I was outraged by Rep. DeFazio’s recent condescending comments and utter inflexibility on energy exploration in our own country. He and his Democratic colleages choose to go on vacation in August rather than voting to lift the offshore drilling moratorium that we so desperately need.

Despite the fact that we have more oil than Saudi Arabia, not to mention our abundant natural gas, uranium and coal resources, he consistently sides with the extreme environmentalists and stands in the way of jobs, economic prosperity and our national security. 

When Rep. Walden proposed drilling off the coast to pay for the safety net, DeFazio arrogantly scoffed, “I mean, come on. This is the agenda of the Republicans. Guess what? They’re not in charge anymore.” Every time I pull up to the pump and pay $4 dollars-plus for a gallon of gas I get mad all over again because this crisis could have been largely avoided with common sense planning.

Perhaps DeFazio’s unreasonable stance shouldn’t come as such a surprise. After all, his actions have essentially been the same for the last 22 years regarding logging. Although verbally he stakes out the middle ground, on his watch federal timber sales have declined 80 percent, he has deprived all of us of thousands of good jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars that could have been used for education, roads, public safety, etc.

I realize that DeFazio is not solely responsible, but, time and again, he and his party have voted against drilling in Anwar, blocked new refineries, stymied nuclear power, sought to remove hydroelectric dams, etc. We simply can’t afford DeFazio and his fanatic environmental ideas. But, if you like crippling high gas prices, more layoffs and a declining America, keep voting for DeFazio.  

Jeff Boyter

Roseburg