Jeezy
DP Veteran
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- May 21, 2011
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Don't forget about natural gas. We have more natural gas than we know what to do with.
We haven't even mentioned coal. We have at least a hundred year's worth of coal just waiting to be mined.
You are right that it would take a couple years for everything to gear up, but we have a lot of rigs sitting idle right now that could get to work. If we deregulated American energy, though, it would easily create hundreds of thousands of jobs. Everyone would get rich.
The "get-rich quick through deregulation" movement has outlived its usefulness 10 years ago, particularly in the energy arena. The BP oil spill was caused in part by regulatory insufficiency. Loosening restrictions on certain goods is fine and dandy, but energy is a utility. Increasing a utility's susceptibility to price shocks does nothing good.
Natural gas is already fairly deregulated. 21 States and the District of Columbia have legislation or that allow Natural Gas Choice Programs -- programs that allow you to buy from someone other than a utility company. Large businesses have had that option for several years now.
And none of what you're talking about addresses the root problem of a long-term sustainable answer to growing energy demand.
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