WASHINGTON – U.S. Congresswoman Candice Miller (MI-10) today renewed her call for the President and the Administration to open up additional areas for domestic energy exploration. Miller said the following:

“It is very unfortunate that the President continues on the path of making it more difficult to advantage ourselves of domestic supplies of energy which only continues our dependence on foreign sources. This misguided policy causes American energy consumers to pay ever higher prices at the pump and to heat their homes. This is absolutely the wrong approach and we cannot afford to continue this path.

“Our current dependence on foreign sources of energy forces the transfer of hundreds of billions of dollars of American wealth every year to foreign nations. It also accounts for an enormous share of our annual trade deficit. By opening up more of our nation’s energy reserves to exploration we will keep more of our wealth in America, create millions of new jobs and lower energy prices for American families and job creators which will help us to grow the American economy instead of those of foreign adversaries.

“We cannot as a nation continue to block oil and gas exploration and production in places like the Arctic Coastal Plain, areas of the Outer Continental Shelf and oil shale regions of the American West which contains the largest unexploited hydrocarbon resource on Earth. We must also start the process to ramp up permitting for nuclear power plants, clean coal plants and coal to liquid energy programs. This Administration is even dragging their feet on the pipeline that will allow us to import oil from Western Canada which represents a stable and friendly source of energy. We need to move immediately to breakdown the logjams stopping the U.S. from advantaging ourselves of our own natural resources and keep the prices at the gas pump from putting a further strain on American families and small businesses.

“This is why I am proud to join as an original cosponsor of the Roadmap for America’s Energy Future which was introduced today by Congressman Devin Nunes (CA-21). This comprehensive energy legislation will help make our nation more energy independent, create millions of jobs here at home and will focus on tackling all of America’s energy needs. This legislation also will use the proceeds from leases and royalties derived from domestic energy exploration to fund a Renewable Energy Trust Fund that will assist in developing alternative energy technologies to prepare our nation for the future. This fund will force alternative energy providers to compete in a market based approach that will determine which technologies receive funding instead of having government pick winners and losers. This will allow the federal government to assist in moving innovative technologies forward while not adding one dime to our national debt.

“I believe this innovative and common sense approach to meeting America’s energy needs is the direction we must move forward as a nation. It will help us grow our economy and create jobs here at home, reduce our dependence of foreign sources of energy and prepare our nation for a brighter energy future. The time to take action is now.”

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