America, Home of the cautious?

Why is it that the only answers to our "energy crisis" we hear are "drill drill drill" and "more corn ethanol"? Wind energy is the greenest option yet, completely domestic, and completely renewable. Solar is right there with it. T. Boone Pickens' plan suggests that Natural gas is a possible domestic source that is already a reality in many areas of the country, and has the added benefits of being both comparatively priced with gasoline, and emissions free.

There is no reason - not one SINGLE reason - that we shouldn't be investing all of our efforts, all of our money, all of our resources, into developing these new technologies, and developing the infrastructure needed to make them viable. Again, every one of them is more environmentally friendly than drilling or ethanol, is a better long-term solution because of renewability than drilling or ethanol, and are even a better short-term solution than offshore drilling (not one drop of oil for 20 years...). But lets look at them from a few different points of view:

National Security - This seems to be a still salient issue with a large number of Americans. While many seem to believe that our country is "fed up" with Republicans, polls don't show that to be the case. McCain's ability to "hang in there" is largely because he is seen to be stronger on national security, and there are still plenty of Americans who believe that remaining in Iraq is necessary (look at my last post). The reason? Islamic governments in Arab nations, they will say, are sponsoring and funding terrorism. Let's pretend this is correct because, if you break the money chain down, eventually it is. Every single one of these states has built its fortunes on oil. It is their only resource, and the United States has long been their number one customer. No other country can afford to import oil at its current price in the quantities that the United States does. By cutting off the $700 billion per year that we send to these very nations, we will be cutting off a major source of their funding.

Of course, that's just one angle. Don't forget the '70s. Another OPEC embargo would cripple us right now. An attack on our oil supply lines would be devastating. Unrest and corruption in Africa and the Middle East makes this an ever-present possibility. Even offshore drilling rigs are more vulnerable to attack than production within our borders would be.

Environment - Well, this should be obvious. Gasoline powered cars produce 20% of greenhouse gas emissions. It wouldn't be difficult at all to begin switching government fleets over to natural gas, which many city buses already run on, and which burns 80% cleaner than gasoline or diesel. And electric cars powered by windmills have zero emissions. Same with solar panels. Even if you think global warming is a myth and don't care about the environment, it would be something to hold over the rest of the world.

And let's not forget about the other guys. Offshore drilling isn't the worst thing for the environment, but it could create unnecessary problems. ANWR is a small piece of Alaska's wilderness, but the roads and pipelines created in order to extract oil are invasive. Most of all, they are impacts that are not worth what we will get from them - a paltry stream of oil after 20 years of development.

Corn-based ethanol is one of the least efficient biofuels on the market. Nearly every other commodity more efficiently converts to ethanol. Look at how our production rates compared to Brazil, for instance, whose sugarcane ethanol produces nearly twice as much fuel per acre as our corn ethanol, using much less land, and fewer input fuels to produce.

Technology - It boggles me. GM, an American company, produces 18 or 19 natural gas vehicles, none of which are available in the U.S., and almost every automaker has produced electric vehicles, few of which are available in the US. A California company builds an electric supercar, and a British company has built a better one (an individual motor in each wheel?!). Germans have produced a standard fuel car that exceeds 120 mpg (not that that has that much to do with the energy plan...). We should be embracing these technologies. Why isn't the US using the high-capacity batteries it has developed in cars? Why aren't we building 250-mph bullet trains to travel between cities (run by clean, wind-produced electricity)?

We have the technologies, but they won't be produced until there is demand (http://www.pickensplan.com/news/, "Ask Boone," Aug. 13). To build demand, we need the infrastructure. Natural gas filling stations on every corner will make people think that, maybe they need one of those cars. Just look at how Hybrids have taken off. The technology will only get better, but it will only follow investment.

Economy - Remember in the 1930s, when the TVA and all those government projects created jobs and pulled the country out of a depression? And remember in the 1950s, when a concentrated national effort (WWII? Manhattan Project?) led to a time of great national prosperity and lower wealth disparity? And how the same thing happened with going to space in the 60s? Remember in the 1970s and 80s, when dependence on a single commodity (guess what it was...) ruined our entire economy? And then remember the 90s, when a bold new industry in Silicon Valley energized our entire economy, and created an entirely new industry, where growth is, apparently, unlimited? History repeats itself.

We have a chance to take $700 billion that we are sending overseas this year, and growing every year, and instead, spend it here. Offshore drilling and ANWR and converting all of our land into corn Ethanol production won't approach that. Sugarcane ethanol in Brazil can be created cheaper than corn ethanol (but we put a tariff on importing it) and without government subsidies. The oil we keep talking about drilling for simply isn't enough. More importantly, though, it will run out. If we build the infrastructure for renewable domestic energy now, we would greatly redue the risk of another energy crisis when our oil runs out. Building this infrastructure can create thousands and thousans of jobs - building railroads, transmission lines, windmills, constructing and converting filling stations. Investments will be made in the US, and the best part is, that the dollars spend on energy will stay in the US.

So Now What?
It's quite a mountain ahead on this project, but nothing that we shouldn't be able to easily cross, if we put our minds to it. There's a lot out there about "green" energy, and a lot of it is good, but the question will always be "What can I do?" The list gets longer every second.

You already know to conserve energy, to drive a small car more, and SUVs less, to take the train, to walk more often. So do it. You'll find that it's rare that you actually need an SUV.

But to make the big changes that will wean us off of foreign oil, it will take a little more work. First of all, write your lawmakers. The Tax Extenders bill (S. 2886) must pass. All you have to do is write a letter or make a phone call to your members of congress, and say "please vote yes on the Tax Extenders bill." And get all of your friends to call. Get ten people together, and take turns calling. It will take ten minutes, and if enough people call, it will shake things up.

Next, join this site: http://www.pickensplan.com/. Sign up, donate money, tell people, and volunteer. The man spearheading this effort is an expert on energy, and can create an infrastructure that will work.