Congressman Harold Ford

Former Rep. Harold Ford Jr. Paying Close Attention to President Obama’s SOTU, Particularly on Energy Industry

By Onelove on | From hinterlandgazette.com

Former Rep. Harold Ford Jr. Paying Close Attention to President Obama's SOTU, Particularly on Energy Industry

Former Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D-TN) is concerned with the economy and how certain factors and policies are stifling our ability to recover and progress. Ford has questioned and spoken widely about the need to fix our domestic energy industry. He is particularly concerned with the over-complication of the tax system small and large businesses face. Last spring after speaking with such people as former president Bill Clinton he wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal addressing this issue and its relation to our economic security. Here’s an excerpt from that article:

When President Obama introduced his energy plan in March, he pointed out that the U.S. keeps going “from shock to trance on the issue of energy security, rushing to propose action when gas prices rise, then hitting the snooze button when they fall again.”

It’s true that since the Nixon administration U.S. leaders have all made the same commitment to cutting our reliance on foreign oil, finding reliable sources of clean energy, and keeping energy prices low. Yet Americans keep hearing only short-term solutions and narrowly focused rules and regulations. The U.S. still imports more than half its oil, gasoline prices are at historic highs, and consumers are paying the price.

One bipartisan policy tradition is to deny Americans the use of our own resources. President George H.W. Bush took aggressive steps to keep off-limits vast supplies of oil and gas along the coasts of California and Florida. Since then, the build-up of restrictions, limitations and bans on drilling (onshore and off) have cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars while increasing our dependence on foreign sources of energy.

In the year since the Deepwater Horizon spill, the Obama administration has put in place what is effectively a permanent moratorium on deep water drilling. It stretched out the approval process for some Gulf-region drilling permits to more than nine months, lengths that former President Bill Clinton has called “ridiculous.”

Here are a few steps to take:

First, let’s conduct a comprehensive review of existing policies, rules and restrictions and root out any that needlessly hamper energy production at home. Do the existing environmental rules, for example, accurately reflect the industry’s technological advancements in the ability to safely recover oil and gas supplies?

Second, let’s develop the skills we need to find new and better ways to recover domestic supplies of energy—and to develop next-generation fuels to secure the future. That means encouraging more students to study math, science and other disciplines this industry needs.

It will be very interesting to hear what President Obama has to say about the issues Harold Ford Jr. raised. Share your thoughts.