Debate continues across the country on our nation’s energy future. What is our best energy policy going forward?

Several factors contribute to a higher standard of living, but one of the most important is access to reliable and inexpensive energy. Affordable energy is essential for almost every aspect of our modern lives. Without it, we wouldn’t have many of the things we often take for granted.

Affordable energy is needed to run the hospitals and laboratories that improve our health. It’s required to deliver electricity to our homes and put fuel in our vehicles. It also supports the millions of jobs associated with all these things.

Today, the U.S. produces more oil per day than any single nation has ever achieved. The U.S. is not only the world leader in energy production, but we also lead the world in environmental quality.

When a country becomes the leading producer of oil and natural gas and has also reduced carbon dioxide emissions significantly in 10 years, it is clearly doing many things right. The oil and natural gas industry has proved that, over the long term, we can lead the world in energy production and environmental stewardship.

In the past, attempts were made to shift energy policy away from fossil fuels, and some expected this thinking to be the wave of the future. But that kind of thinking is a threat to economic development in the U.S. and around the world.

Nothing is more essential to economic growth than reliable, affordable and abundant energy. To lose that advantage is not in anybody’s best interest.

Energy is an input for practically everything in the economy. The last thing we want to see is more upward pressure on costs that are felt by every family and business.

America should not be in the position of asking for foreign energy supplies, especially when we have abundant resources produced to standards that are among the highest in the world, right here at home. Instead, we should be leading, as the world’s top producer of oil and natural gas.

We need not look further than the situation in Europe to see what happens when nations depend on energy production from suppliers that have agendas of their own. The problem is that when certain foreign governments control your energy, they have the power to use it for their own purposes — not yours. We don’t want to learn that lesson the hard way.

Today, we see energy policies that allow market realities and a respect for consumers and their preferences drive smarter regulations that focus on protecting the environment and growing the economy. All Americans benefit from a safe, environmentally responsible and thriving oil and natural gas industry. And it is important to let market forces, not government mandates, drive energy policies.

The U.S. has a unique opportunity to show the world how energy abundance can be used as a positive force to lift people up, which is different than a zero-emissions world. More than a billion people around the world face challenges for adequate food and education, clean water and protection from heat and cold due to a lack of access to energy.

We should work to ensure more people have access to safe, affordable and reliable energy, no matter which state, nation or continent they reside in. Because to rise out of poverty and enjoy health and safety, people need more energy, not less.

Policymakers on both sides of the aisle can support leveraging America’s energy resources to help protect consumers and cement U.S. energy leadership. I encourage policymakers to support actions to secure American energy leadership, protect consumers and help reduce inflation.

Such actions include supporting policies that protect consumer choice, restore the role of American energy in bolstering our geopolitical strength, reform the regulatory policies that increase certainty and unleash private investment, and advance sensible tax policy.

The most pressing issues facing the U.S. economy in the foreseeable future are not those arising from climate or an energy transition. Rather, the factors to watch are inflation, rising energy costs and national security.

As the midterm elections approach, we must stay focused on energy solutions for the American consumer and work together regardless of political party. The stakes are high, and together we are bringing the benefits of our nation’s energy abundance to all.

Going forward, policymakers at the state and federal level should prioritize advancing American energy leadership with policies that encourage development of responsibly produced energy here at home. These policies should recognize the volatile world we live in and the long-term impacts of returning to the days of foreign energy dependency.

We should set aside the division that has marked too much of past national energy policy discussions and work together as one nation on a positive forward-looking energy future based on the understanding that our nation’s best energy future can only be achieved through a true best-of-the-above energy strategy.

We need a new American understanding of energy and with it national and state energy policy based on science, the free market and entrepreneurial spirit.

Future generations are looking to us to get our nation’s energy policy right. They’re counting on us to leave them with a country that is second to none in energy production, security and economic prosperity.

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Edward Cross is CEO of the Illinois Oil & Gas Association. He is also a board member of the Independent Petroleum Association of America and partnering society member of the Council for a Secure America.

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