David Holt: Time to speak up for offshore drilling

Greenville Online | Monday, January 25, 2016 | David Holt

When you look at the basic components of producing food, they all require energy.

“And quite frankly, a lot of it,” says Cathy Novinger, executive director of the Palmetto Agribusiness Council in South Carolina. “It has got to be affordable, and it has got to be available. If you are growing rice, it can be up to 40 percent of the production cost.”

Novinger’s comments, which were made at Consumer Energy Alliance’s recent Atlantic Energy Forum in Columbia, illustrate how energy touches our everyday lives in ways we don’t see, from the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and the cars we drive, to the shampoo we use, the medication we consume, and the carpet we walk on.

It is why we need more of it if we’re to continue a domestic energy revolution that is not only producing greater quantities of electricity, but also mass-producing jobs, economic growth, government revenue, and lower prices for utility bills, gasoline, and consumer goods.

In order to do that, we’ll need to develop a responsible yet effective long-term, all-of-the-above energy policy that utilizes every onshore and offshore resource available to us, including fossil fuels, nuclear, solar, wind, and biofuels.

For South Carolina, that includes energy resources in the Atlantic Ocean.

Read the full op-ed here.