from America Next   Gov. Bobby Jindal, Honorary Chairman September 16, 2014
	Full Plan (46 pages)  www.AmericaNext.org [PDF]

Organizing Around Abundance:

Making American an Energy Superpower

America’s Energy and Growth Opportunity

American energy resources and energy technologies are the envy of the world.¹ We have more oil, natural gas, and coal resources combined than any other nation in the world. Our technological innovations on newer and alternative sources of energy from wind, to solar, to biofuels are the most advanced in the world. These are not wild eyed theories, these are the facts.

America is poised for a golden age of energy—an era of energy abundance, low prices, and environmental stewardship that can be the envy of the world.

Energy has already created millions of jobs for the American economy. Consultants at PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report that the oil and gas industry supports over 10 million jobs across the economy.² Another study found that unconventional oil and gas—i.e., the hydraulic fracturing revolution—supported 2.1 million jobs in 2012.³ But smart energy policy can also turbocharge our existing economic resources to give America an era of significant job and manufacturing growth.

Affordable energy gives American businesses and entrepreneurs a built-in advantage compared to their peers overseas. Companies have made major investments in plants and equipment in the United States—because the hydraulic fracturing revolution and other innovations have made energy more affordable for businesses located on our shores. With the right policies that promote abundant and affordable energy, millions of Americans can and will benefit from new, quality, high-paying jobs.

If we jettison the Obama Administration’s left-wing approach, and follow the smart energy path, the new projects created over the past several years could represent a mere prelude to a full-scale energy and manufacturing jobs boom. PwC reports new natural gas production opportunities could add 1 million manufacturing jobs to the U.S. economy by 2025.⁴ Other studies confirm this finding, noting the hundreds of thousands of new potential jobs in chemical and other industries. Overall, the number of jobs—direct and indirect—created by unconventional oil and gas could nearly double over the next decade.⁵

Now for the tragic part, none of this is inevitable. Without a smart and aggressive energy plan, we will fail to seize this opportunity. In fact, we are on the road to failure right now.

America’s Current Energy Reality
Despite our incredible potential, today America suffers under a government-created energy crisis. Electricity and gasoline prices have risen, and show no signs of easing due to current federal policies. Thousands of unemployed Americans who could be working in good paying jobs remain jobless because of wrongheaded polices from Washington. We must discard the failed policies of the Obama Administration and embrace our energy blessings.

The Obama Administration policies are based on radical leftist ideology which is causing America to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The Obama Administration would like Americans to believe in the inevitability of energy scarcity and ever-rising energy prices—the same failed mindset of the Jimmy Carter Administration. Energy scarcity and skyrocketing energy prices result from failed public policy, not our unparalleled energy abundance.

Hostile nations around the world, sitting on fewer energy resources than the United States, celebrate high energy prices and take advantage of these high prices to make their nations rich. Under the Obama Administration, America neither does everything we can to increase energy production to take advantage of high energy prices nor actively works to bring such prices down. To the contrary, excessive restrictions on American power plants, refineries, and other American energy businesses make our mounting energy problems even worse.

At the same time, the Obama Administration refuses to build the Keystone XL pipeline, brags about bankrupting entire industries, and touts their desire to see consumers pay higher prices. Meanwhile, they pick winners and losers, and they seem to specialize in losers, wasting our tax dollars on left-wing fantasies such as Solyndra.

When it comes to energy policies, the Obama Administration is full of "energy deniers" who pursue radical environmental ideology that flies in the face of the science and the facts, and they do so with religious fervor.

America’s Energy Fork in the Road

We have a choice to make.

• Embrace our resources and technological abilities and usher in an unprecedented era of energy independence and job growth.

OR

• Stay the course of the Obama Administration’s radical Left policies and watch these opportunities for job growth, lower prices, and energy independence slip through our grasp.

A truly effective American energy policy will recognize that abundant energy resources are a blessing, not a curse. We must strive for—and achieve—strong environmental stewardship while reaping the benefits of our energy blessings. We must finally have the courage to pursue our bright energy future without resigning ourselves to self-fulfilling prophecies of energy scarcity and environmental ruin.

Principle #1: Promote Responsible Development of Domestic Energy Resources and Construction of Infrastructure to Transport It

Affordable energy is one of the most important prerequisites of a strong economy. America has more oil, natural gas, and coal than any other nation in the world.⁶ Punishing conventional energy production and conventional energy utilization will unnecessarily punish the American economy until the day comes when alternative energy sources such as wind and solar power become similarly dependable and affordable.

The Obama Administration continues to limit oil and natural gas production on federal lands even as new technologies are enabling game-changing production increases on state and private lands. Our federal government should take a leadership role in our energy renaissance, not serve as a ball and chain weighing it down. We must make more of our energy-rich federal lands available for energy production.

America must also take better advantage of ondemand, zero-emissions nuclear power. Nuclear power supplies one fifth of America’s electricity, yet the federal government is suffocating nuclear power under unnecessary red tape.⁷ Nuclear power provides zero-emissions power much more affordably and reliably than renewable energy alternatives. Our federal government should work to facilitate nuclear power production rather than suppress it.

In addition to encouraging domestic production, America must welcome energy resources from friendly nations, particularly those in North America. After more than five years of stalling and delays, the time has come to approve and build the Keystone XL pipeline, which would create American jobs while bolstering American energy supplies.

