Dwight Grotberg On Energy Legislation
By
Dwight Grotberg
on May 2, 2006 at 10:05 am
14 Comments
What follows is a guest editorial submitted by North Dakota Senate Candidate Dwight Grotberg
In order to truly break our dependency on foreign oil, we must be able to secure our ability and stability to supply our nation’s energy demand. OPEC leaders have already stated that when our bio-fuels begin to capture significant market share they have a plan to boost production of oil to drive the bio-fuel industry out of business.
In the first part of April, Senator Conrad introduced an energy initiative which he calls BOLD. It is an attempt to reduce our dependency on foreign oil as well as increase demand for domestic energy. Recently, however, he also asked President Bush to urge OPEC to increase production to lower the cost of oil. North Dakota is in a position to produce many forms of energy, and asking OPEC to boost production does not wean us off of foreign oil but makes us even more dependent.
I was in Washington D.C. last week meeting with several legislators. I shared with them how our state was poised to be a major energy supplier through ethanol, bio-diesel, wind, coal, and oil. We agreed that domestic petroleum and alternative energy suppliers can work together to provide more affordable energy for our nation.
The BOLD initiative calls for “responsible domestic oil production.” The problem here is “responsible” according to whom? Extreme environmentalism is keeping us from drilling for oil in ANWR and developing our national energy production infrastructure. My opponent consistently votes against tapping into this valuable resource (sited at ontheissues.org: S Amdt. 2358 to S 1932, S Amdt. 168 to S Con. Res. 18, S Con. Res. 23, S.517, S. Con. Res. 101).
The bill cites Brazil’s energy independence as a model to follow. I was in Brazil 20 years ago working on a grain farm. That country was well on its way to energy independence then with many cars burning 100 % ethanol. Imagine where we could be today if we could have had the ball rolling for the last 20 years. Our nation should be leading the world in energy independence. Because of the lack of long-term planning, we are in the biggest energy crisis since the 1970’s.
We can’t expect affordable energy if we are unwilling to do what is necessary to free-up our own energy reserves. We can’t secure the bio-fuel industry’s future if we remain vulnerable to price manipulation by foreign oil. Our current energy crisis is now a matter of national security.
In order to truly break our dependency on foreign oil, we must be able to secure our ability and stability to supply our nation’s energy demand. OPEC leaders have already stated that when our bio-fuels begin to capture significant market share they have a plan to boost production of oil to drive the bio-fuel industry out of business.
In the first part of April, Senator Conrad introduced an energy initiative which he calls BOLD. It is an attempt to reduce our dependency on foreign oil as well as increase demand for domestic energy. Recently, however, he also asked President Bush to urge OPEC to increase production to lower the cost of oil. North Dakota is in a position to produce many forms of energy, and asking OPEC to boost production does not wean us off of foreign oil but makes us even more dependent.
I was in Washington D.C. last week meeting with several legislators. I shared with them how our state was poised to be a major energy supplier through ethanol, bio-diesel, wind, coal, and oil. We agreed that domestic petroleum and alternative energy suppliers can work together to provide more affordable energy for our nation.
The BOLD initiative calls for “responsible domestic oil production.” The problem here is “responsible” according to whom? Extreme environmentalism is keeping us from drilling for oil in ANWR and developing our national energy production infrastructure. My opponent consistently votes against tapping into this valuable resource (sited at ontheissues.org: S Amdt. 2358 to S 1932, S Amdt. 168 to S Con. Res. 18, S Con. Res. 23, S.517, S. Con. Res. 101).
The bill cites Brazil’s energy independence as a model to follow. I was in Brazil 20 years ago working on a grain farm. That country was well on its way to energy independence then with many cars burning 100 % ethanol. Imagine where we could be today if we could have had the ball rolling for the last 20 years. Our nation should be leading the world in energy independence. Because of the lack of long-term planning, we are in the biggest energy crisis since the 1970’s.
We can’t expect affordable energy if we are unwilling to do what is necessary to free-up our own energy reserves. We can’t secure the bio-fuel industry’s future if we remain vulnerable to price manipulation by foreign oil. Our current energy crisis is now a matter of national security.
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