A Letter From Phil Kirk
 We
Need a New Energy Policy
America’s
looming national energy crisis is another major challenge facing our
country in the 21st Century. The situation in California threatens to
spread to the far reaches of the country unless we dramatically
increase our supply of energy.
The U.S. will need to build 1,300 new power plants in the next 15
years to meet energy demand, and we’re not building anywhere near
that because of suffocating government regulations. Surely California
should be a wake-up call. I applaud the Bush administration for
attempting to address this challenge in a reasonable way.
There’s no question America needs a national energy strategy that
will meet our current and future energy needs, protect the
environment, and promote economic growth. When it comes to energy,
America has been asleep at the switch. A high-tech economy and a
rapidly growing population are fueling demand for energy at a level
never before seen; yet we’re not creating enough to keep pace with
demand.
Any energy strategy must include smart energy conservation measures
that are based on improved efficiency and less waste. Business
supports conservation — it makes good business sense. After all, we
pay the monthly bill for the energy that keeps the factories running
and the computers humming.
Business will continue to develop new technologies that will increase
output using fewer resources, as long it is not blocked by foolish
conservation measures that impede the growth of our economy.
We must also dramatically increase domestic energy production —
everything from allowing more exploration and extraction of crude oil
and natural gas to building more power plants and electricity
transmission lines. Onerous government regulations backed by extreme
environmentalists have prevented business from making critical
investments in our energy infrastructure.
As just one example, we haven’t built a new major oil refinery in
this country in 25 years! In fact, we’ve lost half of our refineries
in the last two decades. We need 10 megawatts of new electricity every
year, but are only generating eight.
Another vital component of a comprehensive energy strategy is the
development of feasible alternative and renewable sources of energy.
We have to fully investigate the opportunities presented by fuel cell
technology, wind, water, solar and biomass. These energy sources have
incredible potential and cause no harm to the environment.
When it comes to increasing our energy resources, the bottom line is
we don’t have to choose between a clean environment and producing
the energy we need to grow our economy.
Business has developed the technology to explore and produce sources
of energy faster, safer, cleaner, and more efficiently than
before-with little or no harm to fish, wildlife, and natural habitat.
Finally, let me say a word about brownfields. The federal
government’s Superfund program, which oversees the cleanup of
brownfields and other contaminated sites, must be reformed to make
cleanups swift and more effective.
Business would be more eager to clean these lands themselves and put
them to good use if the threat of lawsuits was diminished.
If overreaching liability laws were corrected, rehabilitated
brownfields could be a source of more than 550,000 new jobs and $878
million in additional tax revenue.
America must clean up its brownfields. Brownfields are not only bad
for the environment, but they are an impediment to economic growth,
especially in poor communities. Businesses are afraid to put these
wastelands to good use out of fear they will be sued under the
unreasonably broad provisions of the Superfund law.
Let me challenge each of you to start thinking about the environment
in a new way. It’s more than just cleaning our air, water and land.
It’s about using the environment in a sensible and responsible
manner to meet people’s most basic needs — food, fuel, and clean
land.
If business is freed from overreaching government regulations and
frivolous lawsuits, then it will continue to create the wealth and
technology needed to feed the world, fuel the world and improve the
environment.
Just remember, by taking care of business, we’re taking care of the
world.
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