All-of-the-above is officially the mantra for Republicans when it comes to energy security.
Republicans understand that electricity generation is extraordinarily important to American progress. Without electricity, we can’t play with our iPads, air condition our homes, cook our breakfasts, watch television, get money from the ATM, shop for food, or do just about anything else we need to do on an hourly basis.
It was Benjamin Franklin who first discovered electricity and ever since that time, we have harnessed its power to improve our daily lives.
We manufacture electricity in many different ways in this country. We split atoms to create nuclear energy. We burn coal and natural gas. We build damns that generate power through water. We use energy from the sun. We harness the wind.
Some of these strategies are cleaner than others. Nuclear has no emissions, but leaves toxic waste. Coal mining is dirty, and coal burning pollutes the air (no matter how much the ad campaigns talk about clean coal). Natural gas burns cleaner, but shale fracking requires the use of tons of water, and there are questions about its environmental effects. Solar power, of course, is very clean, but not very predictable. The same can be said for wind power. The wind doesn’t always blow, after all.
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