Ron Lewis: “We have an energy crisis in this country today because for the most part it is self-imposed because of the extreme views…”

“We have an energy crisis in this country today because for the most part it is self-imposed because of the extreme views of some people in this country about the environment. Now, of course, no one is opposed to clean air, clean water, safe working conditions. We all want those things. But there has to be some common sense applied when we deal in these areas. We need some good scientific data; we need cost analyses, risk assessment, due process built into what we do concerning our environment and how it relates to our economy and to our energy. As the gentleman just stated, this has cost our economy, it has cost the working people in this country thousands upon thousands of jobs. Since 1990, as a matter of fact, more than 100,000 jobs have been lost due to lower domestic oil and gas exploration and production. And then we can multiply that probably several times over when we look at all of the other industries, the timber industry, the coal industry. If we look at what has happened, we certainly, I think, have seen a self-imposed energy crisis; and it now is affecting our economy, costing more jobs.”