Press Releases

Today, Senate Western Caucus Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY), Congressional Western Caucus Chairman Stevan Pearce (R-NM), and members of the Senate and Congressional Western Caucuses released the "Beyond Belief: The Obama Administration's All Out, None-of-the-Above Energy Strategy" report.

The report highlights the Obama Administration’s “say one thing, do another” approach to electricity production.  President Obama has touted his “all-of-the-above” energy plan in every possible forum,  from his State of the Union addresses to the White House website.  Meanwhile, his Administration and its allies in the extreme environmental activist community continue to actively shut off American electricity production. 

“In spite of their rhetoric, the Obama Administration and its allies have repeatedly taken action to turn off electricity production across America,” said Barrasso.  “They’ve shut down coal plants, undermined nuclear power, and shipped taxpayer funded green jobs overseas.  It’s time for President Obama to take action to support American energy development and good jobs across the country.”

"As it was in the frontier days of the late 19th century, the West remains an economic engine for our country with boundless opportunities,” said Pearce.  “However, the hypocrisy of the Obama Administration's energy policies continues to hamper job creators and handcuff America's energy producers.  Our leader's need to understand that the key to prosperity lies in the West and must put policies in place to unleash that potential."

Background:

Key Findings from the Report:

This report highlights the roadblocks to electricity production by the Obama Administration and its allies. 

·         Coal and Natural Gas -Carbon intensive energy such as coal and natural gas is being blocked in the name of climate change through oppressive regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other federal agencies, and lawsuits by environmental activist groups. 

·         Hydropower -The President ignored hydropower in his energy plan’s website, and nominated an official (Rebecca Wodder) to be Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife at the Department of the Interior who actively campaigned against hydropower while being head of American Rivers.  That group and other allied activist groups continue to pursue hydro-dam removals.

·         Nuclear Energy -The President appointed an official to be Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (Gregory Jaczko) at the request of Majority Leader Harry Reid, who was hostile to nuclear power and actively worked against its development with the support of allied activist groups. 

·         Windand Solar - The President has overstated the importance of renewable energies, such as solar and wind power, making the case that these energy resources should be the centerpiece of America’s electricity mix.  The federal government’s own Energy Information Administration (EIA) tells a different story.  It projects that electricity generation from all renewable sources (including hydropower) will be only 15 percent of the total share of electricity generation in the U.S. by 2035. 

♦  In addition, the President’s investments in companies to develop solar power with taxpayer dollars, such as Solyndra, have failed.

♦  The President also refuses to admit that solar and wind power are meeting stiff resistance from environmental allies because they are viewed by these groups as “land hog” energy sources that require thousands upon thousands of acres to develop leaving a large footprint on the landscape. 

Click here to read report.