A bipartisan group of Southern governors and senators is looking to push energy independence to the front of the national agenda. Their efforts come at a time when Congress can’t even agree on a federal budget, but there’s a reserved sense of optimism that progress is possible and it may create some nontraditional bedfellows.
“If Congress can have a breakthrough on anything, which doesn’t look very likely, energy might be it, actually,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Tuesday at an energy summit in Alexandria hosted by the Southern States Energy Board.
Led by Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, the summit focused on reviving offshore drilling and creating a “nuclear renaissance,” initiatives put on hold after the BP oil spill and the tsunami in Japan. McDonnell also blasted the Environmental Protection Agency under President Obama for increasing regulations on the coal and natural gas industries, saying the EPA has prevented Virginia from creating jobs and taking the lead in energy production nationwide.
Reaching 60 votes in the Senate on an energy bill will require more support than Southern and coastal states could provide. An “unusual coalition” of lawmakers and governors from both sides of the aisle is needed if U.S. energy production is to surpass other Western nations and Asia, said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va.
“I don’t believe our country is truly in the game,” Warner said.
Renewable energy, the focus of the Obama administration, wasn’t part of Tuesday’s summit, though officials said such measures would be part of the energy mix needed to eventually wean the country off foreign oil.
“I have come to conclude when it comes to energy policy, not only is it all of the above and American-owned, it’s got to be all of America included in the discussion,” Graham said.
