Like all of you, I'm concerned about the rising price at the pump and America's dependence on foreign oil. We have the resources and ingenuity here to do it, but we appear to lack the political will. We have not built a new oil refinery in America since the 1970's, and the same goes for our last nuclear power plant. We must cut the red tape and look for answers here at home, rather than depending on a cartel of foreign exporters.

I want to give you with this fact from the Bureau of Land Management. They estimate that more than 70 percent of American oil shale — including the thickest and richest deposits — lies on federal land, primarily in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. If the federal government would open these lands, we could offset imports from Saudi Arabia in full. These reserves are readily available and need to be utilized.

Keep that in mind the next time you go to the pump to fill up your gas tank at $4 per gallon.

There are certainly no quick fixes, but if we take the necessary steps now, we'll be putting ourselves on the right track for energy independence in the years ahead.