No Texas city is safe from being turned into a dust city. I live in Del Rio, Texas and my biggest fear is in wondering how long it will take to reach this quaint city with its bountiful water springs.
We should strive to fight against this toxic enterprise.
I fully support exploring every potential energy source that will make America less dependent on foreign oil, create jobs, and is compatible with our environment. But not subsidizing them with taxpayer dollars. These for-profit businesses need to grow on their own merits and in open competition in the free market.
Some forms of "green" energy show promise, but until they are in greater demand by the American public and the free market, we should not be trying to force or coerce Americans to rely on them. Furthermore, we should not be pursuing policies that punish a particular sector of the economy, such as oil and gas, just because it is robust, or because we want to drive costs up in order to force Americans to embrace something that is not yet commercially viable.
A: Members of the Senate and Congress spend too much time grabbing for headlines. We have a tax system that plays favorites and is inefficient. We need to make our tax system fairer and simplify it. We also need to increase transparency and eliminate waste and fraud. Federal subsidies to profitable, well-established corporations are a waste of the taxpayer's money. For instance, oil and gas industries are highly profitable, but have been getting huge subsidies from the U.S. taxpayers for almost a century. A conservative think tank recently estimated that corporate welfare in the federal budget costs taxpayers almost $100 billion a year. That's $870 for each one of America's 115 million families. The Simpson-Bowles Commission provided a good starting point for serious work on tax reform and fiscal responsibility
The energy challenges facing Americ are so critical that a concentrated investment in energy research and development should be undertaken. We send well over a billion dollars every day out of our country to buy oil and energy from other countries. I agree with experts who have proposed that we create a new "Manhattan Project" or Apollo-type initiative on energy to initiate breakthroughs in energy technology. Moving away from an oil economy and finding a real solution to our energy crisis will require a sustained commitment by America.
Connie believes we shouldn't use taxpayer dollars to only subsidize one of the most profitable industries in the world for the dirty fossil fuels of the past. We should also utilize Oklahoma's clean energy resources--such as wind, hydropower, and solar--to transition our state and our country into an energy independent 21st century.
We must improve our buildings--i.e. our homes and businesses-- and make them more energy efficient. Right now, such buildings are among the biggest polluters in the world.
The United States has been the leader in every technology revolution in modern history and there is no reason that we cannot lead on clean energy. Ingenuity is, in fact, America's greatest resource.
We know the science, forty years ago we were warned that pollution would cause the polar ice caps to melt and lead to changes in weather, such as destructive hurricanes, droughts, and forest fires. We don't need 97% of the world's scientist to tell us this has happened, we can see it with our own eyes, just like the pollution billowing out of smoke stacks, the wild fires and floods in Colorado, and the heat waves in Alaska.
We have highly-skilled engineers and tradesmen in Wichita who can build new turbines, and new economies. The "wind cowboys" (and cowgirls) being trained at our state's technical schools can service and maintain the fields of windmills in western Kansas. The farmers of our state will reap the rewards of land leases that pay for these natural power plants in the short term.
And we are not even close to fulfilling our potential. Kansas has the second-highest wind potential of any state in the country.
Finishing the Keystone pipeline is also critical to our nation's long-term energy plan. It will allow us to efficiently import oil from Canada and use our refineries to bring that oil to market. Not only will this help reduce gas prices, it will decrease our oil imports from Venezuelan and other unstable countries.
Imagine an energy policy that focuses on unleashing America's power rather than driving up our gas prices.
But the Obama administration is pushing a misguided and economically destructive "green energy" plan that centralizes power in Washington and ends up taking more money from taxpayers. It is essentially a backdoor tax to pay for more failed liberal policies. The result is economic stagnation, higher costs (especially for manufacturers), and energy shortages.
Lee believes that America needs to do more to develop existing known supplies of oil and gas here in this country that are currently off-limits to exploration. Lee supports opening up more areas to exploration, including offshore drilling, and ending wasteful subsidies to unproven technologies.
By encouraging nuclear, coal and natural gas production, Lee believes we can supply our economy with the energy it needs in a cost-effective manner.
A starter carbon tax at $15 per ton equating to about 15 cents per gallon for gasoline would raise about $80 billion per year.
Our approach to energy must put Oklahoma first. Matt won't allow special interests to guide his energy policy and he won't promote out of state resources over Oklahoma's own resources.
Matt believes the free market should guide our energy policy. Oklahoma is in a unique position to lead on new energy as well as old and that is what we should be doing in a 21st Century economy. Oklahoma energy can and will lead our nation towards energy independence and away from the grasp of OPEC.
Coal gives West Virginians affordable power and helps to lower their bills. I oppose using tax-payer money to subsidize alternative energy, while our government targets the destruction of coal mines in West Virginia.
