U.S. Official Outlines Western Hemisphere Energy Security Issues

Press Release – U.S. Department of State

Because economic growth and development in the Western Hemisphere depend increasingly on ensuring resources to supply reliable, affordable, clean energy, nations must cooperate to realize greater energy security, says Karen Harbert, assistant secretary for policy and international affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy.

In March 2 testimony before the House Committee on International Relations’ Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, Harbet told lawmakers that high oil and natural gas prices, infrastructure vulnerability and political volatility in traditional production areas are among the energy challenges confronting the Western Hemisphere. Other challenges, she said, include unpredictable and nontransparent legal and regulatory regimes, the temptation to increase state involvement and government shares of natural resource revenue and massive energy investment requirements.

Harbert told the panel that the United States is committed to working with its hemispheric partners to overcome these challenges and to foster an era in which the common goal of hemisphere-wide energy security can be realized.

To attain the most efficient development and use of energy in the region, she said, hemispheric nations’ efforts to achieve energy security must include commitments to market-based pricing and open investment to assure that each country reaches its full potential.

Harold Doan