View energy policy as foreign policy
If we acknowledge that we live in a global fossil fuel economy; that fossil fuels influence geopolitics; and that these circumstances will maintain for the next 40 to 50 years; the United States must adapt to those facts if we are to remain viable on the global scene.
Our national interest demands that our energy policies be driven not by price-at-the-pump politics but by foreign policy considerations. Energy policy should not be to seek just "energy independence" but should seek a greater political goal of employing our energy reserves as a tool for affecting global politics.
Counting our offshore deposits, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska and shale resources, the United States is accredited to be sitting on one of the world's largest recoverable fossil fuel reserves. The current public dialogue has concluded that there is no reason -- technical, environmental or ecological -- for not accessing that source. If we would produce a supply in excess of our national needs and become an exporter of fossil fuels (as we could), we could assure our own national security and have a direct effect on global politics. But even if we became only energy independent, we would free up competitive supplies of fossil fuels from Russia and the OPEC countries that would dampen any of their individual influences on global gas and oil pricing and politics. For our own good and in our own defense, our energy policy should be driven by such a foreign policy.
The message to our congressional politicos on energy must be: Put the screws to the self-interests of the likes of Al Gore, T. Boone Pickens and Nancy Pelosi, and foster the selfless interests of taking care of us and our nation by drilling for oil and gas in our reserves now. Do it! We, the nation and the world are at a critical stage.
Aiken, S.C.