Eats and Energy with THE WEEK

“Independence does not mean isolation,” explained John Lyman, Director of the Energy and Environment Program at The Atlantic Council and one the speakers at The WEEK‘s environmentally charged luncheon discussion at Acadiana Wednesday afternoon.  “The U.S. will never gain total independence in the oil and gas markets… we are all players in the world economy.”

Lyman joined American Petroleum Institute President/CEO Jack Gerard, National Journal Energy and Environment Correspondent Coral Davenport and Co-Chair of the Energy Project (former) Senator Byron Dorgan to speak to luncheon guests about what energy independence would mean for the United States… and what would it take.  An interesting agenda, particularly as energy efficiency remains a hot topic of the upcoming election.

“The important thing is to get the policy right,” keyed in Senator Dorgan, admitting that most of the jobs created in the energy industry are through the private sector, and adding that the government cannot take full credit for the work of private oil and energy companies, but rather should play the same job-creating role as do those companies.

Expecting the speakers to agree on policy is as hard as deciding what to order off Acadiana’s lunch menu, but they all did agree on one thing: When it comes to energy independence, the U.S. is better off than a decade ago.

K Street Magazine’s Meryam Taqi contributed to this post.