

"In 10 years, you're gonna have 300 dollar oil, maybe higher," Pickens told Senators.

He believes the United States can produce 20 percent of its electricity from wind and run cars on natural gas.

Another expert told lawmakers that portion of the plan doesn't pan out.

"Shifting our transportation sector from oil to natural gas is like jumping from the frying pan to the fire," warned Gary Luft of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security.

The Bush administration wants to tap into oil shale located on rocky public lands out west.

The government believes the shale fields could produce 800 billion barrels of crude oil.

"This is the equivalent of three times the barrel of equivalency of what Saudi Arabia has, so you can see the enormous potential that this holds for us," Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, said.

The Interior Department has six pilot projects underway, and Tuesday proposed leasing that land so private companies can drill there, too.

Democrats, meanwhile, say they would rather crack down on oil speculators.

"We could lower the cost per barrel by as much as 80 dollars," claimed Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski.

Republicans disagree.

"This plan to blame all of our troubles on speculators does nothing to bring down prices at the pump," Nevada's John Ensign, said.

In a procedural vote, the senate voted to move ahead with the Democrats' plan, not for final approval.

It would set limits on traders and close a loophole that allows American companies to skirt the rules by trading through foreign offices.