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Frost: boosting domestic production of oil and gas, reducing trade barriers

Former Congressman Martin Frost, on behalf of Council for a Secure America, says the ongoing energy crisis in Europe is a cautionary tale for the U.S.

“There’s been an effort to increase alternative energy sources like wind and solar. Those are important for us in the long term, but we can’t switch to alternative energy overnight. In fact, there’s a long transition period and we’re going to continue to need oil and gas for domestic purposes as well as for our national defense,” he says. “Some countries like Germany had decided to switch rapidly to alternative energy sources, but now that the Russians are cutting off energy supplies, they’ve found they still need conventional sources. While we support the movement for alternative energy sources, we can’t put all of our eggs in that basket. We’re going to need traditional sources of oil and gas for a very long time for our purpose here and relationship with the rest of the world.”

Frost tells Brownfield the U.S. must continue to support domestic production of oil and natural gas and reduce trade barriers.

Both, he says, can benefit rural America.   

“In some cases, those are the best jobs that people in those areas will ever have whether they’re driving a fracking truck or whether they’re working on a rig, they can make more money working in the oil fields than they can anything else. This is very important to the economy of rural areas,” he says. “It’s also important because of royalty interest. An awful lot of people in Texas and all over the country have royalty interest dating back years. In some cases, people in the rural areas use those royalty checks to supplement their agricultural income, particularly in bad times. So, it’s very important for our own economy and it’s important for our relationship with the rest of the world.”

He says the new Congress will likely consider energy policies.

“The new Congress is closely divided. There are people in both parties who have been traditional supporters of the oil and gas industry,” he says. “I think we’ll see some legislation perhaps making it easier to have new pipelines and making it possible to continue drilling.”  

The Texas Democrat represented the Dallas-Ft. Worth area from 1979 to 2005. He is currently serving as secretary and director for the Council for a Secure America.

Audio: Martin Frost

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