UNLEASHING AMERICA’S DOMESTIC ENERGY | Rick Santorum for President

UNLEASHING AMERICA’S DOMESTIC ENERGY | Rick Santorum for President

UNLEASHING AMERICA’S DOMESTIC ENERGY

America’s energy policy is critical to our national security and economic growth. Dependence upon foreign sources of oil limits our national security options, undermines our interests, and raises the cost of doing business in America. Unfortunately, President’s Obama’s approach has facilitated foreign dependence by restricting oil and gas drilling, making it more difficult to get nuclear permits, and picking winners and losers through failed pet energy projects. We must employ a policy that makes energy more affordable, makes our nation more secure by lessening dependence on unreliable or adversarial foreign sources, and increases conservation through efficient use and diverse energy sources. An effective energy policy will expand economic development and create high-quality jobs, resulting in a strong economy for America’s families and workers. It is time to get serious about unleashing America’s domestic energy sources.
For example, in my home state of Pennsylvania market forces are being used to explore for natural gas. Some experts predict that this exploration will create up to 200,000 jobs by 2020. This has contributed to dramatically lower natural gas prices for consumers, transformed struggling rural communities, created additional revenue for state and local governments, and helped the environment through expanded use of natural gas.
The policies of President Obama have moved us in exactly in the wrong direction. These job killing policies and increased regulatory barriers and burdens have made oil and gas exploration a low priority for America, virtually halting exploration. The President punted on the Keystone Pipeline and opened the door for China. Furthermore, Obamanomics has done nothing to fix a broken and burdensome energy regulatory process and has instead added to the burden. His philosophy and policies only limit growth and development in the energy sector and increase the cost of energy for all Americans. We need a strong energy policy that removes barriers, invigorates the American entrepreneurial spirit that spurs research and innovation, and unleashes a robust energy economy.
Energy independence is more important than ever to ensure our national security. Nations like Venezuela and Iran have threatened to use oil and gas as political and economic weapons by manipulating the marketplace or interrupting supplies. Countries such as Brazil, France, and Canada are creating their own energy independence through energy sources such as biomass, nuclear, and natural gas. Unfortunately, President Obama continues to burden and restrain our energy potential rather than unleash it. That is the job of the private sector and the consumer—not government. We need to tap all energy sources in a responsible fashion to kick-start our economy and preserve our independence and freedom as a nation.
Core Principles

• Create energy security and independence for the U.S. to strengthen our national security and decrease reliance on unreliable and adversarial nations.
• Develop an energy policy that is consistent, uniform, and predictable for long-term economic growth.
• Rely on market forces and private sector research and development capabilities to provide Americans with clean, affordable energy through competition.
• Remove harsh regulatory restrictions on oil and gas research and exploration.
• Expand domestic innovations and energy resources. This includes oil, natural gas, hydro, biomass, wind, solar, clean coal, and nuclear energy.
• Encourage economic growth creating U.S. jobs and bringing us back on the road to growth and opportunity.
• Reduce energy costs for family budgets and business expenses.

Policies

• Remove bans on drilling—both onshore and offshore. This would immediately increase supply, create jobs, and bring revenues to the federal and state governments.
• Continue promoting private sector drilling techniques for natural gas. More than half of U.S. households use natural gas for heat, and a quarter of the nation's electricity is made from it.
• Eliminate all energy subsidies and tax credits. This will prevent the federal government from picking winners and losers in our effort to unleash all of America’s domestic energy sources.
• Immediately approve the construction of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline. Construction of this pipeline would deliver an additional 700,000 to 830,000 barrels of oil per day to the U.S. and would create 20,000 jobs.
• Repeal bureaucratic regulations such as EPA’s greenhouse gas regulations, Utility MACT, Boiler MACT, Cement MACT, the reclassification of coal ash, and any regulation of farm dust.
• Restructure the priorities of the Department of Energy (DOE). The DOE spends an exorbitant amount of money on technologies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and alternative-energy vehicles. All of these energy sources and technologies are currently available, but they are not yet commercially viable because of burdensome regulations or because they are still prohibitively expensive. It is not the government’s role to force these technologies into the market place.