A roadmap for America's energy future
The Washington Examiner
Washington,
Apr 18, 2011 -
High energy prices are un-American. Our country has been blessed with a great abundance of natural resources and a unique ability to innovate. Taken together, the American people can deliver what our government has promised for decades but failed to deliver: energy independence.
The path forward is not complicated, though politicians and bureaucrats will tell you that it’s too complex for hardworking Americans to understand. What is needed is for our government to be a real partner with the American people in building cheap and reliable sources of energy, not an obstacle. This can be achieved through my legislation, the Roadmap for America’s Energy Future.
The Energy Roadmap delivers real benefits, not theoretical ones, and it will immediately reduce the cost of energy in the United States. It operates under the assumption that for the immediate future, Americans must have access to reliable and affordable oil, gas, and coal – sources that provide 84% of our energy today. Yet, the bill is also an acknowledgement of the importance of energy innovation and the long-term transition to affordable alternatives.
The premise that helped guide the creation of the Energy Roadmap, as well as the test by which we can measure any reform plan, is the essential nature of affordable energy to the security and prosperity of the United States. By this standard, the first component of any serious energy plan must be the exploration and development of fossil fuels here in the United States.
Since the 1973 oil crisis, American Presidents and successive Congresses have promised our nation an energy revolution and freedom from our nation’s dependence on foreign oil. Yet, since that time we have consistently become more dependent. In recent years, roughly half of our overall trade deficit has been the result of energy imports – the ultimate example of outsourcing. Domestic exploration and development of fossil fuels in our country have ground to a virtual halt.
To address the serious economic and national security threat posed by our dependency on foreign energy sources, the Energy Roadmap liberates our nation’s vast oil, gas, coal, and shale resources for environmentally responsible development. This act alone, once adopted by Congress and signed into law, will immediately reduce the cost of energy to the American consumer.
New energy exploration in America will bring to market enormous amounts of oil and gas; 1.3 trillion barrels of oil equivalent. These proven reserves are capable of ending imports from the Middle East, will create good jobs, fuel economic growth and drive down the cost of living in every community. In addition, as exploration is once again permitted by our government we can be confident that new technology will yield even greater energy reserves as is the case elsewhere in the world.
However, dependence on oil or any single source of energy should not be our government’s goal. New oil, gas, and shale production in America is no more a panacea than wind or solar based energy. The reality is that our economic future is dependent on unleashing innovation in the marketplace. The Energy Roadmap establishes a mechanism for market-based innovation and stands in sharp contrast to the glacial pace of innovation under government programs and mandates.
The best example of the wrong way to innovate is probably the federal department responsible for energy policy in the United States. President Carter created the Department of Energy under the auspices of innovation but in practice, the department has been used as a political tool to reward allies and ideologically aligned interests. It has done nothing to fundamentally alter the energy profile of the United States.
The Energy Roadmap takes politics and special interest cronyism out of the equation and will deliver affordable energy alternatives where others have failed by forcing subsidy seekers to compete. The process is simple.
It begins with the establishment of a renewable energy trust fund. This new federal account will not be filled by taxing Americans or borrowing money from overseas. It will instead be filled with all of the federal revenue associated with new oil and gas development. Over time, tens of billions of dollars will be deposited into this account.
Once revenues begin to arrive in the trust fund, renewable energy developers will be invited to participate in a reverse auction. The auction process will require subsidy seekers to detail the amount of federal assistance necessary to generate a specific amount of energy. The lowest bidders will win financial support.
The Energy Roadmap repudiates the long-held belief of many in our government that the only way to promote new sources of energy is to make conventional energy, such as oil and gas, expensive. To the taxpayer and average American, this new system offers the promise of abundance today and for the future.
Read this editorial on the Washington Examiner's website here.
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