Billy Long: With Trump, we will finally have a pro-energy president

(From Seventh District Congressman Billy Long)

January 20, 2017, will mark a new era for energy. For the first time in 8 years, we will have a pro-energy president who believes in an all-of-the-above approach to solving some of the energy challenges we are facing in the 21st century.

Though advances in technology have increased U.S. oil and gas production, we are still not a country that is utilizing all of its potential. As a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee and Energy and Power Subcommittee, I have seen firsthand the importance of an all-of-the-above approach to energy independence. Unfortunately, we have relied too much on buying oil from other countries than relying on our own natural resources.

The Keystone XL Pipeline and Dakota Access Pipeline are recent examples of our president's policies hindering energy and job growth.

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for 21st Century Energy, the Keystone XL Pipeline would have created 20,000 manufacturing and construction jobs, and for Missouri specifically, those numbers would have been 576 jobs by 2015 and 1,015 jobs by 2020. Along with creating jobs, the pipeline would have also increased personal income by $6.5 billion for American workers during the span of the project.

Even after being aware of the benefits and knowing that there would be little to no effect on carbon dioxide emissions, the President was swayed by private interests and politics rather than doing what was right.

On November 18, 2016, the Obama administration released its five-year plan for offshore oil and natural gas lease sales. It once again proved that the President would rather enact last minute rules and regulations than go through Congress. This plan listed the Arctic as off limits for both oil and natural gas lease sales.

With the Arctic being resource-rich, it's unacceptable to cut off any chance of exploring economic possibilities that could increase jobs and advance our goal of energy independence.

I will continue to fight for an all-of-the-above approach to energy. With President-elect Donald Trump taking office in January, I know the United States will once again be the pro-energy and job growth country it once was.