WASHINGTON ó Dyke Messinger, president of Power Curbers of Salisbury and executive committee member of the National Association of Manufacturers’ board of directors, urged President Bush on Tuesday to increase the exploration and production of domestic sources of energy.
Messinger and other leaders of the Coalition for Affordable American Energy, which includes the manufacturers’ group, met with the president to talk about their energy policy.
The U.S. manufacturing sector consumes a third of all energy in the country ó to run plants, offices and research facilities and for use as a critical raw material, or “feedstock,” to make things.
Messinger released the following statement after his meeting with Bush:
“More than any other sector of the U.S. economy, manufacturing is squeezed between rising costs and the inability to pass those costs on to customers. Over the past 20 years, prices for U.S.-manufactured goods have increased by a mere 4 percent due to intense international competition, while prices in the rest of the economy have soared by more than 50 percent.
“While manufacturers can raise productivity and manage costs for the inputs that go into products, they cannot address structural costs ó of which energy is the biggest ó without strong leadership from elected officials, both in Washington and in the state capitals.
“Our nation faces a great challenge, but I am confident that good old fashion American ingenuity will save the day. The solutions will require new investments, new innovations and significant changes in how we consume and conserve energy. More importantly, we need to access our abundant land-based and offshore domestic resources. Our employees are asking us as employers to promote federal policies that tap America’s own energy supplies.
“Investment in and development of reliable domestic sources of energy will be critical to meeting our country’s energy demands in the future and essential to the long-term health of U.S. industry as well as American workers and their families.”
Power Curbers is a 55-year-old family-owned company that manufactures machinery for slip forming concrete curb-and-gutter, highway safety barrier, bridge parapet, monolithic curb, gutter and sidewalk, irrigation ditches and other special applications.