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It’s an honor to be back at the University of New Hampshire; a university that has distinguished itself as
a leader in academics, research and innovation. A few minutes ago I visited your cogeneration plant, which has
earned national accolades. Using processed landfill gas, it serves as this campus's primary energy source –
powering your gymnasium, your dorm rooms and to the dislike of some, your lecture halls. By taking more
control of its energy supply, the university benefits from a stable energy source and predictable energy prices.
So, the need to make our nation itself energy secure is what I’d like to address today. We are all too familiar with
the statistics. Fifty years ago, President Eisenhower warned we should import no more than 20 percent of our oil.
Today we import 60 percent. Energy security can no longer be a catchphrase; it will be a driving force behind
my administration's agenda. Because this is an issue critical to solving two of America's most urgent
challenges: putting people back to work, and ending our heroin-like addiction to foreign oil. Every year we
send $300 billion – half our trade deficit – overseas for oil, to unstable and unfriendly regimes. 300 billion
dollars to our competitors and nations with whom we have nothing more than a transactional relationship. I
want that money going to American energy suppliers, spent in American stores, saved in American banks, and
invested in American communities to create American jobs. That’s just one economic aspect of our dependence
on foreign imports. 10 of our last 11 recessions were preceded by sharp spikes in the price of oil. Three years
ago, it was the doubling of oil prices that helped bring our economy to its knees. When prices rise, and motorists
and truckers have no choice but to pay more at the pump, it depresses economic growth. Energy drives
everything we do. How can we stabilize our economy when its most fundamental building block is controlled in
large part by despots and dictators half a world away? Even if a political crisis doesn’t threaten oil supplies,
increased demand from China, India and other developing countries will lead to permanently heightened prices
that exceed the highs of 2008. Today oil remains in the high 80’s despite a global recession. Imagine where
prices will be when the global economy recovers. Ladies and gentlemen, for the sake of America’s economic and
national security, we must unshackle ourselves from the scourge of foreign oil. So how do we do that? There
are three basic steps that need to be taken. First, America is drowning in energy resources. So we must remove
the regulatory constraints on the production of domestic energy. Second, we need to break oil's monopoly as a
transportation fuel, and create a truly level playing field for competing fuels. Third, we need to build an
environment that will incubate the next generation of energy technologies and ensure that America leads the
global energy economy in the decades to come. So number one, we must increase domestic production. Oil is a
plentiful resource across America. From the Gulf of Mexico to Alaska, our country has abundant untapped
resources. Yes, there is a balancing act between utilizing our resources and maintaining the integrity of our
oceans and forests. But there is no reason drilling cannot be safely conducted in the Gulf, across the states and in
Alaska. It's important to note that from beginning to end - that is, from initial geologic survey to the time oil
reaches the gas pump - it can take ten years. Regulations and approvals for new wells and pipelines need to be
streamlined and directed to “move at the speed of business.” President Reagan created a mechanism for the
swift resolution of regulatory delays without sacrificing safety. With one in ten Americans out of work, the same
approach must be duplicated again. On top of the resources available here in our own country, our friend and ally
Canada has enormous energy reserves. In fact, America imports twice as much oil from Canada as Saudi Arabia,
and our neighbor is increasing production every day. There are 170 billion barrels of oil in Alberta’s oil sands –
more reserves than in all of Iraq. Yet lawsuits and legislation threaten to block access to this resource. My
administration will stand behind the Keystone pipeline, creating more than 100,000 American jobs while
reducing our dependence on overseas imports. Every barrel from a friend is one less from a foe. Hydraulic
fracturing is also an opportunity to expand our domestic energy production. Because of fracking and its
companion, parallel drilling, the United States has surpassed Russia as the world’s leading producer of natural
gas. As we speak, fracking is leading a manufacturing revival across the Midwest in cities like Youngstown,
Ohio, where hundreds of jobs are being created. Unlocking vast new oil deposits, like in North Dakota’s Bakken
Field, also will come through fracking. Hydraulic fracking has been used on more than one million wells using
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