====== FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ======

America First Party
1630 A 30th Street #111
Boulder, Colorado 80301
http://www.AmericaFirstParty.org

Monday, September 17, 2007

Record-Shattering Oil Prices Related to Weak National Energy Policy

Boulder, CO -- Unprecedented prices for crude oil futures, above $80 a barrel in intraday trading, demonstrate our nation's vulnerability to future oil supply constraints, whether from disruptions due to war in the Middle East and elsewhere, or from natural long-term supply limitations. The 4 times increase in oil prices over the last 10 years appears to confirm the long-term trend, and this and present pricing make the prospect of $100 oil in the near future a realistic threat.

Today, before addressing the Association for the Study of Peak Oil, former Shell Chairman Lord Oxburgh stated, "We can probably go on extracting oil from the ground for a very long time, but it is going to get very expensive indeed." He predicted that oil could reach $150, and regarding the theory that global oil production will soon peak, he said, "It could well plateau within the next 20 years, and I guess I would be surprised if it hadn't."

AFP National Chairman Jonathan Hill stated, "The high risk of supply disruptions and long-term declines in global oil production threaten our national and economic security, but the present acute risk is partly due to our failed energy policy and reckless foreign policy. We are too dependent on hostile nations meeting our energy needs, as well as on cartels, which influence oil prices to the detriment of our economy. High OPEC oil production damaged the domestic oil industry during the period of 1986-1992, and we are paying for this now with high fuel prices."

The America First Party has a detailed policy prescription for dealing with our nation's energy woes. We call for: elimination of regulations that impede or prohibit production of oil from oil wells located in the lower 48 states and Alaska; uncapping existing wells in the National Petroleum Reserve including Gull Island; ensuring that all new oil production uses efficient and environmentally secure technologies; imposing a $20 per barrel oil price support provision to protect our industry from OPEC's predatory pricing practices; encourage the use of clean coal, safe nuclear, wind, biomass incineration, and other existing electricity generation technologies; promote the construction of new coal gasification, bio-diesel, and oil refinery capacity within the United States; and increasing tariffs on imported refined petroleum products.

Contacts:
Jonathan Hill, National Chairman, 1-866-SOS-USA1, ext. 4
John Schweingrouber, Press Secretary, 1-866-SOS-USA1, ext. 2

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