John Cox's Energy Plan

Candidate for the Republican nomination John Cox yesterday released his Energy Plan, outlining energy independance for the United States by 2025.

Press release from Cox 2008.

The five-point plan outlines ways in which America can wean itself off foreign sources of energy.

"We cannot continue to send money overseas, funding our enemies and increasing the chances that they will use that money to finance terrorism against us," he said. "Ensuring safe, clean domestically produced sources of energy is a national security issue as much as it is an energy issue. We must begin now to encourage the free market to develop solutions that government has thus far been unable to provide."

1. More Domestic Exploration - "As a first step, we must drill for more oil in Alaska. We must explore the ANWR region, and do it in an environmentally safe way. Expanded capacity is vital for our nation's energy needs."

2. Energy Diversity - "We have become addicts to oil. That must end. Nuclear and clean coal technologies offer huge benefits. Among them are dramatic lessening of our dependence on foreign or even domestic oil. The key to energy independence is diversification of the resources we use."

3. Long-Term Solutions - "Wind, solar and other sources of energy can be exploited far more than they have up until now. Renewable energy sources such as these hold the promise of complete independence from fossil fuels. The free market is capable of creating cleaner burning gasoline engines, electric and hydrogen powered cars and other technologies we haven't even dreamed of. As president, I would use the Bully Pulpit to encourage growth and innovation in the energy sector."

4. End All Subsidies for Big Oil - "We must make the playing field level. Giving subsidies to oil companies requires US to give subsidies to other energy sectors. Ethanol producers require subsidies to keep up with oil companies. Then, oil companies require more subsidies. Subsidies create campaign contributions for politicians, but they interfere with the free market, where most of the energy innovations will come from in the coming decades."

5. End The IRS - "While seemingly unrelated to energy, our current tax system actually stifles competition, sucking capital out of the economy and slowing development of new technologies. Replacing the IRS with a FairTax that taxes consumption, not capital, would put billions back into the economy and allow investment in renewable energy and new, more efficient technologies that could save billions in energy costs each year."