On April 15 and 16, the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce organized a tour for my staff of various energy facilities across the state.  The following is a list of the facilities that were visited:

Intermountain Power Plant (Delta, UT) - Intermountain Power Plant in Delta, Utah is a large coal-fire power plant with an installed capacity of 1,900 MW. This plant, owned by Intermountain Power Agency and operated by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, generates power for thousands of homes in California and is transmitted there by way of the HVDC Intermountain transmission line. While the generated power ultimately leaves Utah, Intermountain Power Plant provides a very healthy property tax base for Millard County. A member of my staff enjoyed a toured the facility on Tuesday, April 15 with various energy industry leaders, government officials, and interested citizens.

First Wind Wind Farm (Milford, UT) - First Wind, a renewable energy company based in Massachusetts, has invested millions of dollars into Millard and Beaver counties by building 165 wind turbines with a combined maximum capacity of 306 MW. The project was completed in two phases; the first phase in 2009 and the second phase in 2011. To get the power to First Wind's customers in California, the company built an 88-mile transmission line and connected it to the already-existing Intermountain transmission line. A member of my staff visited this wind farm to learn more about this project and it's positive impact on the Milford City.

Beaver City Hydro Power Plant (Beaver, UT) - On Wednesday, April 16, a member of my staff visited and toured two of Beaver City's three Hydro Power Plant locations just east of the city. The first location became operational in 1904 after Beaver City residents approved a $10,000 bond to build the plant. The second location began generating power in 1942 and the third power plant was added in 1992. The three stations combined produce approximately 9,200,000 KWH per year. It is refreshing to see a great self-sustaining rural Utah community. Well done, Beaver City!

Cove Fort Geothermal Power Plant (Millard County, UT) - Cove Fort Geothermal Power Plant, owned by Enel Green Power North America, was constructed with a total investment of $126 million and opened in October 2013. Located in Beaver County, Utah, this geothermal plant is expected to produce up to 160 GWH of power per year. A member of my staff toured the exterior as well as the interior of the newly-built plant on Wednesday, April 16.

It is clear from the reports from my staff who participated in these visits, that Utah is home to a diverse range of energy resources and a home to many innovators and risk-takers.  It is for this reason that I introduced the Energy Freedom and Prosperity Act to eliminate all energy subsidies from the federal government while also lowering the overall corporate tax rate.  Instead of relying on a system where Washington chooses an industry's winners and losers, we should be protecting a free enterprise system where success is measured by the extent to which a product meets the demands of consumers.  This the best way to ensure that we are all winners.

Today America faces a large and growing Opportunity Deficit. Up and down our once-flourishing economy, a new and unnatural sclerosis is taking hold. For millions of working families of or aspiring to the middle class, the American Dream is slipping out of reach.

This Opportunity Deficit presents itself in three principal ways: immobility among the poor, trapped in poverty; insecurity in the middle class, where families just can’t seem to get ahead; and cronyist privilege at the top.

On the first two fronts there is some good news. A new generation of conservative leaders is emerging to meet these growing challenges. These reformers understand that it’s not enough to just cut big government. To restore equal opportunity to all Americans, we also have to fix broken government.

That’s why they have already proposed a range of principled, positive reforms to repair our welfare, prison, job-training, tax, energy, and education systems.

But as crucial as this work is, it remains incomplete. Compounding lower-income immobility and middle-class insecurity is America’s crisis of crony capitalism, corporate welfare, and political privilege, in which government twists public policy to unfairly benefit favored special interests at the expense of everyone else.

From subsidies and loan guarantees to tax loopholes and protective regulations, cronyist policies come in a variety of forms, but they all work in the same way: making it easier for preferred special interests to succeed, and harder for their competitors to get a fair shot.

In a cronyist economy, economic power is redistributed, not from the rich to the poor, but from the politically disconnected to the politically well-connected. Profits come from serving congressmen instead of customers, and the innovation and opportunity that define free enterprise start to sag.

In such an economy, increasingly built on connections instead of competitiveness, it’s no wonder we see record corporate profits and jaw-dropping gains among elites, but slow growth, stagnant wages and limited opportunities for everyone else.

Given the scope and consequences of America’s Opportunity Deficit the only option for conservatives today is a clear and simple zero-tolerance policy toward cronyist privilege of any kind.

With deep roots and powerful friends, the policies that contribute to America’s Opportunity Deficit will certainly not fix themselves.

That’s why those same reform-oriented conservatives in Congress have already begun to write and advocate for an anti-cronyist agenda—from Rep. Paul Ryan’s work to strip special-interest privilege from the budget, to Senator Rand Paul’s regulatory reform that would improve federal agency accountability, and Rep. Mike Pompeo’s bill to end federal subsidies in the energy sector.

I am also working with Senator Marco Rubio on a pro-family, pro-growth tax reform proposal to eliminate special-interest privilege from the corporate code and level the playing field for small and large businesses.

This new anti-cronyist Conservative Reform Agenda, while still a work in progress, is an exciting development. For too long Republicans have been complicit in the proliferation of cronyist policies. If we are to win back the trust of the American people—and we must—a zero-tolerance policy toward special-interest privilege has to be our starting point.

Moreover, eliminating cronyist privilege is essential to get the economy growing again by creating opportunity and driving down the inflated costs of many of the staples of middle class aspiration and security: housing, education, health care, and child-rearing.

Anti-cronyist reform should never be confused with the cheap, ugly populism of class warfare. We want successful Americans to succeed. All we ask is that they earn their success on a level playing field, subject to the judgment of the market – as truly successful Americans always have.

A conservative agenda to get right on cronyism will be good for the economy, good for the country, and, above all, the right thing to do.

Op-ed originally published on Townhall.com