A policy expert with the Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) says blocking domestic drilling doesn’t save the environment.
IWF senior policy analyst Nicole Kurokawa says blocking domestic energy development — processes such as oil drilling and coal production — only forces the U.S. to buy energy from countries that have little to no environmental protection laws, and the few laws those countries do have are not enforced.
“We know that our domestic oil production is clean, we know our domestic oil production is safe,” Kurokawa argues. “And we really should diversify that as much as possible aside from a foreign policy angle, but from an environmental angle.”
Kurokawa believes the domestic fossil fuel industry is getting a bad reputation regardless of its efficiency.
“We have inspectors who go and look at the water tables and look at the soil contamination — and then when there is a problem, that is cleaned up. That’s not necessarily taking place elsewhere,” she continues.
“I honestly don’t think that’s taking place in Venezuela, or in the Middle East, or in China. So not only from the ground when it comes out is it cleaner in America, [but] when we process it, it is cleaner in America. So we are using energy, but we are using it in a very efficient and clean manner.”
