Herman Cain: Green energy is a joke (Video and transcript)

Speaking at the October 22, 2011 Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition Presidential Forum, Herman Cain suggested that the “right fuel” can jumpstart the nation’s economic recovery:

We have the greatest economic engine on the planet. It’s sputtering right now, because we have an economic crisis. Our economy is on life support, but when it receives the right fuel, no other nation on the planet can touch it.

 

Cain answered two questions about energy policy at the event, which was sponsored by the Iowa Energy Forum, the local arm of the American Petroleum Institute sponsored America’s Energy Forum.

Transcript of Herman Cain’s comments on energy independence and the EPA: 

Moderator: Thank you Mr. Cain. More and more Americans are coming to the realization that specific energy policies affect our jobs and our economy. What is your comprehensive plan to shape your future administration’s energy policy, and please include how this approach differs from our current administration.

Cain: The current administration doesn’t have a policy. We will have an energy independence strategy, because America has the resources to become energy independent.  

We have enough oil, coal, natural gas, shale oil. We have the resources to become energy independent. And my team is already working on putting that strategy together.

Because energy independence is not only an economic imperative, it is a national security imperative. Because we do not need to be dependent on foreign oil from countries that do not like us. So this is why we are going to become energy independent.

Now, the first barrier that some people like to say that we will have in doing that, is that the EPA, it won’t let us do that. Well, as President of the United States, I will make sure that the EPA has an attitude adjustment. They work for us.

Transcript of Herman Cain’s comments on energy efficient light bulbs and green energy:

Moderator: If you could reserve one energy related policy decision from the last three years, what would it be? And what would you have done differently?

Cain: If I could have reversed one related energy policy over the last three years, what would it have been?

I would have allowed the American people to decide what kind of light bulbs they want to put in their homes. America believes in choice.

Green energy is a joke.

You ought to be able to pick what kind of light bulb you want. That’s why we call this Faith and Freedom Coalition.

 

Complete video of the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition Presidential Forum is available on C-Span:

http://www.c-span.org/Events/GOP-Candidates-Talk-Faith-and-Freedom-in-Iowa/10737424895/

1:09:15

Herman Cain talks gas prices in New Hampshire (Video)

On Monday, 2012 Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain attended a Memorial Day house party in Rye, New Hampshire hosted by local Tea Party activist Diane Bitter. The former CEO of Godfather's Pizza dedicated much of his speech to discussing gas prices and energy policy.

Transcript of Herman Cain's comments on energy:

Let’s just talk about the energy situation. We have enough resources to become energy independent. We’ve got oil. We’ve got coal. We’ve got shale oil. We’ve got natural gas. The Congressional Research Service has documented the fact if we were smart enough to pull all of our energy resources together, we could be energy independent for 50 years, but that’s probably not going to happen because we can’t pull them all together that quick.

So that’s the good news. We’ve got plenty of resources, but we’ve never had a plan to take advantage of those resources.

Now one of the things I plan to do, which I’ve already started on, is to develop an energy independence plan and announce it to the world. As soon as we announce it to the world, speculators are going to stop speculating up and they’re going to start speculating down, and we won’t be at the mercy of King Abdullah and the boys – OPEC.

It is not only a matter of economics, because oil drives the price of gasoline. Gasoline is now hovering around $4 a gallon. When it reaches a national average of around $4 a gallon, that’s what’s called the tipping point, which means that most Americans are not able to buy gas for their cars to go to work or to take kids to school without pulling it out of another discretionary item.

And at that tipping point, the higher it goes above $4 a gallon, the more downward pressure it puts on what little economic growth we have. And right now it is anemic, just in the first quarter it was only 1.8 percent – 1.8 percent. Compare that to China is growing at 10 percent, compounded, even though it’s on a much smaller base.

So not only is it an economic threat, it is also a national security threat, because what do you think China is going to do if their economy becomes as big as ours, which on a one on one basis, they’re going to be about as big as us in about 15 years, but if you take out the differences in exchange rates they’re going to be as big as us in about 5 years it terms of what they call purchasing power parity. 5 years!

What do you think the Chinese are going to do with all that extra economy and all of that extra money that they can confiscate from their workers if they wanted to because they still are a communist country?

Military! They want a military as capable as ours. They want a nuclear arsenal as big and as powerful as ours. So it becomes a national security threat.

Oil and energy is also a national security threat. I think you haven’t heard many people running for office break it down like this. Here’s why. There was an article today by a Saudi prince who said – I read the article - they want to increase the supply so you can drive down the price of oil, so you can drive down the price of gasoline, quote ‘So the United States and Europe will not look for alternative sources of developing their own energy.’ We’re at their mercy because we have not been forward acting enough to develop the resources we have here.

And so when President Obama went to Brazil, loaned them $2 billion or $4 billion – our money – and tells them America’s going to be Brazil’s best customer for oil? Let me tell you what the Cain doctrine is. America’s going to be its own best customer for oil because we’re going to drill here…

So a reporter from the Washington Post here was asking me, he said, ‘Well Mr. Cain, how you going to get that done, why aren’t they doing it now?’

They don’t want to. Pure and simple. I believe that this administration wants us to be dependent on other people around the world, because I happen to believe that this administration and others want a weaker America.

He said, ‘Well what are you going to do to accelerate development of drilling for oil in this country and accelerate the development of shale oil, all of these other things?’

Well, first of all, the EPA is the biggest barrier. I’m going to put together what I call my regulatory reduction commission… I’m going to do one for the EPA. I’m going to do one for the Interior Department…

Audience: Education!

Cain: Education, yup education, we may not need a commission for that one.

And here’s whose going to sit on that commission. Let me first tell you about one of my management principles. If you want to know the solution to a problem, go talk to the people closest to the problem. So on my EPA regulatory reduction commission, I am going to appoint people who have been abused by the EPA.

If we want to know what we need to do to speed up the permitting process, to speed up the exploration process, talk to the people who have been abused.

Shell Oil was abused a few weeks ago. They spent $2 billion, $4 billion. They spent $4 billion off the coast of Alaska, you know, doing that work to basically get ready to drill and then this administration said last minute, ‘We’re not going to give you the permit because the fumes from your drilling might impact a small town 70 miles away with 200 people.’ They didn’t want to do it the first place.

Somebody said, ‘Well what would you do if your Environmental Protection Agency said you shouldn’t do it because there is going to be some damage to that town of 200 people?’ 

Move ‘em! Think about this!

Now I don’t have a problem… first of all I would make sure, I would want to look at the science. I would want somebody to convince me that, in fact, the people were going to be harmed by that. But you and I know that sometimes they can make stuff up to prove what it is they want to do.

I would say, ‘Show me the science.’ And if in fact the science said that’s going to be the case, move ‘em! We can find places for them: Arizona.

But my point is this: We need common sense. We need some common sense relative to energy, entitlement spending and all of these other programs. 

Video (energy comments start at 12:46) 

Herman Cain Presidential Exploratory Committee

At the age of 65, Herman Cain is looking to add another line to his already impressive resume. Yesterday, the longtime food industry entrepreneur and radio talk show host announced the formation of the Herman Cain Presidential Exploratory Committee.

Cain's bio is the stuff of American dreams, the rags to riches tale of a poor African American boy from Atlanta who would go on to work his way to the top of some of the nation's leading corporations, including Burger King, Coco Cola, and the Pillsbury Company. As CEO and President of Godfather's Pizza, he pulled a struggling company back from the abyss and returned it to profitability in just 14 months. Now Cain wants to do the same for America.

If he does run, Cain looks to focus heavily on the issue of taxes. You can find information about his FairTax plan on wsbradio.com.