By Unlocking Its Energy

Last Monday The Wall Street Journal kicked off a debate on how best to allocate scarce resources to solve the world's problems. Bjorn Lomborg offered a summary of the latest findings from his Copenhagen Consensus project, where he has enlisted some of the world's top economists to address the issue. Over the next few Mondays we'll offer views on the subject from top political and business leaders. How would you spend $10 billion of American resources (either directly or through regulation) over the next four years to help improve the state of the world?

David Klein

The notion that Washington can spend its way out of any problem does not pass what I call "the straight-face test." Rather than parceling taxpayer dollars out to fund a laundry list of government programs that will only paper over the problems facing our nation and the world, let the American people keep the $10 billion. They can use it far more wisely than Congress. Instead, let's unleash America's ingenuity to address the world's challenges and improve the quality of life for every American, as we have throughout our history. And to do that, let's begin by unlocking America's vast energy resources -- from our natural resources like coal, oil and gas to emerging technologies like alternative and renewable fuels.

The fact is, the best, easiest way to boost American investment in alternative fuels and lower our nation's dependence on foreign oil won't cost taxpayers a cent. Democrats in Congress have placed millions of acres of U.S. territory -- far off our coasts, on the remote North Slope of Alaska, and in the Inter-Mountain West -- off limits for energy development. By freeing those domestic resources and increasing the supply of American energy, we can fund development of better solar, wind, biomass and other breakthrough technologies. And House Republicans have a plan to do it -- appropriately titled the American Energy Act, which reflects what we call an "all of the above" energy strategy.

If House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) would allow a vote on our comprehensive energy plan -- a vote House Republicans and hundreds of Americans demanded on the House floor this past Friday, after Congress adjourned, in a historic revolt -- we could create more American jobs, reduce America's energy dependence on nations with ties to global terrorism, cut emissions to promote a healthy environment, and raise our quality of life. And, we could do it without raising taxes -- and even without spending $10 billion. How? From the production of new American energy under our plan.

For example, the Congressional Research Service estimates that at $100 per barrel (far below today's price), producing the estimated 10 billion barrels of oil in Alaska's remote Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would generate $153 billion in new federal revenues. Consider the sums we could generate if we produced new American energy in the Outer Continental Shelf far off our nation's shores, where an estimated 86 billion barrels are locked away, and in the Inter-Mountain West, where some 800 billion barrels of oil is trapped in shale deposits. The possibilities are seemingly endless.

Nothing is impossible with affordable energy and the promise it holds for investments in technology and higher standards of living. Water can be lifted from deep below the earth. The desert can bloom. Crops can grow where they never did before. Electric lights burn at night so that studying, reading and commerce can outlast the sun. None of this would be possible without affordable and available energy.

Reliable energy is among the most liberating forces in the world -- socially, economically and intellectually. In those parts of the world where energy is scarce or too expensive for citizens, daily life is consumed with the drudgery that the absence of energy causes. My goal -- and the goal of every parent -- is to leave our nation and our world in better shape than we inherited it. Key to making that happen is to finally solve the energy crisis America -- and the world -- currently faces. That begins with a vote and real action on an "all of the above" energy plan, not with a laundry list of new, costly Washington programs.

Mr. Boehner, an Ohio Republican, is the House minority leader.

Congr. John Culberson just got off the radio talking about the House Republican revolution. Since CSPAN is off (they are out of session so no transmitting), the only way to keep up with what is going on is via Twitter. If you will recall, Matt Bramanti used Twitter to let us know what was going on at the big conference he attended in Austin.

Here’s how to get in on this and monitor Cuberson’s “Tweets”:

• Go to Twitter.com
• Set up an account (you never have to Tweet or use Twitter in your life, but you do need a FREE account to be able to follow;
• Search for JohnCulberson
• Click on “Follow”

House Republicans to Resume Floor Protest on American Energy Monday

WASHINGTON, DC – House Republicans will be back on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives again Monday to continue the unprecedented protest that began last Friday, when dozens of Republicans joined hundreds of American citizens on the House floor to protest Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) decision to send Congress home for the rest of the summer without a vote on legislation to lower gas prices and move America toward energy independence.

In an urgent memo sent to GOP Members and staff Saturday (“A Call to Action on American Energy”), Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) hailed Friday’s action, which was led by Reps. Mike Pence (R-IN), Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA), Tom Price (R-GA), and others, and encouraged House Republicans to return to the Capitol beginning Monday morning to help keep the historic effort going.  

“It’s not a request we make lightly.  But the American people are suffering,” Boehner and Blunt said in the memo.  “The consequences of continued congressional inaction on gas prices are unacceptable.  We’ve called on the Speaker to call Congress back into an emergency session this month and schedule a vote on the American Energy Act.  We must continue to make a stand until the Speaker complies.”  

“We realize not everyone can be in Washington next week.  But if you can be, we ask that you come to the Capitol, join our colleagues, and lend your voice, beginning this Monday at 10:00 am,” the GOP leaders wrote.  “If you can’t be in Washington, we ask that you contribute to the cause in other ways – such as spreading the word among your constituents, writing an op-ed for your local newspaper, or taking our ‘all of the above’ energy message to your local airwaves.”

“Republicans stand with the American people.  We share their passion and determination for energy independence, and we’ve pledged to fight boldly until Congress heeds their will,” Boehner and Blunt concluded.