Ted Cruz Calls for Unshackling Energy Producers

Image: Gage Skidmore

Senator Ted Cruz recently proposed the “American Energy Renaissance Act” to (among other things) allow more energy development on federally controlled lands, limit federal regulation of fracking, and limit the power of the Environmental Protection Agency to throttle energy production.

Cruz said:

A Great American Energy Renaissance is at our fingertips. There is only one thing that will stop us from embracing it to its full potential: the federal government. Nothing else will stop the next generation of American energy pioneers. It won’t be lack of determination, ingenuity, or grit. It will be some faceless bureaucrat who simply says, "You’re not allowed to do that."

Despite federal controls, American energy producers have dramatically expanded the production of domestic oil and natural gas, reducing the need for American businesses to use imported energy, keeping consumer prices relatively low, and providing work for millions of Americans. Cruz is right that restraining the federal government’s power to throttle energy producers will substantially free them to continue and expand their work.

Although Cruz’s proposal represents only a small step toward the full protection of the rights of energy producers, if passed it would substantially unshackle American producers from government restraints.

Related:

• The Assault on Energy Producers
• Ted Cruz and Atlas Shrugged Against ObamaCare

About David Biederman

David Biederman enjoys a career as a production engineer for a independent oil and gas producer. He earned a diploma in petroleum engineering technology in Canada and a petroleum engineering degree in the United States. David is also a researcher and writer for the Center For Industrial Progress.

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