In town hall with Hispanic Council, Oz urges a push to ‘unleash’ energy ‘beneath our feet’

(The Center Square) – Pennsylvania Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz answered questions concerning Latino business owners in a town hall on Friday, a day after his opponent did likewise.

The forum, hosted by Javier Palomarez, president of the U.S. Hispanic Business Council, had Oz pitching himself as a candidate for bipartisanship, one who would champion Pennsylvania’s energy industry while cutting red tape for business owners across the commonwealth.

Oz is facing Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who spoke to the group Thursday. Election Day is Nov. 8.

“You gotta be able to work with people across the aisle from you,” Oz said. “There’s so much more that unites us than divides us.

“We have so many opportunities in Pennsylvania that are right beneath our feet here. If you want to protect the environment and grow the economy and protect wage earners, then you want to harvest the energy … we have enough natural gas, as an example, to power the whole country for hundreds of years.”

The point echoed a similar argument he made during Tuesday’s Senate debate, as The Center Square previously reported. Oz, similar to Fetterman, has been light on policy details for how he plans to boost Pennsylvania’s economy, but he’s cited the potential of natural gas production to kickstart economic growth across the commonwealth.

“If we can get energy out of the ground, it creates jobs and money flow at several levels,” he said.

In places like Allentown, Oz said, “they have the future right there, they can see it, but they just feel held back. And I want to unleash not just energy but the people of Pennsylvania to once again know that to move up, you don’t have to move out.”

He continued his theme of talking about the possibilities that remain within the state to improve people’s lives.

“I’m actually optimistic about Pennsylvania because we have so much untapped opportunities just by dealing with regulatory overreach and some of the taxes that are quite onerous in the state,” Oz said. “I think we’ll be able to lighten the load for job creators and, by doing that, create more opportunities for young people to stay here.”

Closely tied to his economic vision was his attitude toward immigration. In the past, Oz said, there was “a very clear vision by America of what it wanted in its immigrants. They wanted people who were hard-working and industrious; sometimes they were educated, sometimes not. We need to return to a thoughtful approach to making sure that the jobs that need to be filled are being filled.”

In his closing remarks, Oz echoed his talking point from Tuesday.

“It’s really critical to ask one key question,” he said, “Are you happy with where the country is headed? If people are not, then they know I’m the person for change.”