Pruschen-Verstraete Aff

Cites

Round Reports

Open Source

The U.S. Federal Government should pass six tenets of the American Energy Act that reduce restrictions on oil and natural gas production, as per the Bradley evidence    

Contention 1: Economy

1. Without substantial growth in jobs and consumer spending we risk a sustained recession and economic collapse  

Morici, ‘12 (Peter, July 26, 2012, economist and professor at the University of Maryland's Smith School of Business, “The coming economic collapse and what can – and cannot – be done”, http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2012-07-26/news/fl-pmcol-economics-fri0727-20120726_1_wall-street-banks-export-driven-growth-tax-cuts, 8/2/12, atl)

2. The US is key to world economic stability.

Mead 4 (Walter Russell, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Foreign Policy, April 1, pg. Lexis) 

3. Global Economic collapse = great power instability and war
Auslin 9 (Michael, Resident Scholar – American Enterprise Institute, and Desmond Lachman – Resident Fellow – American Enterprise Institute, “The Global Economy Unravels”, Forbes, 3-6, http://www.aei.org/article/100187)

4. The AEA would put billions of dollars into consumer pockets, create millions of jobs, and restore business confidence
Bradley 2011 (Robert, “A Free Market Energy Vision (Part I: Worldview),” May 6 2011, http://www.masterresource.org/2011/06/american-energy-act-ier/ Bradley is CEO and founder of the Institute for Energy Research; an adjunct scholar of the Cato Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.; and a visiting fellow of the Institute of Economic Affairs in London. Bradley is also a senior research fellow of the Center for Energy Economics at the University of Texas at Austin)
Contention 2: Oil Dependency

1. The military is required to secure oil supply lines

Reveron 12 Derek S. Reveron, an Atlantic Council contributing editor, is a professor of national security affairs at the Naval War College, February 17, 2012, “The Future of Energy-Dominated Foreign Policy”, http://www.acus.org/new_atlanticist/future-energy-dominated-foreign-policy

2. This presence near supply lines risks a destabilizing flashpoint
Kahn 11 Jeremy Kahn is writer for the Boston Globe – citing Eugene Gholz is an Associate Professor of Public Affairs at UT Austin and Daryl Press is Associate Professor of Government at Dartmouth College, February 13, 2011, “Crude reality”, http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2011/02/13/crude_reality/?page=2

3. Destabilization causes a nuclear exchange between regional hegemons
Russell 9 - James A. Russell, senior lecturer in the Department of National Security Affairs at the Nava Postgraduate School, Strategic Stability Reconsidered: Prosepects for Nuclear War and Escalation in the Middle East, in collaboration with the Atomic Energy Commission, http://www.nps.edu/academics/sigs/ccc/people/biolinks/russell/PP26_Russell_2009.pdf

4. Reducing oil dependency disentangles us from oil flashpoints 

Snow, Nick. "Former Ambassadors Cite Foreign Policy Impacts from Oil Imports." Oil & Gas Journal. N.p., 2012. 

Contention 3: EU

1. Successful natural gas leverage emboldens Russian expansionist aggression
   Helén, Graduate of the Nordea Bank Governance Program, 10
   (Henry, ex Project assistant in CSR at Nordea Bank Finland Plc Senior eSupport Agent at Nordea Finland Plc Senior e-support agent at Nordea Finland “The EU’s energy security dilemma with Russia”, POLIS Journal Vol.4, Winter 2010, 7/31/12, atl)

2. This energy insulation means Russia won’t abide by cooperative frameworks
Jones, Associate at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, 12
(Jonathan, JD Cornell, February 15, 2012, “The EU, Russia, and energy security”, Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union Volume 2007 Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union Article 7, 7/31/12, atl

3. If Russia exerts hegemony in a broader sphere of influence, this risks regional wars
Blank, Research Professor of National Security Affairs at the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College, 09 (Stephen, “Russia and Arms Control: Are There Opportunities or the Obama Administration?” All Strategic Studies Institute (SSI), 11/30/11, atl)

4. Increased US production successfully counterbalances Russian energy expansion
Medlock ‘11 (Baker Institute Fellow in Energy and Resource Economics, Kenneth B. e-, Amy Myers Jeffe, Wallace Wilson Fellow for Energy Studies, Peter R. Hartley, Professor of Economics at Rice University, “Shale Gas and U.S. National Security” James A. Baker Institute for Public Policy, July 2011, 7/20/12, atl)

Contention 4: Liberty
Restricting oil or gas production in favor of tax credits for renewables or loan guarantees for nuclear energy distort the free market and coerces individuals 

Bradley 2011 (Robert, “A Free Market Energy Vision (Part I: Worldview),” May 6 2011, http://www.masterresource.org/2011/05/free-market-energy-vision-worldview-i/ Bradley is CEO and founder of the Institute for Energy Research; an adjunct scholar of the Cato Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.; and a visiting fellow of the Institute of Economic Affairs in London. Bradley is also a senior research fellow of the Center for Energy Economics at the University of Texas at Austin, among other honorary affiliations.)

Forcing individuals to act against their own self-interest denies the rationality of humans and sacrifices their unique value as ends-in-themselves.  You have an obligation to reject this on face, no matter the consequence.  It denies the value to the lives they claim to save.  

Rand 1964 (Ayn, philosopher, “The Objectivist Ethics,” The Virtue of Selfishness, pp. 26-27)