The Stivers Plan

Last Friday The Hill Blog posted Senator Stivers's policy piece on energy. This is mostly the same plan that was released last month, but it is good to see it might get some national attention. Here it is for your consideration:

Energy Solution Needs Comprehensive Plan with Drilling and New Energy Investment
(Ohio GOP Candidate Steve Stivers) August 8th, 2008

No issue in recent
memory has provoked public outrage like spiking energy prices, and nor has any
issue has highlighted the great divide between the current House leadership and
the economic struggles of American families and workers. While Congress
left town for a five-week vacation without allowing for a vote on a
comprehensive energy package, many Americans simultaneously cancelled or scaled
back their own vacation plans because of the prohibitive costs of travel.
The current state of affairs in Congress represents more than a lack of
leadership – it is an abdication of governance and further proof that Washington
is broken.
The ongoing Republican demands in Washington for an up or down
vote on an energy plan are not political bluster. It is a tactic made
necessary because Congressional leaders continue to play parliamentary games and
employ evasive maneuvers to protect their members from voting on a common-sense,
all-of-the-above energy solution.
In my race for Ohio’s
15th Congressional district, I have crafted just such a plan – one that places
America on the path to energy independence, reduces high gas prices, and curbs
our nation’s dangerous dependence on foreign oil. You can view my plan on
my website www.stivers4congress.com. My plan calls for the full
utilization of our domestic energy supplies, including environmentally safe
drilling off our shores and within our borders, and building new
refineries. The need for alternative energies is manifest – but it is
economic suicide to wall off our own existing domestic energy supplies as we
search for new energy sources.
But, as fossil fuels are finite and the wells
will inevitably run dry, I want to invest $100 billion over ten years in energy
research, development and conservation to foster the next generation of clean,
renewable energies. This venture would be funded in part by the revenue
generated from the purchasing of mineral rights and selling oil from federal
lands.
I also believe we must raise the CAFE standards for new automobiles to
40/mpg and trucks to 35/mpg within six years — an achievable and realistic
increase of 2/mpg per year — and create a national standard formulation for the
various grades of gas to reduce demands on our refineries. Finally, I
believe we should instill greater oversight within the Federal Trade Commission
to ensure that gas prices are not being impacted by speculative foreign
traders. While the precise impact of speculators on fuel costs is
debatable, the American people are deserving of the assurance that they are not
being fleeced by interests with no skin in the game.
For our nation to ever
segue from one powered by fossil fuels and toward energy independence, Congress
must transcend partisanship and the parochial demands of special
interests. The economic well-being of the American people should be placed
above all other considerations, and Congress should immediately enact a
meaningful, balanced energy plan, similar to the common-sense solutions I have
detailed. Congress has an opportunity, but more importantly, a
responsibility to work together to improve the lives of every American family
feeling pain at the pump. Members who continue to stand in the way of
energy independence place themselves in great political peril – the American
people are watching.

The thing that sticks out most in my mind comes in the last paragraph where Senator Stivers says "The economic well-being of the American people should be placed above all other considerations,". I could not agree more and I think the Stivers Energy plan speaks for itself.