Energy

We need to end our addiction to foreign oil, secure our own sources of energy here at home, and provide the right incentives for energy conservation.

Energy Independence

We depend on other nations for the vast majority of our petroleum, and often those nations are hostile to the United States. Action must be taken to reduce our dependence on imported oil—we cannot allow OPEC to control our energy economy. We need to conduct research that will make other forms of energy more cost-effective and pragmatic. Our energy portfolio will include oil for a long time to come, but it should also include wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal.

Securing American Energy Sources

The United States has some of the world’s largest reserves of coal and oil shale. We should encourage research that will allow us to extract and utilize those resources effectively and in an environmentally responsible way. By depending more on resources in our own backyard, we will be able to dramatically lessen the amount of energy resources we need to import.

There are also oil reserves in the U.S. that we should tap. Off of the coast of Florida there is a huge oil reserve, but instead of extracting it ourselves, we have opened the reserve to Cuba for extraction, who in turned opened it to China. If oil is going to be extracted off of the coast of Florida, it should be done by the U.S., not our chief economic rival.

Providing the Right Incentives

Tax breaks should be made available for Americans making use of alternative energy sources. This way, we can stimulate a grassroots energy conservation effort to complement government standards. Examples could include homes that are built specifically to be more energy efficient or use energy efficient appliances, and vehicles with higher fuel standards or that use alternative fuel methods. We should also offer tax breaks to corporations that actively work toward lessening their impact on the environment.

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