Jeb Bush is All In for American Energy Development

During a campaign stop in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush unveiled the first round of the national energy strategy he’s promised to advance if elected President. Speaking to workers at Rice Energy, Jeb called for a renaissance of American energy production and manufacturing as part of his broader, pro-growth platform aimed at delivering sustained 4% annual GDP growth.

Pro-energy voters now have the opportunity to review a thoughtful plan from one of the race’s major candidates, some highlights of which were previewed for Virginia Republicans when Jeb visited Bristol, VA to headline a fundraiser for Virginia’s Senate Republican Caucus.

Thus far in this race, energy policy has taken a backseat to sloganeering, sensationalism, and personal attacks – much to the detriment of the nation as a whole. The nation’s energy policy is an issue of fundamental importance, and pro-energy voters need to demand more from their suitors.

While the arrows continue to fly, Jeb has taken the high road, avoiding the fray whenever possible, preferring reasoned policy discussion to personal attacks in the ultimate hope that voters will soon grow tired of various political schticks, and in the end, fall back to candidates whose records are billed as tried-and-true and whose platforms advance mainstream conservative thought.

So far, that strategy has not paid off in the polls, however its ultimate end is yet to be seen.

Jeb’s latest policy rollout is billed as the first of several to come. The plan, released in full on Jeb’s website following its Tuesday annoucement, speaks to four central policy ideas all focused on his prevailing campaign theme of reaching and sustaining 4% GDP growth.

Highlights from Jeb’s announcement speech have been excerpted in the following video.

In describing the importance of energy development to boosting economic growth, Jeb writes:

“Researchers at Dartmouth University found that every $1 million of oil and gas extracted from an oil or gas well generates, within 100 miles of that well, an additional $263,000 in wages and 2.8 new jobs. It also creates jobs throughout the oil and gas supply chain. For example, diesel engines that drive drilling rigs in Texas are largely manufactured in the U.S. heartland including in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan.”
“PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts the cheaper energy produced by the Energy Revolution will result in the creation of 930,000 new manufacturing jobs by 2030 and 1.41 million by 2040.”

 

Jeb’s energy plan focuses on four key goals: lifting the ban on crude oil and LNG exports, approving the Keystone XL pipeline, reducing Washington overregulation, and allowing the nation’s states and Native American tribes greater control over permitting within their borders.

Jeb’s call for greater economic liberty in the international energy trade comes as Congress considers lifting this 70’s-era policy relic amid greater concerns over the unnecessarily high transportation costs associated with moving crude oil to a refinery. Citing various studies, Jeb projects lifting the ban would result in a six cent per gallon decline in retail gasoline prices within two to three years.

Additionally, with American natural gas production surging as the hydraulic fracturing revolution presses on, eliminating outmoded barriers to the export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) opens new markets for American gas, helps alleviate bottlenecks in bringing that gas to market, and undermines Vladimir Putin’s geopolitical thuggery by opening to Europe a new source of fuel free from the coercion and energy blackmail now central to the Kremlin’s foreign policy.

Jeb’s bold call for achieving North American energy independence in five years relies heavily on the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which, despite strong public support, remains unapproved and not under construction due to the strength of the extreme anti-energy voices which now represent the dominant mode of thought in a newer, more liberal Democratic Party whose hostility towards energy production is echoed in their frontrunner’s opposition to the project.

In expounding on a previously-released plan to combat overregulation throughout the economy at large, Jeb’s energy plan emphasizes the need to streamline burdensome regulations which suppress American energy production and undermine national energy security.

“Overregulation affects energy directly and indirectly. Some new rules, such as overwriting state and tribal standards for hydraulic fracturing operations, directly discourage investment in domestic oil and gas operations,” Jeb explains in his plan. “Other, broader regulations, such as Obama’s Carbon Rule, attempt to impose the President’s conception of how everyone should produce and consume energy.”

Finally, Jeb calls for greater state control over energy permitting, citing the difficulties faced by states such as Virginia and Alaska in developing energy projects opposed by the Obama Administration. Under Jeb’s plan, Virginians would regain the primary authority to decide if, how, and under what conditions oil drilling would be permitted in Virginia’s offshore waters.

Jeb’s energy plan is one based firmly upon free-market principles aimed at boosting the production of affordable, market-rate energy – and without Washington bureaucrats picking winners and losers.

“In addition, we must create a level playing field for all energy sources including, but not limited to, nuclear, renewables, coal, natural gas, oil and alternative fuels,” Jeb explains, in calling for market parity among various energy sources. “We unnecessarily drive up energy costs on Americans when we play favorites and suppress the dynamism of free markets.”

Everything in Jeb’s plan ties in with his campaign’s key theme of delivering sustained 4% annual GDP growth – an alluring prospect for fiscal conservatives and free market advocates weary of the nation’s economic underperformance resulting from the anti-growth policies of President Obama which have underpinned the most sluggish economic recovery in American history.

“Taken together, these policies will fully unleash the Energy Revolution, creating more jobs, higher wages, cheaper gas and cheaper electricity, while better protecting our interests abroad and our environment,” Jeb writes in closing, linking back to his campaign’s prevailing theme. “This plan will help us quickly achieve, and sustain, 4% economic growth.”

In an era of massive deficits and a growing debt burden which call into question the nation’s long-term fiscal stability absent major economic growth, proponents of growth will find hope in Jeb’s plan, as they look to the Republican field’s other candidates to articulate their own pro-growth platforms to an electorate of energized primary voters.

Iron sharpens iron, and likewise, forthcoming campaign platforms will sharpen each other during the most-followed political nominating contest in the nation’s history.

In this cycle, each candidate faces an unprecedented opportunity to advance a conservative platform as the foundation for another exceptional American century. Some will rise to the challenge, while others will continue their cheap, lowbrow sloganeering.

Energy is one vital issue which deserves far more attention in this race than it has received to date. If hope is to be our guide, then may the remainder of the field likewise bring forth their own platforms for addressing what is a fundamental issue of concern affecting both the nation’s economic future as well as its national security.

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