Council Contributes to The Hill’s Blog

On September 9, Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D., vice-chair of the Council on Competitiveness and president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, released the Council’s 100-Day Energy Action Plan for America in a speech at the National Press Club.

A culmination of events have reinforced the need for energy security in the United States, from conflict with Russia over oil in Georgia to China buying up and using minerals and oil reserves at an exponential rate. America must act now. The good news is the Council has a plan for the next president and Congress for how the U.S. can achieve energy security, stimulate energy innovation and job growth, and protect the environment.

The plan presents concrete action steps, not just aspirations, critical to ensuring energy security and sustainability, while steering clear of higher gas prices, fuel rationing, and a national inability to compete in the global market due to high energy costs. It reflects more than a year of collaboration by more than 200 public and private sector leaders, including CEOs, university presidents, organized labor leaders, national laboratory directors, and energy experts.

What sets the Council’s 100-Day Energy Action Plan apart from other plans is the knowledge and leadership of the people driving it. The plan reflects the shared perspective of the nation’s chief executives who face the challenges of global competition; the university presidents who educate the next generation of innovators; and the labor leaders who strive to retain and create quality domestic jobs.

The energy challenge cannot be met with a piecemeal plan, but rather a comprehensive strategy that brings the private sector into the equation. The next president must tackle energy security and sustainability with solutions that provide affordable energy to businesses and consumers create domestic jobs and protect our environment.