Energy Policy

America’s energy policy is not just an economic issue. It is also a foreign policy issue, a national security issue, and an environmental issue. Meeting the energy needs of this nation involves weighing such disparate concerns as employment, technological development, and sustainability. Despite the complexities involved, it is abundantly clear that America is far too dependent on foreign oil, and this dependency has grave and far-reaching consequences. The energy policies we have maintained for the past forty years are hurting us today, and will cripple us in the future.

  Every time we buy oil from the Middle East, we are funding terrorism; Saudi Arabia is not our ally. Far too often, the money we spend on oil serves to keep the peoples of foreign nations oppressed by a cadre of ruling elites. Finally, our reliance on foreign oil makes us economically and militarily vulnerable to anyone with the ability to cut off our supply. America can and must become energy independent, and it is only sensible to do so in ways that are environmentally sound and sustainable.

America has a wealth of untapped oil in places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Outer Continental Shelf. There is simply no way to stem the rising price of gas without using these resources to increase our supply. Right now, the Chinese have oil rigs off the coast of Cuba; if they were to employ “slant drilling” techniques, they could reach our oil reserves just off Key West. We need to expand our domestic oil exploration and use the resources we have.

 More than just oil, the United States possesses vast coal and natural gas deposits.  Today, South Africa is operating synthetic fuel plants that make 300,000 barrels of gasoline a day from gasified coal. This ultra-clean coal technology produces clean-burning, high-performance fuels. If America were to invest in and develop this synthetic fuel technology, the coal deposits under Montana alone could fuel every American car for decades.

 It would behoove us to reduce our demand for fossil fuels of any sort. In Tennessee, we have enjoyed seventy years of cheap electricity thanks to the TVA. Solar, wind, and hydro power can already be more extensively employed. In addition, we should increase our number of nuclear power plants – an energy source that has been proven safe and effective throughout Europe and Asia, but underutilized here.

 Looking ahead, the US must become a leading developer of new energy technologies. In the long run, being energy independent will require alternative fuel sources. Producing viable alcohol-based fuels or more efficient battery technology is simply a matter of making such developments a national priority. The government needs to provide incentives for companies and individuals to develop and use these new technologies.

 Our national infrastructure runs on oil. Changing that will require a long-term effort on the national level. It will not be an easy choice, but it can be accomplished, just as surely as this country was able to rise from the depths of the Depression to build a war industry capable of stopping the Axis Powers. However, our citizens have no opportunity to make this change, and our industry has no motive to do so, unless our government is committed to it first.