BILLINGS - America is rich in natural resources. So, the Partnership to Fuel America wants to take advantage of that.
"The United States is not an energy poor nation. We're very energy rich and we're becoming richer by the day as states like Montana and this entire region start to embrace the resources that we have,” says spokesman Christopher Guith.
Montana is one of 11 states taking part in the business network. It’s made up of American businesses and industries advocating the importance of energy. It promotes an energy policy that utilizes North American resources to create jobs and increase energy security.
Spokesman Matt Koch says the U.S. Chamber of Commerce started it to help businesses push for an energy policy to grow the economy.
"There's a lot of businesses that understand the importance of energy and how it directly impacts them but there's also many others that understand the need to grow our energy resources and to better utilize them here in the country."
They say Billings is a prime location because of its diverse resources, like oil refineries and coal. Advocates say resource development creates jobs and grows the economy, especially through the Keystone XL Pipeline and Canadian oil sands.
But the Northern Plains Resource Council disagrees, saying these resources are finite and contribute to climate change and pollution. The group’s former chair Ed Gulick says there are other, cleaner ways to create jobs and increase energy production.
"It's not a jobs versus environment kind of thing. There are jobs that can be created in clean energy or there are jobs that can be created in dirty energy. The great thing about energy efficiency is it provides jobs where people can actually live as opposed to having jobs in the distant lands."
The NPRC says it's pushing for increased development of alternative energy such as solar energy and biodiesel.