You Can’t Take Anything for Granted

One thing any small business person knows—or finds out very quickly—is that you can’t take anything for granted. You have to always be looking ahead, thinking, and planning. That’s the kind of outlook that our country needs, especially when it comes to issues that affect every individual and business.

Energy is something that we all should be thinking about. It’s foundational to our society. We need oil to fuel our cars, gas to power the factories creating electricity that lights our homes and businesses and powers our computers. We need a large supply of energy to provide for our needs, but we also want affordable energy—every penny we spend on our utility bill is money that could have been invested in something else, like employees, equipment, or product development.

Thanks to incredible innovation in shale energy, our outlook in the energy sector is better than it’s ever been. North America is home to the most extensive shale deposits in the world, giving us potential access to massive supplies of regionally produced oil and gas.

Others around the world are very quickly noticing these new developments, and they’re taking steps that will enable them to take advantage of the new status quo. For example, Total SA, a French oil company, just invested $2.32 billion in shale fields in Ohio. A number of foreign companies have been making moves in North America, as they identify the direction things are moving and look for ways to position themselves.

Chinese energy companies have been even more aggressive. PetroChina spent close to $2.5 billion and now has full control of the MacKay River oil-sands project in Canada. Meanwhile, Sinopec has invested money in a variety of Canadian ventures, including a stake in a plan to build a pipeline from Alberta to British Columbia (from which oil could be shipped across the Pacific to China), as well as $4.6 billion invested in Syncrude, a massive Canadian oil producer, among others.

Too many of our politicians take our energy situation for granted. It’s enough for them that we don’t have rolling blackouts, with little thought given either to the future or to ways to make energy more affordable.

Just two months ago, the Obama administration punted on a decision to build a pipeline from Alberta to the Gulf Coast, one that would carry 510,000 barrels of oil per day and create as many as 100,000 jobs. The state of New York has had a moratorium on shale development for years. Everyone expects to see the federal government weigh in on hydraulic fracturing and other energy developments soon.

Pundits love to guess what the next big thing will be. Well, the next big thing in energy is here, and it’s all about tapping into the energy reserves we have right below us. We can’t take anything for granted. It’s time to take advantage of this great opportunity for increasing energy independence, creating jobs, and reducing energy prices.