Newt Gingrich: Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less
Sep 26, 2008 Book Review: Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less—A Handbook For Slashing Gas Prices And Solving Our Energy Crisis (Regnery Pub., 2008) by Newt Gingrich
Former Speaker Newt Gingrich follows up his American Solutions project, founded 2007, with a hot new book, Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less. He hopes to stem the tide of partisan politics and create a unified country stance on energy solutions.
Gingrich begins with main points:
- We have more energy sources than any other country in the world. Shale resources in the Rocky Mountains alone are three times the size of Saudi Arabia’s oil reserves (world’s largest).
- We have 27% of the world’s coal.
- We have huge potential in harnessing wind power.
- We have enormous opportunities in solar power.
- We have the largest number of scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs of any country in the world.
Gingrich also supports next generation incentives for biofuels, including cellulosic ethanol, a competition to contract out at least four experimental next generation clean coal plants with virtually no carbon emissions, McCain's proposal of a $300 million prize for breakthroughs in battery technology that will make electric cars and hybrids work better.
His premise, “If we adopt the right strategies and implement sound policies, we can ignore the dictators of the world and never again have to beg another country to help us get energy.” Gingrich blames left-wing politicians for their anti-coal, --oil, --nuclear policies.
Our policies and their relation to energy costs in the United States effect all Americans. Around the globe, high energy costs raise the price of fertilizer and food transportation, actually leaving the poor in developing countries hungrier.
Our national security Gingrich writes, is also affected negatively. Back in July 2006, Hezbollah (almost certainly backed by Iran) attacked Israel, a United States ally. On July 7th the cost of a barrel of crude oil was $74.16, by July 14th, it had risen to $77.03. This Gingrich says was a $2.87 increase, which amounted to almost $3 billion more a year for the Iranian dictatorship to spend on rockets for arming Hezbollah. Oil spikes bring in more revenue for the Iranians, allowing them to build nuclear weapons.
In the United States 249 million cars and trucks rely on gas and diesel fuel, and our airlines require aviation fuel. Gingrich has outlined steps to move the United States out of the energy crisis and lead the world in new clean energy sources. First, drill for oil here, utilizing the resources already available and enabling our country to be economically viable. Though that oil won't be available immediately, just the fact that we'll be drilling at home will begin to reduce costs. Then we must develop alternative energy solutions which will lower costs and keep the environment clean.
Interestingly, Gingrich points out that Congressman Randy Forbes already has a bill known as the “New Manhattan Project for Energy Independence” (HR 6260) in motion. It calls for energy breakthroughs, the creation of a scientific commission, making America 50% energy independent within 10 years, and 100% independent within 20 years.
Gingrich’s Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less:
- Offers rebuttals to opponents’ anti-drilling arguments
- Includes an appendix showing a chart how family gasoline costs raise a family’s budget
- Appeals to a grassroots movement
- Is written in plain English for all to comprehend Gingrich’s viewpoint of the energy crunch
- Explains how we got into this national and global predicament
- States that American ingenuity is the key to solving American energy issues
- Includes Newt Gingrich’s “Roadmap for Solving Our Energy Crisis”—38 points long
Highlights of the Roadmap—
- Change federal low to allow offshore drilling for oil and natural gas
- Change federal law to allow drilling for oil and natural gas in ANWR (Alaska)
- Change federal law to allow for the development of oil shale in Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado
- Change federal law to incentivize those states that want to permit energy exploration to do so with appropriate safeguards
- Provide a prize for safe disposal or reuse of nuclear waste products
- Make the solar power and wind power tax credits permanent to create a large-scale industry dedicated to domestically produced renewable electricity
- Develop long-distance transmission lines to move wind power from the Great Plains wind belt to Chicago and other urban centers.
- Create an Open Fuel Standard for 95% of the new cars sold in the United States (…Ensure that most new cars sold in America are flex-fuel vehicles {FFVs} that can use a variety of fuel types.)
- Dramatically increase funding to develop hydrogen fuel cells.
Should you read this book? Yes. Even if you disagree with Newt Gingrich, he obviously has some great ideas and holds tremendous influence in the development of the United States. It’s important to understand and know how and why our country is changing, and how the United States energy policies affect the world globally. 5 Stars
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