America needs an energy policy that values innovation over regulation

Debate continues across the country on our nation’s energy future. What is our best energy policy going forward?

Few doubt that energy has improved lives and enabled human progress. Yet one of the biggest challenges facing the world is the polarized debate over the future of energy. Facts and economics are too often replaced with assertions and emotions. Discussion about fossil fuels and alternative energy sources often degenerates into a battle to delegitimize the other side. This is a recipe for inaction. And it keeps billions of people trapped in energy poverty. Almost 40 percent of humanity has access to only rudimentary forms of energy and a very low standard of living. The world expects and deserves better.

Burning fossil fuels to generate electricity or provide power necessarily releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is a gas we exhale every time we breathe. Erupting volcanoes, decaying trees, wildfires and the animals on which we rely for food all emit CO2. This by-product, which is essential for plant life and an unavoidable aspect of human life, is at the center of today’s climate change controversies.

There is vigorous debate about the effects of carbon emissions. According to new EPA data, greenhouse gas emissions, mostly CO2, fell 2.7 percent from 2016 to 2017. The Energy Information Administration reports that U.S. carbon emissions are the lowest they have been in nearly seven decades. This downward trend is occurring even as U.S. oil and gas production grows dramatically.

All too often state and federal proposals to tax carbon directly or launch new carbon tax schemes have much more to do with raising revenue than helping our environment.

A recent study analyzed probable effects of a U.S. carbon tax that starts at $20 a ton and then rises 4 percent a year, which is in line with recent proposals. The study suggested that such a tax would increase the cost of goods. The average household would have to pay 40 percent more for natural gas, 13 percent more for electricity, and more than 20 cents a gallon extra for gasoline. Costs would rise even more in subsequent years.

Price hikes like these can only mean lower standards of living and less opportunity. Families that spend a bigger portion of their household income on transportation, utilities and household goods are hurt, not helped, by carbon tax schemes that make traditional forms of energy more expensive.

The U.S. currently has a better, more sensible approach to energy development than any other country in the world, both short-term and long-term. Where government policy has been absent, free markets have filled the void with great success.

In the 1970s, many experts forecast a permanent energy shortage in the U.S. Fast-forward to today and we see the U.S. is the top producer of oil and natural gas in the world. The energy shortage predicted in the 1970s has not come true. In reality, we did not have an energy shortage in the 1970s, but had a shortage of imagination and loss of confidence in our ability to innovate.

Just a few years ago, no one would have imagined the U.S. could increase production of oil and natural gas while cutting carbon emissions. The oil and gas industry has proven that over the long-term, it is possible to lead in energy production and environmental stewardship. By focusing on more-efficient use of energy, it is possible to lower emissions without imposing a carbon tax or even more environmental restrictions.

An American energy policy that values innovation over regulation can turn energy policy challenges into great opportunities for economic growth and energy security. This approach is not just good business, it’s good stewardship and a much better strategy for improving the quality of life for all.