Principle #2: Encourage Technological Innovation of Renewables and Emerging Energy Resources

Renewable energy offers substantial promise as an environmentally friendly energy source. Wind and solar power are rapidly gaining market share and supporting home-grown jobs. We can encourage continued growth for renewable energy by working to solve intermittency and transmission challenges that currently place restrictions on renewable energy utilization. Hydropower, an often-overlooked form of renewable energy, can also comprise an important piece of America’s energy portfolio. At the same time, all energy sources should compete on a level playing field and the federal government should avoid picking winners and losers.

Principle #3: Unlock the Economic Potential of the Manufacturing Renaissance by Putting America’s Energy Resources to Work

Domestic energy production does more than reduce scarcity and prices; it creates and supports millions of American jobs. Importantly, the jobs created in the energy industry are high-paying jobs that lift people out of poverty and into prosperity. Many of these jobs are available to young adults with appropriate technical training, providing unique opportunities for America’s newest generation to share and improve upon the American dream.

With suppressed energy production and unnecessarily high energy prices, America’s manufacturing sector suffers competitive disadvantages versus manufacturers in other countries. Economists agree that America’s manufacturing sector is poised for a surge in prosperity and high-paying job creation once our federal government begins embracing rather than suppressing new energy production techniques and recent energy discoveries. Abundant, affordable energy is needed for America to regain its proper place at the forefront of global manufacturing.

Principle #4: Eliminate Burdensome Regulations

Energy may be the lifeblood of the economy, but excessive regulation is clogging our economy’s arteries. For example, the Obama Administration has just upped the ante on unjustified energy regulations with excessive carbon dioxide restrictions on America’s power plants. Rather than utilizing America’s abundant coal resources by working to develop cleaner coal technologies, the Administration has instead promulgated rules targeting the coal industry that could cost 500,000 jobs by 2030, raising electricity prices by 20%.⁸ To secure a bright economic future, we must put an end to such regulatory overreach.

To protect American jobs, EPA should be forced to justify its actions under a cost-benefit basis. We must also put an end to EPA abusing its authority and restore EPA’s role of carrying out Congress’ will rather than supplanting it. Similarly, EPA must no longer be allowed to collude with activist groups in sue-and-settle decrees that take place behind closed doors.

Principle #5: Bolster National Security

American energy production, or lack thereof, plays a crucial role in our national security. America should not put policies in place that ban exporting our natural resources. While the best policies will encourage the use of abundant oil and natural gas here so that we can produce goods competitive in a global marketplace, we should not close the door to exporting the resource when it makes economic sense.

American energy production is ever more important for our longer-term national security. Stale and failed policies are all that are keeping us from realizing North American energy self-sufficiency. It is time to shed our dependency on oil imports from hostile nations and reduce our vulnerability to international political instability. Our energy plan will jettison such dependency and vulnerability while leading America into a bright, abundant, and more self-sufficient North American energy future. American national security requires a strong national economy, and a strong national economy requires abundant, affordable energy.

Principle #6: Take Simple Steps to Address the Possible Risks of Climate Change, in Concert with other Major Economies

The best way to address climate change concerns is to work in cooperation with domestic manufacturers, conservationists, Congress, and other stakeholders to develop smart policies that protect the environment and American jobs. When America imposes unilateral restrictions on itself and does not secure commitments from other nations to do the same, we impose unilateral disadvantages on our economy while failing to make a meaningful impact on global climate.

Our federal government should focus on agenda-free climate research to best understand what may or may not take place regarding future climate. We must also work to develop strategies to adapt to and mitigate whatever climate changes may occur. The climate change issue is too important for the federal government to play political games and engage in demeaning name-calling and grandstanding. While we pursue scientific answers to many climate change questions, we should pursue "no regrets" policies that reduce carbon dioxide emissions without punishing the American economy.

Following these basic principles will lead to changes that generate energy abundance—and stronger economic growth—for the United States for decades to come. This vision of energy abundance represents a way forward far better than the Obama Administration’s obsession with energy scarcity—and a policy long overdue.

Governor Bobby Jindal          Congressman Bill Flores
Honorary Chairman               Co-Author

1. Congressional Research Service, U.S. Fossil Fuel Resources: Terminology, Reporting, and Summary, G. Whitney et al., CRS Report R40872, November 30, 2010, http:// www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.
View&FileStore_id=04212e22-c1b3-41f2-b0ba- 0da5eaead952.

2. PricewaterhouseCoopers, “Economic Impacts of the Oil and Gas Industry on the US Economy 2011,” July 2013, p. 15, http://www.api.org/~/media/Files/Policy/Jobs Economic_Impacts_ONG_2011.pdf.

3. IHS, “America’s New Energy Future: The Unconventional Oil and Gas Revolution and the U.S. Economy,” September 1, 2013, p. 1, http://www.ihs.com/images/Americas-New Energy-Future-Mfg-Renaissance-Main-Report-Sept13.pdf.

4. PricewaterhouseCoopers, “Shale Gas: A renaissance in US manufacturing?” December 2011, http://www.pwc
com/en_US/us/industrial-products/assets/pwc-shale-gas-us-manufacturing-renaissance.pdf.

5. “America’s New Energy Future,” ibid.

6. Congressional Research Service, U.S. Fossil Fuel Resources.

7. U.S. Energy Information Administration, “What is U.S. electricity generation by energy source?” June 13, 2014,
http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=427&t=3.

8. Nicholas Loris, et al., “Obama’s War on Coal Hits American Families Hard,” Heritage Foundation, June 24, 2013, http://blog.heritage.org/2013/06/24/obamas-war-on-coal-hitsamerican-families-hard/.