When are we going to get a common sense energy policy out of Washington D.C.? On July 29th we learned that Cuba sold rights to Russia to drill for oil off its shore. This will be right off American shores, possibly as close as 45 miles. These areas that environmentalists have been keeping us from will be drilled. Because of the anti-oil policies of America this oil will be drilled for and recovered by companies and drilling rigs that have much lower environmental standards than U.S. companies. Where is the victory in this? In addition, this precious energy resource will now be in the hands of countries unfriendly to America. It is estimated that Russia could get 5 billion barrels of oil and 10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas out of this area. Now we learn that the Obama administration is going to lend billions of dollars to Brazil so it can drill for the oil off its shores.
Do you know that off the shores of the U.S. there are an estimated 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Almost all of this is locked behind regulations and restrictions from the government. We need a comprehensive energy policy that is based on common sense. Current drilling techniques are safe for the environment.
The United States must leverage all technologies to become energy independent. This includes oil, coal, gas, hydro, wind, solar, and nuclear. France generates over 75% of its power from over 55 nuclear power plants and the French love it, including those living near the plants. The fears regarding nuclear power in the U.S. are irrational. Everyone will bring up Chernobyl as an understandable yet uninformed emotional reaction. Chernobyl was built and operated in a manner completely different and notably unsafe. The risk of today’s plants having an incident like that is incredibly remote. Some will point to the perceived problem of what to do with the waste. This too is an overblown problem. First, most of the waste can be recycled and reused. The part that cannot is about 20 tons per year per plant. Compare that with the 320,000 tons of waste a typical coal plant produces per year. When people tell me they are for environmentally friendly energy, the first question I ask them is if they support nuclear energy. If they say no, then I know they are ideology motivated or uninformed about the subject. With today's nuclear technology and the safety track record of the nuclear industry, no one that is serious about solving this problem can dismiss the nuclear option. American Solutions has a petition to tell your representatives to open these energy reserves to the American people now. SIGN THE PETITION
