We’ve been repeatedly reminded in the past year of the vital importance of oil and natural gas to our economy and way of life. This winter, consumers are expecting significant increases in energy bills, and it seems no end is in sight. There are two words for escaping our national energy crunch: exploration and development.
Yogi Berra got it right when it comes to energy policy: “It’s déjà vu all over again.”
The nation’s so-called “energy crisis” isn’t new. We have been tumbling along without a workable energy strategy for decades. The increasingly tight balance between supply and demand for natural gas may finally force viable solutions.
In the quarter of a century since the gasoline lines of the ’70s, we still haven’t adopted an effective energy policy that takes advantage of the abundant oil and natural gas resources in America. As a result, we’ve watched our dependence on oil imports increase from about about 30 percent to 60 percent.
High prices resulting from the devastating 2005 hurricanes have renewed calls for taxes on the energy industry, even though their earnings are reinvested. More of those investments could be made here, in America, if more multi-use and resource-rich federal lands were made available for exploration and development.
More than 60 million U.S. homes are heated with natural gas, and demand for this clean-burning fuel continues to outpace U.S. production. American consumers and businesses rely on abundant natural gas supplies to make the products we use daily and for the electricity needed to provide services consumers need.
By 2025, experts forecast a 40 percent increase in demand and more than 50 percent increase in demand for electric power generation. Just as investors balance their financial portfolios, we, as a nation, should take the opportunity to develop a more balanced energy portfolio.
We can expand and diversify our energy supplies in order to sustain economic growth and continue to enjoy our current quality of life. That means developing America’s oil and natural gas resources, especially those in the Mountain West.
Again, the experts say energy-rich states such as Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Montana and Utah have enough recoverable natural gas resources to heat 55 million homes for 60 years. But, we’re still fighting “all-or-nothing” range wars over public lands.
Almost 60 percent of the technically recoverable natural gas resources in the Mountain West are on public land reserved by the federal government for multiple use. This is not park land and not the wilderness reserved for what I call “ranching the view.” Additionally, I believe energy development is closely monitored by state and federal agencies to ensure the land and environment are protected.
People in the oil and gas industry live and work in communities in these areas, and they care as much for the environment as their neighbors. Pretending we can’t develop these resources without sacrificing the environment is a disservice to everyone relying on accessible, affordable energy.
New technologies allow us to search for, and produce, the energy we need while minimizing the impact on the land. As evidenced by the devastating hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, I believe the oil and gas industry knows how to protect the environment. Yet, we’re still playing games on power generation and energy. We’ve encouraged the use of clean-burning natural gas but discouraged the development of new supplies here in America. More than 95 percent of the new electric power plants built in the last five years use natural gas.
We’re still tolerating long permitting delays for energy projects and frivolous lawsuits by anti-development groups. For example, in 1999, only 4.5 percent of lease sales were challenged, but that grew to 50 percent by this year. In Utah, every sale was challenged.
The rapidly growing economies of China and India are out-bidding us for energy and still undercutting our manufacturing costs. Since 2001, with escalating costs of natural gas, more than 3 million manufacturing jobs have been lost or gone overseas. Our industries are taking permanent vacations in places with lower energy costs, while we continue to deny ourselves America’s abundant gas resources.
Now is the time to confront the country’s ongoing energy “problem.” We can ensure an abundant supply of natural gas and help federal, state and local economies grow. It’s time we created the foundation for a positive energy future or face déjà vu all over again.
Former Sen. Malcolm Wallop of Wyoming served 18 years in the U.S. Senate, and is chairman and founder of Frontiers of Freedom, based in Fairfax, Va.
