[Editorial]  Time to Rethink Energy

June 9, 2010

In the wake of the biggest man-made environmental disaster in American history, our country’s leaders have a perfect opportunity to finally, and at long last, make significant changes in U.S. energy policy.

Economic and fiscal conservatives have long used crises to make policy changes, perhaps most recently in the “pre-emptive” war waged against Iraq and the sweeping changes in defense policy. Perhaps it’s time for progressives to jump on that bandwagon to push through energy policies that will make deep inroads into weaning us from fossil fuels and a make a lasting difference in cleaning our environment.

It seems that the only things missing is the fortitude to take a stand for the future and the will to make it happen.

Not so long ago, America made a similar commitment. In the decade before Neil Armstrong took that “one small step for mankind” on the surface of the moon in 1969, its success was not assumed. It took the equivalent of $125 billion in today’s dollars and an unwavering commitment to do whatever it took to make a dream become a reality. Regardless of whether you agree with the expense or the outcome, landing on the moon is a shining example of what an unwavering commitment to a goal can achieve.

It was only a few years later that America found itself hostage to oil producing countries. Since that time, we have heard a lot of talk about the need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, but when compared to walking on the moon, we have accomplished very little to convert all of that talk into reality.

Last year, Time magazine pointed out that “significant basic research needs to happen before renewables can truly displace fossil fuels.” We have put our trust in corporations, specifically energy companies, to lead the charge in creating those new, clean energy supplies. But energy companies are only putting about 0.25 percent of their budgets into research and development. In 2003, according to the Brookings Institution, that amounted to a total of $2.4 billion (less than what BP has already spent in the Gulf) out of $1.2 trillion.

It’s not enough. We can’t rely on energy companies for solutions; their mandate, after all, is to make money, not come up with a way to change what they do. Current U.S. policy, which seems to constantly buckle under to what the corporations want instead of what the country and the people need, make no demands on the companies to change. So why should they?

We urge the men and women in positions of local, state and national leadership positions to demand more. America deserves better than the catastrophe in the Gulf. A new push toward a sustainable future begins now.

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