Issue Position: Energy

Issue Position

Everyday in every way, we are more and more dependent on energy to maintain and improve our quality of life. Our demand and our dependence grow each year raising security, property, resource allocation, loss, dependability, and convenience challenges. Our future depends on our ability to address these challenges coherently, responsibly, intelligently, and with forethought.

Wyoming is bestowed with an amazing abundance of natural resources: oil, gas, uranium, coal, wind, water, solar and a landscape that is second to none. We are and have been for a long time, the energy capitol of the nation. As such there is no question that Wyoming will play a central role in the future of our nation's energy supply.

We are also the headwaters for much of the nation, and we enjoy some of the cleanest air in the nation. Wyoming is similarly blessed with the Snowy, Big Horn, Wind River, and Wyoming Ranges among others. We are home to two of the nation's centerpiece national parks and a way of life that fits our land for the time being. Our open spaces are unparalleled as is our wildlife. And we live in a state which still seems to respect private property. We must balance these competing demands and maximize the benefits to our state. This is the challenge we in Wyoming must meet and I look forward to joining.

Orderly development of our resources is critical to our state's stability and ability to adapt. Thus a true Energy Policy must be enacted; one that recognizes the obligation of the nation to develop a carbon policy respecting Wyoming's leadership on this issue, and one which recognizes that "energy independence" begins literally at home with more efficient housing and transportation. We need to begin to revamp our nation's power grid switching out 1950's mechanicals with 21st century technology better adapted to the multiplicity of energy supplies we will need for the future, from clean coal technologies to wind, water, solar, nuclear, biomass and others. We are beginning a new era with the potential for unprecedented opportunity for those with imagination, gumption, and perseverance. We can see the advantages that a more dispersed and diverse energy supply can bring.

But we must also be mindful that supply which outstrips the ability to deliver robs residents and our state of proper revenues. Our nation must begin to work on the multitude of challenges that surround revamping our nation's energy distribution. Concerns relating to private property, wildlife viability, the integrity of open space, and our future economic wellbeing must be considered starting right now to avoid the chaos of an energy crisis.

Well shepherded and carefully considered development has been a boon for our state providing us with jobs, revenues, and unparalleled opportunities to grow communities, businesses, and schools, as well as helping landowners stay on the land and improve their ranches. But Wyoming has also seen some speculative, irresponsible, and unscrupulous development. The former builds to our future, and the latter robs from our children and burdens our state. No one is well served when emotion overwhelms reason or when crisis overpowers common sense preparation.

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