By Senator Steve Daines 

Over the past two years, Montanans watched the President’s attack on oil, coal and natural gas bring our nation to the brink of an all-out energy emergency.

Gas prices rose to more than $5 a gallon and many Montanans are worried about how to heat their homes without breaking the bank.

We aren’t the only country grappling with the effects of a leader who is unrealistic about our nation’s domestic energy needs.

Europe’s energy crises over the past year make it clear that energy security is national security. When decision-makers start yielding to the whims of the radical green movement, terrible things happen.

In a meeting with Romania’s Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuc, one of the few European leaders to deliver a balanced energy portfolio to his nation, he told me something I will never forget – that a vision without an action plan is a hallucination.

We need a diverse portfolio of made in America energy that includes renewables like hydropower, wind and solar. We should use them to add capacity, not subtract. But the facts are fossil fuels will remain the most relied upon sources of energy for the next 30 years or more.

Thanks to Europe serving as a canary in a coal mine, the signs of a looming energy crisis could not be clearer – it’s time to protect American energy security and break free from this radical, green hallucination before it’s too late.