Our Insane Anti-American Energy Policy by Keith Snelson - HTML preview

Chapter 13

The Fix

There is a solution. There is way out. It will take Congressional action but there is a way to fix this mess.

Repeal the Endangered Species Acts and void all of the rules and regulations issued for them. Each state can adopt whatever rules they want to apply to their own state.

Abolish the Environmental Protection Agency and void all of the rules and regulations issued by the department. Each state has an EPA and can adopt whatever it wants.

Abolish the Department of Energy. Transfer the nuclear operations to the Department of the Interior and close the rest of the department.

Pass a law that will limit the law - suits placed invoking the various environmental laws to existing and operating facilities. Obviously, a facility that is not operating is not causing a problem. The suits placed before a facility is in operation are not supposed to reduce pollution. They are placed to stop construction of needed facilities. They delay construction and add to the costs of construction and should be eliminated. Environmental impact studies should be eliminated. When a facility is constructed and operating it can be evaluated and made to comply with the laws. This would enable us to construct nuclear power plants and oil refineries in an economical and expeditious manner.

Article 1, Section 8 of our Constitution does not provide for ownership of land by the federal government except as a ―seat of government‖ or for the ―erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-yards and other needful buildings‖. In reading, The Constitution of the United States by former Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story (page 167-169) there is an implication that the states own all of the land not occupied by the federal government. The federal government owns 29% of all the country, 55.5% of the land in the 11

western states and 66.7% of the land in Alaska as well as lesser amounts in the other states. Article iv, section 3, clause 2 reads,‖ The Congress shall have Power to dispose of … the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States‖.

The federal government should auction all of the land it owns that is not authorized and what it is unable to sell should then be given to the states. The sale of the land should bring lots and lots of money to the federal government and enable it to start paying down the national debt. The land sold could then be taxed by the states and generate income for them. Land given to the states could be leased by the states and generate income for them from that. The states would control the land within their borders and could determine its use. With the Endangered Species Act rescinded and the Environmental Protection Agency abolished that should allow the states to allow logging, drilling for oil, mining coal, mining shale for oil, constructing nuclear power plants and oil refineries and fixing our energy problems. We have a tremendous asset in our undeveloped land and this could turn it into productive land.

All subsidies that are awarded for ―green projects‖ should be stopped. That would include subsidies for wind towers, solar panels, electric cars, ethanol and any other project. Gasoline companies should have the requirement removed that forces them to include ethanol in their products.

While the above recommendations would benefit us there is a hindrance to their adoption. In the previous chapter it was suggested that President Obama is a problem. Because of his anti- energy programs and because he would very probably veto all of my recommendations it is recommended that President Obama should be impeached and removed from office. Then we could start to fix our energy problems.

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