We're asking 1st District Congressional Candidates Andy Harris and Frank Kratovil 20 questions...two each week leading up to the election. Each week will have a different theme. Week One's theme is Energy. We have asked the candidates these two questions:
1) Do you support offshore drilling and/or drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge?
2) What is your plan for reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil?
View the entire series of questions and be sure to check back weekly for the two new questions.
1) Do you support offshore drilling and/or drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge?
The United States needs a comprehensive energy policy that includes exploration off-shore and in ANWR. With the latest technological innovations, exploration can be done in environmentally sensitive ways. To decrease our dependence on foreign oil we need to begin domestic exploration.
2) What is your plan for reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil?
The United States needs a comprehensive energy policy that includes greater exploration for oil and natural gas, investment in the next generation of alternative energy technology, and more conservation. For too long, the United States' has been depending on unfriendly nations like Iran, Venezuela, and Russia for oil. The United States has reserves of oil and natural gas that can alleviate our dependence on foreign oil.
1) Do you support offshore drilling and/or drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge?
There’s no question that we need more domestic drilling for oil and natural gas. Drilling alone is not the answer, but it must be one central part of a comprehensive energy solution that also includes greater efficiency standards, greater investments in alternative energy sources, and fiscal discipline to slash the deficit and strengthen the dollar so that imported energy will be less expensive.
In Congress I’ll work across party lines to pass policies that increase domestic production. However, unlike those who seem eager to put up oil rigs off the coast of Ocean City, I’d prefer to see this additional production come from the tens of millions of untapped acres in the Western U.S. and the Gulf of Mexico that have already been leased for drilling. Roughly 80% of our offshore oil and natural gas deposits lie in areas that already available for drilling. We need to significantly expand drilling in these areas.
Unfortunately, big oil companies are already sitting on 68 million acres of domestic leases on which they are choosing not to drill. We ought to require them to explain why they are not drilling in the areas they’ve already leased before we consider rewarding them with permission to drill in sensitive areas off the Maryland coast where any accidents could devastate our seafood and tourism industries.
I support greater exploration and drilling for domestic oil and gas; I just think we ought to do it the right way, and not just give the oil companies a blank check to do whatever they want.
2) What is your plan for reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil?
Listening to the politicians in Washington debate our energy crisis, you have to ask yourself why they just don’t get it. Once again, the ideologues on both sides of the aisle are controlling the debate while common sense ideas are pushed to the side. Consumers are now paying the price for decades of failed Washington policies that have left us over-dependent on foreign oil. And still, you’ll hear folks in Washington telling us that more drilling is the only solution we need, or that more wind farms or plug-in cars will solve our problem.
Folks here in the First District are smart enough to know there’s no magical cure-all for an energy crisis that has been decades in the making. Drilling is one piece of the puzzle, but solving this crisis is going to require a balanced plan. This means more drilling, greater investments in renewable and alternative energy, improved efficiency standards, and smarter regulation to cut down on rampant speculation in the energy markets.
Here on the Eastern Shore, we’re in a unique position to take advantage of the alternative energy revolution. Earlier this year, Maryland adopted an aggressive state energy program that calls for generating 20% of our energy from renewable sources by 2022. It is estimated that this program will create over 1,000 jobs in the state, attract nearly $500 million in private capital investment, and generate over $400 million in revenues for farmers through increased biomass demand and wind energy leases. The First District, with its extensive farmland and coastal wind resources, is uniquely suited to reap these benefits.
Unfortunately, I’m running against an opponent who voted against this innovative energy plan in Annapolis. He has voted numerous times against programs to promote wind and solar energy, and against programs to promote energy conservation and efficiency. That’s the same failed thinking that has led to this energy crisis in the first place.
Partisan attacks and old ways of thinking aren’t going to solve our energy crisis. We need leaders with the vision and courage to work across party lines and develop real solutions.