Energy

Increasing access to American energy sources will create jobs, grow our economy and reduce our nation’s dependence on energy from hostile foreign countries. Republicans support an all-of the-above energy approach that includes development of alternative energy sources such as wind, solar, hydropower, nuclear, geothermal and biomass, along with clean coal and American-made oil and natural gas. A comprehensive plan will help protect the environment and improve our economic and natural security.

Renewable Energy:

Expanding opportunities for renewable energy production, such as wind, geothermal and solar, on both onshore and offshore federal lands will create new jobs and provide new opportunities for American-made energy.

Hydropower:

Hydropower, the original green energy, is a clean, renewable, non-emitting source of energy that provides low-cost electricity and reduces carbon emissions.
Republicans support expanding the use of hydropower and are working to make all hydropower officially recognized as a renewable energy source by any legal or regulatory standard established by the federal government.

Nuclear:

Republicans support expanding the use of this clean, reliable energy source and building new nuclear reactors.
The 104 nuclear reactors in America today provide the U.S. with 20% of its electricity and 73% of its carbon-free electricity, yet no new reactors have been ordered since 1978.

Oil and Natural Gas:

The oil and natural gas industry supports millions of jobs throughout the U.S. In order to grow our economy and increase America’s energy independence, we need to responsibly develop both our onshore and offshore oil and natural resources in an environmentally responsible manner.
Republicans support increasing the supply of American energy by moving forward with leasing and permitting on the Outer Continental Shelf and ending the Administration’s de factor drilling moratorium in the Gulf.
Republicans also support increasing American supplies of gasoline and diesel by encouraging great refinery capacity and streamline and accelerating the refinery permitting process.

Clean Coal:

America’s geology has provided our nation with tremendous resources of coal from the mountains of Appalachia to the Powder River Basin of Wyoming. These rich coal resources are currently used to generate 46% of America’s electricity at an affordable price.
Over the last 40 years, coal plants have become cleaner as technology has advanced to reduce emissions and burn coal more efficiently.
Right now technology is advancing to capture more emissions from coal plants, combine crushed coal with biofuels to create a cleaner burning product, and build advanced clean coal plants whose captured emissions could be used to promote increased oil development in specific regions.

Oil Shale:

Oil shale is carbonate rock rich in an organic material called kerogen. Eventually, natural forces of pressure and temperature would convert the rock into crude oil. But rather than wait millions of years for that to happen, technology has been developed to speed up the process and take the kerogen from the rock to use as fuel.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) the U.S. holds more than half of the world’s oil shale resources. The most recent estimates (April, 2009) show the region may hold more than 1.5 trillion barrels of oil – six times Saudi Arabia’s proven resources, and enough to provide the United States with energy for the next 200 years.
Republicans support expanding production of oil shale, one of our country’s most viable new energy sources.