Energy Expo
|  Video
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| Amanda Tetlak |
| 11/9/2009 |
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| Energy is one of North Dakota`s top industries, attracting attention from all across the country. Leaders of the energy sector are meeting in Bismarck to talk about how North Dakota will be a major player in making our country energy independent. The annual Great Plains Energy Expo is organized by Senator Byron Dorgan and this year`s event hailed some influential people in the industry. Federal Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar says climate change is real, and Congress needs to take steps in protecting the planet for future generations. "I can see it when I visit lake Superior and the temperature has climbed five degrees," says Salazar. Salazar will be on the team drafting Climate Change Legislation that will get the votes it needs to pass the Senate. But critics say it will only be a tax on Americans. "Should this bill pass, North Dakota families and businesses will face higher energy costs each and every time they flip on a light switch, start a car or delivery truck, or even manufacture a product," says LeRoy Coleman, of the Republican National Convention. "Bottom line, jobs would be lost." But Salazar says that will be the exact thing the team will work to avoid as they put together the plan. "It is important to recognize that we need to protect consumers and we need to protect the economy of the United States of America and I think the ultimate formulation of an energy and climate change bill will in fact do that," he says. Salazar says North Dakota`s traditional energy sources will play a big part in the legislation. Not just through carbon capture technology, but also oil, as experts predict production could jump another 50-percent next year. "We have leased out a number of acres, about 70,000 acres just since January for oil and gas production in North Dakota and that`s part of this energy future that Senator Dorgan talks about. I think oil and natural gas will be significant participants in our energy future no matter what," Salazar says. He says with all of its abundant resources, North Dakota is at the point of the spear in energy`s future. Salazar says he and Senator Dorgan will also be working to get rid of some of the red tape standing in the way of oil production on reservations. The expo concludes tomorrow. |
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