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Guest Commentary: July 14, 2001
Our Energy Problem Inextricably Ties Each of Us
The Honorable Gale Norton
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One question on the minds of many involved in the energy debate is why many Americans don't believe we are in an energy crisis.
The answer is that Americans have a core belief in American ingenuity. American ingenuity is a major factor in everything from our military victories and status as the only remaining superpower, our development of cures for once-deadly diseases and our ability to vastly improve our air and water quality.
American ingenuity is directly tied to our technological advancements. Nothing puts our nation's skills to the test like a challenge - a challenge like the one we face today to ensure a comprehensive energy strategy.
This ingenuity is already hard at work. For example, since 1985 energy producers in the Gulf of Mexico's Outer Continental Shelf produced more than five billion barrels of oil. Thanks to American ingenuity and high tech advances, of that amount, only .001 percent - just 1/1000th of a percent - was released. By comparison, naturally occurring oil seeps in the Shelf are 150 times greater than OCS production.
President Bush addresses the need to keep our economy moving forward with good jobs, and our determination to protect our environment. ...[O]ur energy problem is inextricably tied to each of our lives.
For example, household budgets, stretched to the limits by high winter heating and summer air-conditioning bills and increasingly expensive trips to the gas station.
What difficult choices are families forced to make? Whether or not to maintain the family car? Buying back-to-school clothes? Purchase essential prescription drugs?
Now, think about what rising energy costs are doing to the budgets of our schools and hospitals. What are surging energy bills doing to their budgets?
The President has also directed Interior to work with Congress to develop legislation that authorizes environmentally-safe leasing of oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The President's plan emphasizes that Congress should require the use of the best available technology and ensure that energy production activities protect the ANWR environment. This bill accomplishes these goals.
Domestic development of resources is not a substitute for renewable and alternative energy sources, and it is not an alternative for energy efficiency. One cannot suggest that development of our domestic resources will prevent the need to import oil. However, domestic production will help us keep energy prices low and protect families from wild fluctuations. ...
[T]he Department of the Interior [has announced] it will bring state and local officials together with industry leaders and other citizens for a Renewable Energy Summit this fall. The summit will focus on ways to maximize wind, solar and geothermal energy production on public lands to help stabilize our nation's energy needs.
Our country faces a national energy problem, but I believe it can and will be managed. Working with Congress, the Bush Administration is committed to finding workable solutions that improve our national energy problem. American ingenuity has never let us down in the past, and by acting wisely today, it will help us provide for future generations.
Note: This column has been adapted from the prepared statement of Secretary Norton's testimony before a hearing of the House Committee on Resources, July 11, 2001.
 How to contact Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton
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