Page 364

driven policies are also directing huge amounts of money to favored interests and making America dependent on adversaries like China for energy. In the name of combating climate change, policies have been used to create an artificial energy scarcity that will require trillions of dollars in new investment, supported with taxpayer subsidies, to address a “problem” that government and special interests themselves created. The result has been increased energy costs that:

• Hurt individuals and families, especially low-income Americans and seniors on fixed incomes;

• Make businesses that create the jobs that drive our economy and quality of life less competitive; and

• Make America less energy secure.

Moreover, increased energy scarcity will allow government, either directly or through access to banks and Wall Street investors, to decide who is “worthy” to receive funding for energy projects. In the end, government control of energy is control of people and the economy. This is one reason why the trend toward nationalization of our energy industry through government mandates, bans on the production and use of oil and natural gas, and nationalization of the electric grid is so dangerous.

At the same time, adversaries like China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, and non-state actors are constantly engaged in cyberattacks against our energy infrastructure. We have already seen what supposedly “minor” attacks, such as the cyberattack on the Colonial Oil Pipeline’ or the physical attack on electric infrastructure in North Carolina,’ can do. A coordinated cyber and physical attack on natural gas pipelines and the electric grid during an extended cold spell could be catastrophic. Yet the current Administration’s first concern is plowing taxpayer dollars into intermittent wind and solar projects and ending the use of reliable fossil fuels.

A conservative President must be committed to unleashing all of America’s energy resources and making the energy economy serve the American people, not special interests. This means that the next conservative Administration should:

• Promote American energy security by ensuring access to abundant, reliable, and affordable energy.

• = Affirm an “all of the above” energy policy through which the best attributes of every resource can be harnessed for the benefit of the American people.