Today’s American farmer feeds about 165 people worldwide. Last year, utility-scale facilities in the U.S. generated more than 4 trillion kWh of electricity. The energy and agriculture industries power our economy, but they also face many uncertainties, from weather patterns to commodity prices. We have to eliminate the uncertain cost of complying with regulations mandated by the federal government. Dozens of current energy infrastructure projects have been held up for years in order to comply with federal and state review processes, while our nation’s farmers can be overloaded with new regulations coming from far-away federal agencies.
- Beginning farmers can expect to invest more than $800,000 in the first few years in their farms but typically don’t see a profit for five to seven years. With heavy start-up costs, regulatory compliance costs shouldn’t be another barrier to entry.
- With a lower regulatory burden, Texas natural gas export facilities could create more than 136,000 jobs, with an economic impact of more than $145 billion.
- The Department of Energy estimates “brown outs” cost businesses $150 billion per year in lost productivity. Regulatory innovation can allow U.S. energy production to operate efficiently and provide uninterrupted service to communities and businesses.