Hands Off Our Energy

Robert Murray, founder and CEO of Murray Energy Corporation, along with Jerry James of Artex Oil Company and Sam Randazzo of McNees. Wallace and Nurick, LLC, made up the panel at last evenings townhall meeting, “Hands Off Our Energy” in Marietta.

Basically, Mr. Murray and Mr. James were letting attendees know how some of the regulations set by the government were impacting their industries. We don't always realize that what looks like a good idea on paper, is often a bad idea in practice. Both industries spend a lot of their time and resources navigating the red tape system so they can open new mines and drill new wells. These companies provide jobs, and a lot of them. They are capable of producing cheap, domestic energy in it's various forms and can continue to do so long into the future if we can keep the government out of their businesses and let them do what they know how to do.

I like cheap energy. It allows me a pretty nice standard of living.

But alas, American Electric Power has requested PUCO approve their plan to increase electric rates. Some more. AEP has been increasing rates by six to eight percent per year for the last several years. Their argument, in part, is so they have the ability to cover the costs of building and operating a solar facility in Noble County. While solar sounds nice to greenies, those of us who live in the real world know that solar doesn't work very well here in Ohio. Electricity generated by coal is the cheapest way to go. Period. Generating electricity by solar or wind is three to four times costlier plus you have to figure in the cost of the government subsides that is paid for by taxpayers.

According to my last electric bill, we pay 13 cents per kwh. If we have to use electricity generated by one of the alternative sources mandated by the government, we'll have to pay between 39 and 52 cents per kwh. So, I take what money I have left over and go buy something. Since the electricity rate has increased, that business I want to purchase something from has increased costs of doing business and has to raise their prices to pay their bills. They in turn have to buy from their suppliers who also have increased costs and on and on and on. So, that rate increase has a rippling effect. Add in the increased taxes that all of us have to pay to subsidize the worthless sources of energy...

The bottom line is, the government (state and federal are guilty here), has decided that we need to utilize clean energy more and more until we get to 25% by 2025. Economically speaking, this is stupid.

The standard of living to which we have become accustomed has a lot to do with cheap energy. Increasing energy costs will lower our standard of living. If energy prices continue on the trajectory that they are currently on, or increase in velocity, we all will start looking for ways to cut back on our consumption out of necessity. Unlike the federal government, most households have to live within a budget. Now our standard of living starts to drop and another ripple...