From the moment it was announced that members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee would be holding a hearing with executives from the energy industry entitled “Gouged at the Gas Station: Big Oil and America’s Pain at the Pump”, I knew this hearing would be a hyperbolic theatrical performance. The committee chairman, Congressman Frank Pallone Jr., delivered an Oscar caliber performance including a slap in the face to the American people suffering who are suffering pain at the pump.
It’s disappointing to see politicians in Washington, especially Chairman Pallone (NJ-6), grandstand while refusing to address our energy crisis constructively. Pallone spent the committee hearing demanding “yes or no” answers on a subject area that, of course, demands a far more measured approach from our leadership.
What’s even more galling is that Pallone, who has become a millionaire while a Member of Congress, has personally profited by trading stocks in the companies whose executives he is blaming for high gas prices.
While members of our federal government are trying to place blame at the feet of the American energy industry, it’s hard not to forget the actions that same government has taken over the last two years to cripple our nation’s energy supply chain and slow production – the same production that they are now calling on industry to ramp back up.
Whether it’s the canceling of the Keystone XL Pipeline or refusing to hold new lease sales for oil and natural gas production on federal lands, its decisions like these that have helped create the volatile energy market we now find ourselves dealing with.
With the global demand for energy projected to increase 50% by 2050, the need for reliable energy from resources like natural gas and oil will continue to account for half of the entire global energy mix.
Here in the United States, we have the tools and technology to access our oil and natural gas reserves in the most environmentally responsible manner possible, giving us a moral obligation to provide the world with the energy it needs.
If we’d forgo this responsibility and simply “do away with fossil fuels” it could take us down a dangerous road leading to sustained high-energy prices, an unreliable energy grid,and increased dependence on oil and natural gas from foreign foes like Venezuela and Iran.
Unleashing our American energy not only will help us lower domestic energy prices throughout the nation but will be able to drive continued economic growth, building off the 11.3 million jobs and the $1.7 trillion in GDP the oil and gas industry contributes to our economy.
Let’s set the record straight: high-energy prices aren’t the fault of our mighty American energy industry not wanting to do their job, it’s the fault of our federal government—and the Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Frank Pallone, for not allowing them to do it! It’s time our leaders in Congress start showing real leadership and implement a new energy agenda that promotes American energy independence.
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Sue Kiley, a Republican candidate for Congress in NJ-6, is the Deputy Director of the Monmouth County New Jersey Board of Commissioners
