NCGA Encourages Members to Push for Natural Gas Legislation (12-21-05)

As Congress prepares to adjourn for the year, the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) is encouraging members to contact their legislators while they are home and urge them to prepare to tackle the issue of increased development of domestic natural gas production when they return to Washington, D.C., in January.

“NCGA has long supported policy to increase development of domestic natural energy resources because of the direct impact high natural gas prices have on agricultural production,” said Ken McCauley, NCGA’s first vice president. “Growers use natural gas to heat their buildings and homes; to process food; to irrigate and dry crops; to make crop-protection chemicals; and, to produce nitrogen fertilizer. A clear message needs to be sent now to Congress that agriculture is suffering because of these soaring gas prices – now is a great time to talk to your legislators while they are home in their districts.”

Before adjourning for the year, momentum grew in the House for legislation that would lift the current presidential and congressional prohibitions on leasing federal waters in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) for natural gas production. The bill, the Outer Continental Shelf Natural Gas Relief Act, H.R. 4318, introduced in November by Reps. John Peterson (R-Pa.) and Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), has 117 cosponsors, thanks in large part to a push at the end of the session by NCGA and the Agriculture Energy Alliance. The effort to gain more cosponsors for Peterson’s bill will continue during the recess.

“NCGA fully supports the Peterson-Abercrombie bill and other legislation that would result in increasing the needed supply of natural gas. This legislation is a step in the right direction and Congress needs to realize that it is not only agriculture that needs these policies, but every U.S. consumer,” said McCauley.

The Senate is expected to introduce similar OCS legislation after it return from the six-week recess.
NCGA issued a legislative call to action earlier this month encouraging its corn grower members to talk their congressmen and urge them to develop and support legislation that would increase domestic production of natural gas.

“The impact of our nation’s natural gas crisis is being felt all across the country, from Americans trying to heat their homes to the Midwestern farmers trying to fertilize their crops and run their operations at a reasonable cost,” he said. “We need relief from the rising costs of natural gas, and one way to achieve that is to increase the production of domestic natural resources by opening up the Outer Continental Shelf and the Artic National Wildlife Reserve for exploration and production.”

Growers can contact Congress and urge action on the legislation by clicking here.