Please click on an issue below to learn more about Jim's stance on the issues.
- Understanding The 4th District
- Traditional American Values
- Kansas Economy & Jobs
- National Economy & Jobs
- Constitutional Restoration
- Gun Rights & State Sovereignty
- National Defence & Foreign Policy
- Term Limits
- Education
- Government Spending & Debt
- Governmant Bailouts
- Taxes
- Federal Reserve
- Energy
- Cap & Trade
- Health Care
- Immigration
ENERGY
Let The Free Markets Work & Use All The Resources We Have!
The United States, and certainly Kansas, has been blessed with significant natural resources. My approach to energy policy is quite simple. I believe that the free markets need to be allowed to work, and that the Government needs to stay out of the way.
The supply and demand for energy should dictate price, not Government bureaucrats unconstitutionally picking winners and losers. Conservation will occur naturally, just as we have seen occur with SUVs being replaced by passenger cars. Consumers did it on their own. According to the Department of Energy, by the year 2050, the world’s energy needs are expected to double. We will need any and all sources of economically available energy, including hydrocarbons, nuclear, hydroelectric, and if profitable on a standalone basis, alternative energy sources.
Today, the U.S. is attempting to transition from primarily a hydrocarbon-based society to a non-hydrocarbon based society in record time. The Department of Energy estimates that less than 1% of our total energy needs comes from alternative sources, which means that we will rely on hydrocarbons for a long time to come. We should be exploiting what resources we have, including usage of coal in power production, new nuclear plants, and oil/gas production onshore, offshore, and development of oil shale technologies. All would greatly reduce or eliminate our dependence on foreign oil.
Across America, states like Kansas are fighting the Obama Administration’s efforts to eliminate tax credits that are central to our country’s production of oil and gas, in order to pay for “green jobs.” Aside from the absurd estimates of the number of jobs that will be created from massive subsidies, each job is astronomically expensive, and since the energy produced is more expensive than that produced from natural gas or coal, those who favor this plan fail to consider the economic impacts to our productive society. It also fails to consider the jobs lost from those in the oil and gas fields, as well as the manufacturing sector, and the impact to the taxpayer in order to subsidize it.
As your representative, I will fight to keep the Government out of the way, and let the markets determine what energy we should consume.