CAES News
Energy Week Important for South Carolina
We are experiencing a real and significant energy crisis, and this week it will be front and center in the United States Congress. Welcome to “Energy Week,” a very important time for South Carolina businesses and consumers. This week Congress has the chance to save jobs, lower the costs of goods, help working families, and make America more secure. This can be done by increasing the domestic supply of natural gas.
As a member of the South Carolina Consumer Alliance for Energy Security, a broad-based bipartisan grassroots coalition of consumers and users of natural gas, our mission is to generate public policy support and U.S. Congressional action to increase the supply of domestic natural gas. The alliance steadfastly believes that increasing the supply of natural gas will save and creates jobs, lower the costs of goods, benefit families, and make America more economically secure and safe.
You are well aware of how skyrocketing natural gas prices are draining the family budget and forcing difficult, and unnecessary, economic decisions. South Carolinians should also be aware that rising prices are also having a dramatic impact on our manufacturing industry.
Natural gas is an important raw material in the plastics, chemical, lumber, and farming industries. All these major South Carolina economic engines are suffering, and consumers are paying the bill through higher costs and job loss. The National Association of Manufacturers reports that rising natural gas prices played a major role in the lost of more than 3 million jobs since 2000.
The plastics business is South Carolina’s largest manufacturing sectors. In the United States there is no practical alternative to natural gas for the plastics industry. The plastics sector lost more than 14 billion dollars in business to foreign competition as a direct result of Americans having to pay more for natural gas than any other nation. In order to keep the still vibrant plastics industry from going the way of textiles we must be proactive in making South Carolina companies more competitive in the global markets.
Thankfully, Congress can cure our self-inflicted energy crisis. In an overwhelming bipartisan vote, The Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act (H.R. 4761) sailed through committee and is now up for consideration by the full US House of Representatives. This bill can provide affordable, reliable, locally produced energy. We must urge our delegation in Congress to pass this bill that would preserve, and create, manufacturing jobs in South Carolina.
H.R. 4761 is a step towards removing the national moratorium on deep-sea energy exploration in America’s Outer Continental Shelf. Using the latest in technology, energy exploration can be done in a safe, environmentally friendly manner. Other industrialized nations are drilling off their coasts in a clean, efficient manner. It is high time the U.S. follows suit.
This increase in the supply of natural gas will have no negative impact on our precious coastline. The equipment would be on the ocean floor and at least more than 50 miles from shore. No drilling rigs would be visible from even the coasts’ highest points. And, of course, these rigs are built to withstand a Category 5 hurricane.
South Carolina’s tourist industry would benefit from off shore drilling. Revenues generated could be used for much needed beach renourishment, bridges, roads, and state parks.
Common sense says it’s a win/win situation. Increasing the supply of domestic natural gas will save jobs, lower costs, increase revenue, and make South Carolina more economically secure.
In an era of bitter political partisanship, we have found an issue that has received across the board support. We strongly urge our South Carolina delegation to continue in this spirit of bipartisanship as they consider this bill (H.R. 4761) that is so critical for South Carolina and our nation.
About the Author
Rick Sturgis is the Southern Region Director of The Society of the Plastics Industry and a member of the South Carolina Consumer Alliance for Energy Security. Mr. Sturgis understands the catastrophic effect natural gas prices have had on the plastics industry and the industry’s competitiveness with other countries. To join the Alliance, contact the coalition at secureourenergysc@gmail.com.