E-Newsletter

ENERGY EQUALS JOBS

In a well coordinated photo, now featured on the Department of Energy’s website, President Obama recently stood amid a sea of solar panels at the Copper Mountain Solar Project, located just outside of Las Vegas, NV.  The President was there in support of his Administration’s efforts to promote “green energy.”  This one million solar panel facility, built on public lands, is said to be the largest of its kind in the United States.  According to Reuters, it powers 17,000 homes – roughly the population of Tazewell County* – and employs 10 people.

As many scholars and columnists have pointed out, if Washington would just get out of the way and allow America to unleash her energy potential – pursue a real ‘all-of-the-above’ (AOTA) approach – the ensuing economic boom would be great.  If we aggressively pursue oil, natural gas, coal, alternative fuels, and then step aside, the country will also actually be pursuing an AOTA strategy.  Plainly, and one that is critical for national security reasons, we must drill, dig, discover, and deregulate.

The CEO and Founder of the Institute for Energy Research, Robert Bradley Jr., recently wrote that “there’s an estimated 273 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas in North America and 1.7 trillion barrels of recoverable oil. That’s enough to power this country for 250 years.”  Robert Bryce, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, pointed out similar reserve levels for coal in one of his recent columns.  “The U.S. has about 237 billion tons of coal reserves — about 28 percent of the world’s known deposits,” wrote Bryce.  “That’s 241 years of supply at current rates of domestic consumption.”  While it’s clear that at some point in the far distant future these resources may not be available, it is just plain dumb for Washington to prohibit the nation from utilizing these abundant, affordable, and efficient fossil fuels today.

The consequences of not fully developing our energy potential are now being demonstrated.  A study recently released by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, found that “more than half of U.S. households now devote more than 20 percent of their family budget toward energy costs, nearly double what they spent just ten years ago.”  In addition to the high gas prices burdening Americans across the country, American businesses are hurting.  According to a recent survey by the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council, approximately 72% of small business owners report energy prices are impacting their businesses. 

In light of the far distant depletion of these resources, I wholeheartedly welcome our universities and research labs to continue developing new energy technologies such as wind, solar, and biomass.  However, at this time, I do not support restricting or replacing the continued development of oil, natural gas, and coal with these alternatives.  Until these alternatives are reasonably priced for the average American, it’s illogical to get rid of our abundant, affordable, and efficient fossil fuels.

Lastly, when I say deregulate, I don’t mean we should get rid of all regulations. Rather, I simply want to roll back new regulations from the Obama EPA to a reasonable level.  The proper, prudent role of government is to act as the referee, not as a player.  The government needs to stop driving up energy costs by denying access to the abundant energy resources that we have in this country. 

The time has come to unleash our energy potential.  As the numbers indicate, our resources are plentiful.  Moreover, American workers are the best in the world.  We are the most innovative, and we will work harder than anybody else.  If you combine these two qualities with affordable, abundant energy, no economy in the world can compete with us.  It’s time the government got out of the way.

**CORRECTION** – In an attempt to draw a visual connection for our readers in this column, we unintentionally mixed two ideas - population size versus number of households.  For our purposes, Tazewell County is a more appropriate comparison than Giles County.  We apologize for the error, and appreciate the Roanoke Times’ Round Table blog for bringing this to our attention.

As always, if you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to contact my offices.  You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671.  To reach my office via email, please visit my website at www.morgangriffith.house.gov.

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