This week, CEA takes a step back from the various issues that concern us each day, to celebrate energy – in all its forms – and remind consumers, lawmakers and producers all over the country of the importance of standing together, to promote the policies that sustain us all.
CEA is proud to be the host of this year’s Energy Day, an event that promotes energy in all of its forms and celebrates the fundamental role that it serves in our lives. Energy is everywhere. While we debate the best practices for producing shale gas, we do so in buildings supplied with light and heat. When we go online to read about the newest wind power projects all around the country, we are again tapping into a vast network that runs on electricity. Virtually all of us use energy in our homes, our work places and to move from one place to another.
We are all free to choose how we consume and how we conserve our power, but we are all consumers to a greater or lesser extent. And while there is great value in engaging in debate over where we drill for oil, and which renewable sources we invest in, we should not lose sight of the reality that energy makes modern life possible. When that energy is produced here at home, it makes our country stronger and more secure. Only by recognizing that reality will we be able to move toward the best practices for producing it and conserving it.
This year’s Energy Day, which will be held on October 12 in Washington, DC, marks an especially momentous year for the energy industry, which saw the tragic accident in the Gulf, a persistent economic downturn, and increased commitment to sources of sustainable power. Today, the energy industry is grappling with the best ways to allow production in our oil and gas-rich regions in a manner that is both safe and economically feasible. It is working to preserve — and hopefully create – the sort of well-paying jobs that have too often moved overseas. And it is increasingly incorporating energy generated from the sun, the wind, geothermal springs and other less developed sources of alternative power. It will take all of these efforts and more to sustain and strengthen our domestic power sector.
Visit our Energy Day Web site to learn more about the event and the long list of members, from farmers to truckers, manufacturing groups and homebuilders groups who are participating. By understanding the need for secure sources of energy that we all share, we are better able to agree on policies that will serve us.
