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Energy is the single most powerful engine of growth and prosperity in our society today. This is easily illustrated by witnessing how the rise and fall in U.S. energy prices impacts America's economy. Recognizing the direct connection between energy and the national economy, the Obama Administration has made energy transformation a key component of a long term plan to remake the economy, lessen America's dependence on foreign oil, address climate change and create jobs.
While the American public is primarily concerned with oil and gasoline price instability, this is just part of the problem. Our nation's volatile natural gas prices over the past two decades have resulted in a net loss of 120,000 well-paying chemical industry jobs and more than three million jobs in the nation's manufacturing sector. As a result, the chemical industry has gone from a $19 billion trade surplus in 1997 to becoming a net importer of chemicals from 2001-2007.
It is worth noting that annually the U.S. spends approximately 3% of its GDP on imported oil. This flight of dollars overseas for energy has undermined our ability to respond to the current global financial crisis and will invariably slow our response.
As we transition to a low-carbon future, our U.S. economy and security are dependent upon energy. Without an effective, national comprehensive energy policy, the U.S. is at risk of a delayed or less robust economic recovery.
Our view at The Dow Chemical Company is that we need a comprehensive national energy policy that is bolder and bipartisan. Bolder because we have seen that the half measures Congress has passed in recent years aren't enough, and bipartisan because there is too much at stake to make this a partisan issue designed to appeal to a narrow set of constituencies.
Dow believes any comprehensive energy policy must achieve these eight goals:
- Encourage aggressive energy efficiency and conservation
- Speed more renewable energy to market
- Encourage more domestic oil and gas production
- Optimize the carbon efficiency of coal
- Prove the viability of carbon capture and storage
- Accelerate the deployment of nuclear technology
- Develop and deploy advanced energy storage technology for automotive and stationary applications.
- Recognize from the outset the interrelationship between energy policy and climate solutions
We are confident that policies supporting these goals will lower energy demand and increase supplies while at the same time curbing greenhouse gases. A bolder energy policy will stabilize prices, strengthen our economy, increase our security, create jobs, clean our environment, boost our competitiveness and revitalize U.S. manufacturing.
We also believe we need to act now to develop climate change legislation that is both environmentally effective and economically sustainable in order to slow, stop and reverse the growth of greenhouse gas emissions. We must address climate change consistent with sound energy policy because any emissions cap will have enormous energy impacts and, if done wrong, enormous economic consequences.
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We believe there are four basic steps to create a new energy policy that increases energy savings, adds domestic supplies, develops alternatives to fossil fuels and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
