America desperately needs a comprehensive energy strategy for the 21st Century. We have been talking about working for energy security since at least 1974 and yet the situation is worse than it has ever been and it continues to deteriorate. In 1970 we imported 24% of our oil. Today it is over 65%. Worse yet, market trends point to a continued escalation of this trend, while the global demand for energy is expected to rise in the future.

Politicians keep talking about advancing energy security and independence, but progress has consistently been held up by unrealistic dependence on future technologies, massive regulatory red tape and litigation which slows the utilization of existing technologies in an environmentally safe and productive manner. At a time when millions of Americans are seeking high quality sustainable jobs, now is the time to unleash a boom in energy investment through public-private-partnerships, not government run and subsidized  programs. Examples of such investments include:

• Formulate a national energy strategy that emphasizes conservation in the short term, the use of more diverse fuels in the medium term, and the development of new energy technologies in the long term.
• Upgrading our electrical transmission grid.
• Facilitating the construction of nuclear power plants which are in extensive use throughout the developed world and have an impeccable safety record where subject to effective regulatory oversight.
• Developing domestic sources of coal and fossil fuels throughout the United States in an environmentally safe manner.
• Permitting drilling off shore if approved by voters in individual states and done with strict environmental controls and company responsibility for clean up of any spills. Companies should bear the costs of drilling.
• Determining if wind power and solar power can be made cost effective enough to stand on their own without ongoing government subsidies. While a public private partnership might be used to help facilitate some initial infrastructure, we should not pursue any programs which are now financially self sustaining.
• Determining if current bio fuel programs are justified by a stringent cost-benefit analysis.
• Encouraging energy conservation in businesses and homes through education and information, not government subsidy.
• Dramatically increase our investment in clean energy research.  Technology companies routinely spend between 5% and 10% of their revenue on research. Energy companies are today spending less than one quarter of 1%. At the same time, the federal government is spending less than $3 billion a year on energy research, as compared to $25 billion in health research.  We must do much better than this.

With respect to projects concentrated in a particular state or municipality, the federal government should work cooperatively with state and local governments in their development. The judgments of their residents, not those of outside special interest groups, should determine whether and how such projects should proceed.