Most of us are tired of paying about $4.00 a gallon for gasoline--especially since our government has sat on it's collective hands for 30 years or more and done nothing to move energy policy forward.
We haven't built a new refinery in over 30 years, and huge areas of promising geography remains off-limits to drilling. Environmental extremists have been coddled at the expense of the average American--and our nation's energy security.
Energy policy was a key area where Republican U.S. Senate candidate Joel Dkystra hit Democrat Senator Tim Johnson at a Business and Professional Women's Meet the Candidates forum in Sioux Falls. Johnson was not present, but sent his finance director Melanie Hunhoff.
From the Argus Leader:
Dykstra says since the 1970s, Congress has refused to come to grips with the nation's need for more domestically produced energy.
"It's fine to get in action when we have a crisis. But real leadership is to look ahead and avoid the crisis," he said.
In the short term, Dykstra said the U.S. should develop oil reserves in the Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve and off the continental coasts as well as oil shale reserves in Colorado and Wyoming. Johnson, he says, has voted against those measures "as late as this May."
Too many politicians in Washington try to put themselves on both sides of an issue, not fixing problems but at the same time trying to insulate themselves from accountability to the voters back home.
We need to put out to pasture politicians who like to play games. In their stead, we need leaders who will aggressively address America's problems--including our energy needs--and show some leadership in the right direction.
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