Hefner on the Topic of UK Energy Policy
- 1992, Paper “An Econergenic Policy for 21st Century America”: “If we [the U.S.] are unable to kick our oil addiction, as was the case with England and its coal addiction early in the 20th century, we, too, like England will fall dramatically from our position of economic supremacy.”
- 2002, Booklet, “Energy and the U.S. Marketplace”: On U.K. deregulation: “Although in the U.S. we talk about energy deregulation and in certain areas believe we have accomplished it, consumers of electricity and natural gas in the United States, particularly households and small businesses, have virtually no choice of suppliers as compared to consumers in the U.K. There, real, competitive choices exist in a system with real deregulation…U.K. customers can choose between 20 electricity suppliers and 24 natural gas suppliers. Since 1998, 6.5 million gas customers and 9.1 million electric customers have switched. Deregulation in the U.K. has brought down consumer prices and has lowered carbon emissions per unit of GDP…In the five years from 1994 to 1999, natural gas’s share of the U.K.’s power generation market increased from 15% to over 38%.”
- 2006, January 25, Booklet, “Our Global Energy Future: Asia’s Opportunity,” from Singapore speech: “England has now surpassed the U.S. in its percentage of natural gas use vs. coal, with natural gas consumption in England accounting for 37.4% of total energy consumed versus 24.4% in the U.S.”
- 2012, October 31, Article submitted for Energy Focus journal: “The current direction of energy policy in the UK, in my opinion, is not wholly in the interest of the British people, their environment, or the global challenge of climate change. I say this because a responsible energy policy must have two simultaneous goals: to improve the general environment and, equally important, foster economic growth, not inhibit it, particularly in challenging economic times. Energy policy must not only be environmentally sustainable, but, for its long-term success, must also be fiscally and economically sustainable.”
- 2012, May 30, Op-Ed submitted to Financial Times: “The UK is rushing toward an energy, economic and fiscal disaster that is being codified/ratified by the coalition’s energy bill…What we must all remember, particularly the policymakers and, hopefully, the environmentalists, is that energy sustainability does not mean only environmental sustainability, but also and equally important, it must mean economic and fiscal sustainability. If not, environmental sustainability will never be achieved because it must go hand-in-hand with economic growth, jobs and a fiscally and financially sound and solid nation.”
- 2012, November 7, Speech, “Shale & Unconventional Gas” conference, London: “In today’s challenging, debt-ridden economic times, a responsible energy policy must not be one that diminishes economic growth for the 30-50 years of an energy infrastructure, as is happening today in the UK. No, a responsible energy policy must accommodate energy sources that act to accelerate the economy, to grow the economy over decades to come. Today, the UK’s attempt to force wind and solar and nuclear energy into the economy are doing just the opposite…A responsible UK energy policy should not lock in more taxes on the British people and put more brakes on its economic system for another 30-50 years in order to force in more wind and solar…And, why in the world would the UK want to lock in electric bills at possibly twice the current cost or more than is being paid today so the French can build and lock in a profit on a multi-billion dollar nuclear plant [in the UK] that will not be ready until 2021?”
- 2012, November 14, remarking to a House of Lords member on acreage needed for shale gas development and environmental implications: “With modern technology 10 to 15 shale gas wells can be drilled from one five acre pad with only two acres needed permanently for the production facilities. More important, wind installations are of greater density and permanent, whereas drilling rigs are temporary.”