We Have Declared War on Ourselves

Environmental ideology disguised in the form of government energy policy may accomplish what our enemies cannot – weaken America. Arguably a greater threat to our national security than terrorist attacks is the war on energy that has been declared by our own government, and it’s being fought on several fronts:

• Government restrictions that place vast areas of America that contain oil and gas reserves off limits. The federal government is issuing few permits to drill in the Gulf and much of the North Slope of Alaska remains closed to oil and gas development.
• EPA regulations that have either been promulgated or are in the process of becoming law threaten to shut down one-third of U.S. coal fired electric generation, driving up electricity costs and compromising the reliability of the nation’s electric grid.
• A pronouncement by President Obama that delays for another year the decision to permit the Keystone Pipeline that would bring 700,000 barrels of oil a day to Texas refineries.
• Hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money being spent at the state and federal levels to fund risky alternative energy projects, many of which have gone bankrupt, adding to the ballooning national deficit.

Taken alone, any of these government actions will necessarily cause an increase in energy costs for households and businesses. Taken together, current government energy policies pose a threat to economic recovery and national security. Our enemies must be smiling as they observe how our own government policies are serving to weaken America.

Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy are properly cited.