WASHINGTON – In tonight’s State of the Union address, President Obama missed a prime-time opportunity to truly usher our nation into a secure energy future. He changed his rhetoric and his tone, but not his harmful policies or misinformed ideology. Institute for Energy Research President Thomas J. Pyle issued the following statement:
“The President’s efforts to “make electricity prices necessarily skyrocket” failed with cap-and-trade; his decision to lock up natural resources in the Gulf Coast was met with resounding opposition; his Administration’s threats to use the EPA to target the forms of affordable, reliable energy they dislike have been met with nothing but dismay; the ever-increasing subsidies for unproven, unreliable, expensive wind and solar are widely decried as examples abound of similar policies’ failure in Europe. But, instead of changing direction on his failed energy approach, the President has changed nothing.
“The President continues to talk about how America needs to become more competitive. But his Administration’s plans do nothing but hurt our ability to compete. We don’t have a competitiveness problem, an innovation problem, or a resource availability problem; we have a government problem.
“We have the ability to produce nuclear, but can’t get a permit to build a plant. We have the world’s largest coal supplies, but the Administration is halting construction on even the cleanest plants. We have vast resources offshore, but 97 percent of our ocean energy lands are not least for oil and gas production. We have enough oil shale to free us from any imports, but his Administration stopped development. If the President and his government will just get out of the way, our energy problems might not be solved, but it’d certainly be an improvement.”
Video: IER released a 2 minute video today that looks back at 40 years of presidents promising American energy independence in the State of the Union Address
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