Issue Position: Energy

Issue Position

For too long, our dependence on foreign sources of fossil fuels has shaped our foreign and national security policy. The ruling class has allowed this nation to become increasingly dependent on the whims of foreign dictators who control supplies of a resource we must have; vital sources of energy that emanate from unstable parts of the world, thus leaving us vulnerable to supply disruptions that can wreak havoc on energy prices. For too long, we have, in effect, been funding both sides in the Global War on Terror. We export vast sums of American capital to hostile regimes for fossil fuels; monies which are then used to fund the war on terror and those bent on killing innocent Americans.

Senator Schumer's support of the cap and tax bill making its way through Congress will only make a bad situation worse.

Senator Schumer says he supports the Obama Administration's plan for a "Cap and Trade" carbon emissions policy -- a policy that has the potential to do more damage to the economy over the long run than will the Obama Administration's tax increases on New Yorkers. On June 26, 2009, the House of Representatives passed this bill -- HR 2454, the so-called "American Clean Energy and Security Act" of 2009. This legislation, also known as Waxman-Markey, contains numerous troubling provisions that would negatively impact our national economy and the economy of New York in particular. This "cap and tax" bill will reduce our capacity to increase domestic energy supplies, retard economic growth in New York, increase our dependence on foreign sources of fossil fuels, and spike the price of gasoline, fuel oil and electricity.

According to The Heritage Foundation, enactment of Waxman-Markey would result in the loss of more than 55,000 jobs and cut our gross state product by more than $25 billion over the next two decades. Electricity prices would rise by $370 per year for the average family, and the price of gasoline would increase by $.66 per gallon. The cap and trade bill is a back door tax increase, and the result will be fewer dollars left in the hands of New Yorkers already struggling to balance the family budget and survive an anemic economy.

I oppose the Waxman-Markey cap and trade scheme, and will work to defeat it on the floor of the Senate.

The answer to reclaiming energy independence lies not in restricting the choices available to America's energy producers and consumers, but in expanding them. America was built on innovation and exploration, and Congress should encourage both.

We can and should increase domestic supplies of energy by making more federal land available for oil exploration. Because of advances in technology, it is possible for companies to drill in ecologically friendly ways. In the barren terrain of Alaska, for example, studies show that we could draw the rough equivalent of 20 years' worth of imports from Saudi Arabia, and perhaps tens of billions more barrels of oil in unexplored parts of the Alaskan tundra. We should also begin drilling, in an ecologically conscious manner, off our coasts.

We should cut the regulatory red tape that has significantly reduced the use of nuclear power -- one of the cleanest, safest, most affordable sources of energy. Currently, 20% of the electricity generated in the United States comes from nuclear power. France, in contrast, produces 80% of its electricity from nuclear power plants. Congress has not authorized the building of a new nuclear power plant in America in a generation. Modern reactors pose fewer environmental risks and use fuel much more efficiently than the reactors currently on line in the United States.

No new refineries have been constructed in the United States during the past 30 years; our electric grid and power lines lose as much as 30% of their electricity between source and destination. The long term economic growth of the United States will require modern and technically advanced refineries and an overhaul of our electric grid to allow more efficient distribution of electric energy.

We also must make it a national priority to use our technological superiority to develop renewable forms of energy. We need to use clean coal technology and promote research and development of solar, geothermal, wind, hydroelectric, biofuel and other clean energy alternatives. The way to do this is to unleash our scientists and entrepreneurs from unnecessary restraints and regulations, and to foster an economic climate that rewards the risk takers and innovators.

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