A National Energy Policy
Some Thoughts On U.S. Policies
Why We Need An Energy Policy
Remember The Arab Oil Embargo Of The Seventies?
Many of you are old enough to remember the Arab oil embargo of the seventies. I magine you remember the long lines to buy gasoline, and the fact that gas was rationed? If you recall that embargo scared everyone, and many new companies were started up to manufacture alternative energy systems.
Almost as soon as this effort was launched the price of gasoline fell overnight, even though many analysts were predicting gasoline at $3.00 per gallon way back then. Of course without government support most of those ventures went belly up as soon as the price of oil went down. Obviously the oil producing countries wanted to protect their market, and congress didn't think it was in our strategic interest to be energy independent.
We are in the same situation today, and we still don't have a national energy policy. The price of gasoline is not the most important factor, although it is the one we feel the keenest. The really important considerations are that we are rapidly exporting the wealth of our country to the middle east, and our nations security is dependent on foreign powers. If we don't act soon to establish a policy of energy self sufficiency we are in danger of becoming a third world country.
A national policy for energy independence should be the most important campaign issue this election year.
Any other matter of this importance would have brought urgent calls of action from both parties. The only politicians I personally know of who are working on energy is Florida's senator Mel Martinez, and Kay Bailey Hutchinson from Texas. They are in urgent need of some help. Write your congressman and senator and ask them to give these guys a hand.
Everyone just wrings their hands and says there is nothing to be done. Ethanol is not the answer they say. We just can't make enough of that stuff to satisfy our needs.
In the decade before the oil embargo President Kennedy promised us we would have a man on the moon within that decade. We attained that goal. At the time President Kennedy made that promise, the technology to accomplish that goal did not exist. We were willing to spend what it took to accomplish our goal and hard working Americans developed the technology.
If we made it a national goal to become energy self sufficient within 10 years I believe more hard working Americans would step up and work to fulfill that dream. I believe we can do it. I'll tell you something else, I believe that the day we produce a formal policy to accomplish this goal the price of oil will plummet overnight.
I read an article years ago in Popular Science magazine. The author of the article proposed installing an electrical conductor down the center of the roadway to power electric cars. When he wrote that article, there weren't any electric cars in production, and the nation was awash in oil. The technology didn't exist to provide computers for the auto pilot he invisioned to keep the car centered in the roadway, or operate the collision avoidance system. That technology is commonplace today.
Todays electric cars can do 100 miles per hour, go from 0 to 60 in 4 seconds, and travel 200 to 300 miles on a charge (I saw 4 different models on the news that claimed to be able to do this). Their major drawback is the limited range. If all of our major roads had a conductor down the center that they could draw power from, and recharge their batteries, electric cars could easily replace gasoline powered cars. You could drive from coast to coast without having to stop to refuel.
Before we start to develop any alternative technology we need to attend to our current problem, which is a shortage of oil. Most of our current transportation systems depend on petroleum based motor fuel. Due to environmental concerns congress is deadlocked on this issue. Everyone says we should implement these green technologies, but no one is willing to make a compromise so we can address our current problems.
One of our TV news agencies had some shots of our president walking away from the last meeting in the middle east. They caught an arab guy snickering as he walked away from that meeting.
Call or write your congressman or senator and send Mel Martinez and Kay Bailey Hutchinson some help in developing a national policy to free us from foreign oil monopolies. By the way Mel Martinez is working on veterans benefits too.
Join The Current Republican Policy Discussions On A National Energy Policy
"Would you o'er evil a victory win?"