Drill baby, drill? More like jobs baby, jobs.

Drill baby drill. We keep talking about it, and that’s fine. But what are we doing about it in relation to jobs?

Energy is a sustainable industry in the US, because energy is as consumable as food. However, we import so much more energy then we do food. So I suggest we approach the energy industry with a different focus — rather than cost-based or environmental, let’s start with job sustainability.

How about a multi generational jobs plan that adds and sustains about 3MM jobs? That is goal #1. Coal, natural gas, oil, wind, water, algae, solar — the plan should be designed for expenditure based on job growth and sustainability. I know there are environmental factors to consider, so consider them, but ask this question: How many jobs does is create and sustain over 50 years?

I love wind energy, but it peaks early on jobs as wind turbines are constructed and installed (you will notice they turn themselves). So build them, but only count the sustainable jobs. Conversely, tar sands and coal require significant people power, continuously. We need to consider those energy sectors as people investment, even if the environmental concerns exist.

Natural gas is an abundant resource but it requires more monitoring, engineering and safety. Anything cheap, abundant and easy should be questioned. To make it safe, it may take 20 times the manpower we use now. Sure, that makes it 20 times more expensive, but like I said, I am concerned about jobs. If we have an opportunity to produce safe energy locally and drastically increase jobs, regardless of cost, it needs to be evaluated.

So let’s make an energy plan related to jobs. I know it will be expensive. Gas is already $4.00 a gallon and these increasing energy costs are scary, but we can afford to increase our energy costs provided we increase our earnings per family — and jobs do that.

The amount of energy we import is staggering. The amount we produce domestically without proper safety is staggering. Both require people power, and strong domestic production policy can add jobs in the hundreds of thousands, potentially millions. This is an INCREASE strategy for jobs creation. Let’s stop all the talk about energy and start taking some action regarding jobs.