Reps. Doug Lamborn and Scott Tipton: It should be common sense that reforming energy policy is essential to economic growth in the West

Congressmen Doug Lamborn and Scott Tipton write today in the Denver Post:

One of the most obvious ways to grow our Western energy production is by eliminating excessive government regulations and encouraging environmentally responsible development...

Recently, the Western Energy Alliance, a Denver-based coalition of independent Western energy producers, released a comprehensive report on the impact of government regulations on Western jobs and energy production...

The study concludes that if Western producers are allowed to develop the vast domestic energy resources found on public lands, investment in the region will double to $58 billion annually by 2020, and direct, indirect, and induced jobs will increase by 16 percent. Included in the coalition's recommendations are:

• A thorough review and comprehensive reform of the entire federal on-shore process, including leasing, project environmental analysis, and permitting;
• A moratorium on new and expanded layers of regulation; and
• Limits to litigation that unreasonably obstruct domestic energy production and economic growth.

These recommendations would strike most ordinary Americans as common sense and straightforward. Unfortunately, the opposition is comprised of elite, unordinary Americans.