It’s time for real ‘energy action’

George Allen Former US Senator
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This is more than a policy dispute — it is a painful reality all across Virginia and the nation. Energy prices have soared, and gasoline prices remain almost double what they were when President Obama came into office. This has created real hardships for Virginia families and businesses that can do little but watch transportation, food and just about everything else rise in cost.

There are better ways, and the Keystone Pipeline is a timely example of it. As I detail in my “Blueprint for America’s Comeback,” the way forward involves not the type of obstruction that President Obama and Chairman Kaine support but common-sense actions that will unleash America’s energy resources and creativity. Here are just a few examples:

Remove the Obama administration’s barriers to producing energy from American resources. By more fully utilizing and developing the vast resources that exist throughout America, we can supplant imports with more of our own energy. This common-sense action will strengthen our national security, create new good-paying jobs, keep our money here in the USA and add revenues to our treasury without even once raising taxes. As many as a million long-term, good-paying jobs could be created by opening offshore areas currently designated off-limits by this administration or facing indefinite bureaucratic delays. If the people of Virginia want to explore for oil and natural gas off our coast, the federal government shouldn’t be allowed to stand in our way.

Support onshore development of innovative energy resources. Shale natural gas and coal-bed fuels are just two of the many unconventional sources of energy that new technologies are helping to discover. American clean coal technology can provide our homes and businesses with affordable, reliable electricity. If we harness America’s ingenuity, these resources can be converted into clean and accessible sources of American — not foreign — energy.

Make the federal government itself more energy-efficient. Believe it or not, the federal government is America’s single largest user of energy, spending over $7 billion a year on energy to operate federal buildings. As a nation, we should embrace conservation, innovation, teleworking and more efficient equipment and building designs. And the federal government is an excellent place to start. Integrating new energy technology where it makes sense would save electricity and fuel, lower costs for families and businesses and decrease demand for energy over the long term.

These ideas represent real “energy action.” Granted, they require a wholesale change in this obstructionist administration’s thinking, but that change can begin with a single, immediate step.

Let’s start using all of our energy resources and opportunities to create jobs, make our country safer, keep money here in the USA and lower the cost of energy for all Americans.
