Let’s start with what is on everybody’s mind—to what do you attribute high gas prices and is there any relief in sight?
The short answer to that question is that high gas prices are caused by supply and demand in the global economy, geopolitical tensions, and, in my view, a long history of short-sighted policy decisions here in the U.S. While the U.S. economy has slowed, developing nations have continued to grow rapidly, increasing demand for resources. Over the last several decades, our nation has decided to not take advantage of large quantities of our natural resources, leaving us dependent on foreign sources for oil. Unfortunately, I don’t see any relief in sight either in the short term or the long term, unless we start making policy changes.
What kind of policy changes would you like to see?
There are both short immediate and long term things that can be done to address this problem.
Currently, over 83 percent of federal lands—both onshore and offshore—are off limits to oil and gas development. As a result, we are reliant on imports for between 50 and 60 percent of our oil, depending on our demand, which fluctuates with the economy. So for both the short and long term, we need to send a signal to the global market that the U.S. is open for business and start unlocking some of those areas to access the millions of barrels of oil that exist. In many cases, it has been so long since we’ve done a good inventory of our assets that we really don’t even know much is there. As a long term solution, we need to allow exploration of oil derived from shale to move forward. With more research and development, we could potentially open up large quantities of shale oil that would truly be a game changer for our nation.
President Obama could take action immediately by reversing his decision and approve the Keystone XL pipeline permit, which would allow us to access oil from Canada, a reliable and friendly ally.
Beyond gas prices, what else concerns you?
Over the last three years we’ve seen an all out assault by the Administration and in particular the EPA on energy production. We’re very concerned that some of the regulations put forward by EPA—such as Utility MACT—will have a significant impact on our electricity reliability. Just last week, EPA published a new rule that would essentially halt production of new coal plants and put existing ones out of business prematurely. America must get its electricity from somewhere, and the transition to new technologies must be managed carefully—it can’t happen overnight.
What about our energy infrastructure—are we as up to date as we should be? Are new energy projects getting built?
The biggest challenge here is that it is extremely difficult to get anything built in this country—particularly energy projects. I call this the “BANANA” Syndrome—Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything. We are seeing energy projects of all kinds—traditional and renewable sources—get delayed by red tape and endless legal challenges. There are certain groups and individuals who just don’t want to see us build any more energy infrastructure of any kind. But the fact is, if our economy is going to grow, we need energy to meet the demand. That means updating our electricity grid and actually building and siting transmission lines, and it means building nuclear plants, coal, taking advantage of natural gas, more oil and gas, wind, solar, hydro…all sources of energy.
Speaking of the economy—what role do you think energy can play in an economic recovery?
Energy should be the foundation of our economic recovery. Lately, much of the discussion has been about the jobs created by constructing the Keystone XL pipeline—as many as 20,000—but it actually goes well beyond that. Since 2007, the non-farm payroll of America has seen a 3.2 percent decrease—with the exception of jobs related to oil and gas extraction, which have increased by 35 percent. If the U.S. were to begin fully taking advantage of our resources, it would create millions of jobs. And that’s just in the oil and gas sector. We will see highly skilled, well paying jobs in nuclear energy, now that there are two new applications moving forward, and hopefully many more to come, and from many other energy sources. It is important for the public understand that more energy means more jobs at a time when we need them the most.