George Voinovich: “We are facing a problem that every other nation that we share the planet with hopes it will have some day. That is, our…”

“We are facing a problem that every other nation that we share the planet with hopes it will have some day. That is, our country's economic growth will soon outpace our supply of available energy. The growth of both the high tech and advanced manufacturing sectors in America has created jobs and has created enormous opportunity for our people, and they have created a new demand for energy. One reason these industries have flourished in America is because we have the fuel they need to succeed. We have the ``people'' fuel, the skilled workers with committed hearts and hands; we have the ``idea'' fuel, the smart minds that dream big and can take ideas from the drawing board on to the street; and we have ``good old-fashioned'' fuel, inexpensive, reliable sources of energy that literally make everything move and connect and work. Other nations have some of these pieces, but they rarely have all of them. That won't always be the case. The world is shrinking, and our competitors, strategic and otherwise, are in hot pursuit. What will we do to stay ahead? What will we do to fuel America's continued success? Our future success will require us to produce more energy to keep up with the growing demand for it. How big will that demand be? Big. You can see from this chart that there is a large gap currently in terms of the domestic production of energy and consumption.”