Ralph Hall: “I rise today to begin a series of remarks on energy. Energy, or the lack of energy, has caused many of the wars of the…”

“I rise today to begin a series of remarks on energy. Energy, or the lack of energy, has caused many of the wars of the world. Once again, the uncertainties of the Middle East have caused prices in oil markets to rise; and from what we read in the news, the current uncertainty is, unfortunately, likely to last for quite some time. My goal with this series is simple: to impress upon my colleagues the need to develop a national energy policy, and that policy should include all of our resources: fossil fuels, coal, nuclear renewables, and yes, conservation. We need them all. In this country we are blessed with an abundance of energy choices. We have abundant coal reserves, in fact, some of the largest in the world. We have a tremendous potential for the development of solar and wind resources; and even though for many years we produced huge volumes of crude oil and natural gas and even supplied some of the world with it at times, we still have significant oil and gas resources in the ground. Much of the rest of the world is envious of our energy resources and the choices we have. In the coming days and weeks, I will address some of these options and see what we can do to bring them into reality.”