I fought against the Cap-and-Trade bill that was introduced and passed in the West Virginia House of Delegates. I will continue to fight any anti-coal legislation as a U.S. Senator.
While politicians criticize Obama's War on Coal with press statements and TV interviews, I will introduce legislation to eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency. I will also oppose any regulation harmful to the coal industry. Only then will we see our coal industry improve and bring jobs back to West Virginian.
Energy independence includes expanding and exploiting every form of energy from that found underground to all available sources found above ground, as well. Wind, solar, nuclear and bio-fuels should be further cultivated to balance energy sources and to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.
In 2008, I created Newark's first Office of Sustainability and organized a "Green Future Summit" that brought additional structure to our efforts. In 2013, we released Newark's first ever Sustainability Action Plan, which provides a comprehensive roadmap for making Newark a greener, healthier and more vibrant city. More importantly, these programs have delivered concrete results that will continue to benefit Newarkers long after I leave office.
Matt will be a vocal supporter of Kentucky's coal industry and will adamantly oppose efforts--like the cap-and-trade tax--to increase the cost of energy in this country. He will be a leading advocate against the EPA's burdensome regulations that are killing Kentucky jobs and he will fight to repeal ethanol and renewable fuels mandates that drive up the cost of energy. Matt will also work to reform our judicial review process that holds up coal production and nuclear power plants in frivolous lawsuits and bureaucratic red tape.
A "Green" revolution in cost competitive renewable energy is coming no matter what we decide here in Oregon. But the question we must ask is "Will Oregon lead the way or follow along behind?"
We can and should be at the forefront of developing renewable energy technology. This will be a major priority for me and is an area where I will work across party lines to find opportunities and sensible solutions
Additionally, the US Senate has no business telling Midwestern states that they can't build the Keystone pipeline. This decision should be up to the citizens of the states affected.
Finally, our energy and natural resources need to be stewarded in a way that benefits all of our citizens. Government subsidies, kickbacks, and other special interests gimmicks prevent our states from making the long-term decisions that will best utilize the resources we have available while preserving our environment and keeping energy costs low.
I'm ready to approve the Keystone pipeline and responsible energy production across the country. This will bring thousands of jobs to Montana alone.
EPA officials have not taken action on a permit by ExxonMobil to expand its Baytown facility, and on another company's permit to export coal overseas. "Unless we reform the EPA by streamlining permits and studies and approving the REINS Act the United States will cease to be an economic power," said Stockman. The Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny, or REINS, Act requires any proposed federal regulation costing more than $100 million to be approved by Congress and signed by the President like a law.
Meanwhile, we must take advantage of the rich natural resources America enjoys. I believe we must increase domestic supplies of energy, including allowing for exploration and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. I believe we must move more aggressively to produce and shift toward ethanol-based fuels. I believe we should reduce the regulatory red tape that has effectively shut down the growth of one of the cleanest, safest, most affordable sources of energy we have--nuclear power.
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| Candidates and political leaders on Energy & Oil: | |||
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Retired Senate as of Jan. 2015: GA:Chambliss(R) IA:Harkin(D) MI:Levin(D) MT:Baucus(D) NE:Johanns(R) OK:Coburn(R) SD:Johnson(D) WV:Rockefeller(D) Resigned from 113th House: AL-1:Jo Bonner(R) FL-19:Trey Radel(R) LA-5:Rod Alexander(R) MA-5:Ed Markey(D) MO-9:Jo Ann Emerson(R) NC-12:Melvin Watt(D) SC-1:Tim Scott(R) |
Retired House to run for Senate or Governor:
AR-4:Tom Cotton(R) GA-1:Jack Kingston(R) GA-10:Paul Broun(R) GA-11:Phil Gingrey(R) HI-1:Colleen Hanabusa(D) IA-1:Bruce Braley(D) LA-6:Bill Cassidy(R) ME-2:Mike Michaud(D) MI-14:Gary Peters(D) MT-0:Steve Daines(R) OK-5:James Lankford(R) PA-13:Allyson Schwartz(D) TX-36:Steve Stockman(R) WV-2:Shelley Capito(R) |
Retired House as of Jan. 2015:
AL-6:Spencer Bachus(R) AR-2:Tim Griffin(R) CA-11:George Miller(D) CA-25:Howard McKeon(R) CA-33:Henry Waxman(D) CA-45:John Campbell(R) IA-3:Tom Latham(R) MN-6:Michele Bachmann(R) NC-6:Howard Coble(R) NC-7:Mike McIntyre(D) NJ-3:Jon Runyan(R) NY-4:Carolyn McCarthy(D) NY-21:Bill Owens(D) PA-6:Jim Gerlach(R) UT-4:Jim Matheson(D) VA-8:Jim Moran(D) VA-10:Frank Wolf(R) | |
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