Sen. Tim Johnson is promoting comprehensive energy policies to expand domestic drilling for oil and natural gas off the coasts, to crack down on market speculators and to aggressively develop renewable and alternative fuels.

“A weak dollar, increased global demand and numerous other factors have gas spiraling out of control and hitting us all in the pocketbook,” he said in a conference call Wednesday.

“Although there is no one silver bullet to lowering gasoline and diesel prices immediately, there are steps Congress can take that will reduce the record run-up in energy prices,” he said.

Johnson, D-S.D., said the high prices of gas and diesel fuels are negatively impacting the South Dakota economy.

In a separate conference call, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said the Department of Agriculture estimates it will cost $230 to $250 an acre to produce an acre of wheat this year, compared with $175 in 2002.

Nitrogen, being applied on fields in eastern South Dakota because of heavy rains, now costs more than $900 per ton. Just 18 months ago, the price was $300 per ton.

“Many farmers are also having to buy 2009 inputs now, which means for 1,000 acres of 2009 corn, farmers are paying $150,000 to $200,000 in cash to suppliers on top of paying 2008 expenses,” Thune said.

Existing infrastructure to transport and process oil from increased drilling in the Gulf of Mexico is an advantage and means an increased supply would have a real impact on prices, Johnson said.

He supports recent proposals to increase oil and natural gas production off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts by lifting the current Outer Continental Shelf moratorium.

“There is an estimated 8.5 billion barrels of oil in this new area,” Johnson said.

Had drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on the north slope of Alaska been approved more than a decade ago, the oil would be flowing today, Thune said.

But he said he understands that political resistance will make it difficult to reach a bipartisan agreement on ANWR.

It would take as long as a decade to deliver the oil to markets if drilling is approved now.

“I think it would have an immediate impact because the markets would interpret it as the United States becoming serious about increasing domestic production and becoming more energy independent,” Thune said.

Increased supplies or conservation are two issues in the debate over solutions to the high cost of energy.

“I think we have to do both,” he said. “We have to find more and use less.”

Market fundamentals should support a price of a barrel of oil closer to $90 per barrel, or $40 to $50 per barrel below the current inflated price caused by speculators, Johnson said, quoting the Energy Information Agency.

He is pushing legislation to crack down on speculation in the oil market.

Johnson is also calling for more aggressive development of renewable and alternative fuels to displace gasoline demand.

Without ethanol, gasoline prices would be at least 25 cents higher per gallon, he said. Part of the answer are advanced biofuels produced from switchgrass.

Americans are driving less, and it is having an impact on South Dakota’s tourism economy, Thune said.

It also means a drop in state and federal gas tax receipts. On the national level, there is a $3.2 billion shortfall in the highway trust fund for 2009, which means there could be a significant reduction in federal funding for highway construction next year. Seventy-five percent of South Dakota’s total construction budget comes from the federal government, Thune said.