Ron Lewis: “I would love to know the numbers. How many jobs have been lost? How many jobs has this movement cost the workers in this…”

“I would love to know the numbers. How many jobs have been lost? How many jobs has this movement cost the workers in this country? How many automobile workers? How many construction workers? How many miners? How many timber workers? How many laborers have lost jobs because of this very extreme position on the environment? It has to be thousands upon thousands, upon thousands of jobs that have been lost. More are going to be lost if this energy crisis takes our economy in the wrong direction. I think with what we are seeing today with the slowdown, it is a direct result of this energy crisis, of the costs of energy. You cannot have $2-a-gallon gasoline and the costs of oil and the costs of natural gas without it affecting the economy. I think that we are seeing a direct result of the energy costs. How many more jobs will it cost? It is the working people that are going to be hurt. It is those folks that get up every day and go out to work and they have to provide for their families. They pull up to the gas station and, gosh, there is $2-a-gallon gasoline, and it could be getting worse. I think this is what is happening because of this self-imposed energy crisis. But this can be turned around. Yes, there is no short-term solution. But in the long-term, this can be turned around, and it can provide a lot of employment for a lot of people in this country.”