Rick Weiland on Energy & Oil

End subsidies to big oil companies, instead of gas tax

"Until we exhaust every other option, I wouldn't consider a gas tax increase--especially with this administration in control of the money," Republican Mike Rounds said in a statement. Rounds said he would prefer to look at "spending reforms, alternative revenue options such as revenue from energy exploration on federal lands" or "reforms that provide greater flexibility to the states and local contractors."

Democrat Rick Weiland said he wouldn't "ask any South Dakotan to pay more taxes on gasoline." Instead, Weiland said Congress should raise money by eliminating "subsidies" and "tax loopholes" to "big oil companies and other huge corporations." An increase in the gas tax, Weiland said, would be on the table only after "asking big corporations to pay their fair share" and providing people with more money in the form of a minimum wage increase.

Opposes Keystone XL pipeline

A campaign adviser said Weiland is framing his push for a public option as essentially support for allowing the public to buy into Medicare, which is popular with seniors, and his opposition to Keystone XL is appealing to farmers & ranchers who know it could hurt their water supply.