Angie Craig: “I am talking about the critical need for a national energy policy. For over a decade, we have wandered in the energy…”

“I am talking about the critical need for a national energy policy. For over a decade, we have wandered in the energy world without a policy that truly directed our resources and our public policy toward assuring that our Nation was self-reliant on its primary energy sources. Over that time, we have grown increasingly dependent upon foreign sources for those primary resources. As a result, if what is now going on in the Middle East were to erupt in a broader shooting war, it is possible we could see a curtailment of supplies out of those oil-rich countries that could not only create a critical crisis here but would drive up fuel prices at the pump dramatically. It is not happening right now. It is not happening largely because of a flat economy, less use, and because the OPEC nations recognize that the world economy is soft at this moment and have chosen not to turn the spigots on their oil wells down; therefore, driving up the price. It is temporary, and we all know that it is temporary.”