America's Energy Crisis

Over the past year, a primary concern for Americans across the country is the consistently rising cost of gas, which has affected everyone’s pocketbooks.

Adding to the ongoing energy crisis, Americans are paying more for everyday items because of record high inflation and the ongoing supply chain crisis.

It is clear that President Biden’s current energy strategy is hurting American energy production, and it is the federal government’s responsibility to take action to address the ongoing crisis. There are many options that the federal government could embrace that will lead us out of these tenuous times and towards energy stability and independence. 

The first would be to remove onerous and overreaching regulations on our domestic producers. During the Trump Administration, our nation moved toward energy independence, even becoming a net exporter of crude oil. Unfortunately, the Biden Administration’s response to increasing gas prices was not to encourage domestic production but rather to ask OPEC and others to increase their production.

It is certainly in the interest of our own national security to do everything we can to achieve energy independence. 

At a time when global politics are incredibly unstable and Russia - one of the world’s top oil producers - is edging towards an international armed conflict, our nation must not depend on foreign energy sources and instead focus on domestic strategies to meet our energy needs.

It was a mistake to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have brought thousands of jobs both to Texas and to states all across the country.  

President Biden’s decision to halt the project’s construction revealed itself as purely political when he then showed support for Russia’s Nord Stream 2, a pipeline overseas that will likely not meet his own party’s environmental standards.

Instead of punishing U.S. producers, we should embrace an all-the-above approach that invests in new and innovative technologies, including renewables, while continuing support for traditional energy sources. Without a balanced approach, we are left with a substantially weakened domestic market that unfairly subsidizes projects that on their own cannot meet our nation’s considerable needs.

We must stop disincentivizing oil and natural gas development and put traditional, domestic energy industry back to work, reviving and creating thousands of good-paying jobs.    

While we should continue to invest in research and development for alternative and renewable energy options, we must find a fair and balanced approach.

For the sake of our national security and the energy needs of Texans and all Americans, our goal should always be to achieve energy independence here at home so that we can provide affordable options to our citizens and a safe and secure homeland that can provide for itself.