High-energy costs are an invisible tax on businesses and consumers. As prices rise, businesses are forced to curtail hiring plans and job creation suffers. 

 

Expanding domestic oil and gas production by opening new areas for exploration would generate as much as 160,000 new jobs and $1.7 trillion in new revenue for federal, state, and local governments, according to a study commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute. 

 

America is far too dependent on foreign sources of oil. According to the U.S. Energy Administration, the U.S. imports 11.1 million barrels of foreign oil per day. This means that at current prices of around $100 per barrel, we are sending over $1 billion oversees each and every day. 

 

SOLUTIONS 

 

America needs an energy strategy that pursues every option, opening more traditional domestic energy resources to development as well as policies to encourage alternative sources of energy.