Without strong U.S. policy, China is quickly capturing the emerging multibillion-dollar global clean energy industry.

• Uncertainty over U.S. policy is choking growth of this industry here at home.  Passing federal climate and energy legislation will create the market certainty needed to spur investment and grow jobs.
• Energy is the largest industry, by revenue, in the world.  It represents the next breakout technology sector.  Clean energy technology will do for energy what IT has done for information and communications.
• Worldwide demand for new technologies developed to reduce global warming pollution will create a global market potential of more than $180 billion annually, according to government estimates.
• China is spending $12.6 million every hour on clean energy investments. Only six of the top 30 wind, solar and advanced battery technologies are American.[1]
• By eliminating uncertainty, providing clear incentives, and establishing regulatory guidelines, federal policy creates the market signal to spur billions in investment capital, unleash our world-famous innovative entrepreneurs, and enable our state to help lead the clean energy technology revolution.
• As Arkansas business leaders, we have a vested interest in the economic health of our state.  As Arkansas entrepreneurs, we have our finger on the pulse of the state’s economic future.

Given supply and demand projections, fossil fuel prices have nowhere to go but up.  The current economic recession will end, U.S. energy demands will increase, and without action to increase clean efficient energy, our economy will be wrenched by ever-higher more volatile fossil fuel prices.

• The financial crisis we are experiencing now is in part due to our energy posture, according to high-ranking retired military leaders.[2]
• Over the last few decades we have seen fossil fuel prices fluctuate wildly in large part because of increasing demand and decreasing supply.
• Oil has jumped as high as $140 a barrel – sending prices at the pump upwards of $4 a gallon for gasoline.[3] Coal prices also spiked, with the benchmark Central Appalachian coal hitting $175 per short ton.[4]
• The economic downturn has caused those prices to come down temporarily, but still they remain high – gas prices are 40% higher now than in January – and will continue rising once the economy recovers.
• Oil prices are projected to climb to more than $100 a barrel by 2015 and $190 a barrel by 2030 according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).[5]

• There are expensive national security implications of relying so heavily on fossil fuels: we pay for our oil by sending billions of dollars to countries openly hostile to the US.  And because we consume far more than all our reserves, on or offshore, we can never stop that flow of money as long as we are using oil.

High-ranking military leaders have concluded that the economic vulnerability caused by America’s continued reliance on fossil fuels is a threat to national security.

• In a report released May 2009, a panel of high-ranking retired military officials in the country found that the country’s energy posture constitutes a serious and urgent threat to national security – militarily, diplomatically and economically.
• Inefficient use of oil reduces combat effectiveness, and puts our troops more directly in harm’s way.  Ensuring the flow of oil around the world stretches our military thin – and these are the same men and women already fighting wars on two fronts.
• General Charles “Chuck” Wald, a member of the CNA Military Advisory Board, explains, “Price volatility is not limited to oil – natural gas and coal prices also experienced huge spikes in the last year.  While these resources may be plentiful, they are increasingly difficult to access, and have associated impacts, such as slurry spills.  The economic and environmental costs are steep.”
• Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn (USN, Retired) testified to Congress recently that  “our economic, energy, climate change and national security challenges are intertwined and co-dependent. Our past pattern of energy use is responsible, in no small measure, for our economic situation today. If we do not adequately address our nation’s growing energy demand and climate change now, in wise and visionary ways, future financial crises will most certainly dwarf this one.”

1. http://www.commerce.gov/NewsRoom/SecretarySpeeches/PROD01_008262

2. Powering America’s Defense: Energy and the Risks to National Security, CNA May 2009. http://www.cna.org/documents/PoweringAmericasDefense.pdf

3. BBC News, Oil at Record Near $140 a Barrel, June 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7457157.stm.

4. http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/page/coalnews/coalmar.html#spot;

5. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125784836637040853.html#mod=todays_us_page_one. www.iea.org