Energy is a factor in everything we do, an input in everything made in the modern economy. When energy prices rise, so in tandem does the cost of virtually everything; and if energy prices rise only for America or a particular state, as is the case when cost is tied to a new environmental regulation rather than anything fundamental in an energy resource’s supply, the difference between the cost of production in our nation or a state and the cost for an economic rival elsewhere grows.

So at a moment when national competitiveness, middle-class wages, and the U.S. economy in general …