Security
America’s growing energy demand makes us increasingly dependent on unstable, even adversarial energy-producing countries, such as Russia, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria. Consider that America imports 65% of the oil we consume each year, more than a third of which comes from Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Nigeria, Iraq and Algeria. Where will America find the oil we need to meet demand if these countries embargo oil exports, as they did in the 1970s? How will America meet its energy needs if militant insurgents seize oil supplies – as they threaten to do – in volatile countries like Saudi Arabia, Iraq or Nigeria?
Nuclear energy supplies 20% of America’s electricity and 37% of Virginia’s. America imports 92% of the uranium we use each year to fuel nuclear power, and Virginia imports 100%. Nearly half of America’s nuclear fuel comes from Russia, Namibia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, with 33% imported from Russia alone. This puts America’s national security and energy future at risk. By 2013, all of the uranium America imports from Russia will come from the Kremlin-run uranium enrichment company, Techsnabexport. How will America fuel nuclear energy if the Kremlin cuts off our supply of uranium – as it did to Eastern Europe’s natural gas supply in early 2009?
U.S. electricity demand will increase 25% by 2030. Where will America find the additional energy to meet this growing demand? Instead of sending our money overseas, we should invest in the ample energy resources we have right here in America and in Virginia. No single domestic energy resource will achieve energy independence for America. Therefore, we must use any and all available energy resources. Virginia’s abundant, untapped supplies of uranium, oil, natural gas, coal, wind, biofuel and solar can be part of the solution. By developing and using Virginia’s energy resources, we can protect our national security, achieve American energy independence and create thousands of new jobs in Virginia.
The solutions to our challenges are under our feet, in the wind, in the sun and beneath the ocean floor – right here in America and in Virginia. Let’s use them to cure America’s dependence on foreign energy.
