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EDITORIAL: Go ahead, ask people to try
Check out oilman Pickens' energy proposals.
“UNLESS CONGRESS takes action to lift its own moratorium, President Bush's decision to lift an executive ban on offshore drilling is meaningless. For nearly three decades Congress has made it illegal to drill for oil and natural gas along the Outer Continental Shelf. Those I serve in Wisconsin can no longer afford to put up with our misguided energy policies. In addition to the pain at the pump felt by families across Wisconsin, high fuel costs have led directly to announced layoffs for workers at GM in Janesville and Midwest Airlines in Oak Creek. Enough is enough: We need a comprehensive energy policy, and we need one today. Congress can start by ending its stubborn resistance toward boosting domestic energy supply, and lift its moratorium on offshore drilling.”
- Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, First Congressional District of Wisconsin
THE CONGRESSMAN is right; we need every drop of oil we can find, and we need it fast. America's so-called political leaders have much to answer for when it comes to energy policy, or, more accurately, the country's lack of a consistent forward-leaning energy policy.
For decades it has been a stalemate.
Very little exploration and drilling has taken place, because of environmental objections.
Refinery capacity has stagnated for the same reasons.
Nuclear power has been hampered by the high cost of construction and shameful lack of leadership on waste issues.
Harder-to-develop sources, such as shale and oil sands, have not been profitable.
The nation ignored fleet mileage standards and embraced gas guzzlers again, well, because people liked them and there was big profit to be made.
So, yes, congressman, the political leadership is late to the game. About 35 years late.
SOME READERS may have seen the television ads aired by legendary oilman T. Boone Pickens. Here are the key numbers he points out. In 1970 America imported 24 percent of its oil; today it's about 70 percent and growing every day. The U.S. sends about $700 billion to foreign suppliers every year, more than four times the annual cost of the Iraq war. Over the next 10 years that's expected to balloon to $10 trillion total, the largest transfer of wealth in human history.
Pickens puts it bluntly: We can't drill our way out of this problem.
His Web site - pickensplan.com - urges the nation to embark on a crusade to convert to such things as wind power and cars fueled by natural gas.
“Together we can raise a call for change and set a new course for America's energy future in the first hundred days of the new presidency - breaking the hammerlock of foreign oil and building a new domestic energy future for America with a focus on sustainability,” Pickens said.
CAN WE? The politicians of both parties have proven, year after year, their contemptible commitment to doing nothing. The incumbents are useless and ought to be thrown out with the trash. Better to toss out a few good ones, by the way, than keep any of the bad ones. Translation: America desperately needs term limits.
And, for heaven's sake, don't look to energy businesses for the answer, either. So long as billions in record profit flow in, why change?
Pickens, on the other hand, has shown more leadership overnight than America's do-nothing politicians have shown in years. Check out his Web site.
We're not saying he has all the answers. We are saying he's right in calling for change and insisting we can get there if we try.
John F. Kennedy called America to greatness, with the task of putting a man on the moon in one short decade.
Would it not be equally daring to call Americans to break the bonds of oil - particularly, foreign oil - in 10 years?
For our money, the presidential candidate who rallies America to that goal deserves to win.
“UNLESS CONGRESS takes action to lift its own moratorium, President Bush's decision to lift an executive ban on offshore drilling is meaningless. For nearly three decades Congress has made it illegal to drill for oil and natural gas along the Outer Continental Shelf. Those I serve in Wisconsin can no longer afford to put up with our misguided energy policies. In addition to the pain at the pump felt by families across Wisconsin, high fuel costs have led directly to announced layoffs for workers at GM in Janesville and Midwest Airlines in Oak Creek. Enough is enough: We need a comprehensive energy policy, and we need one today. Congress can start by ending its stubborn resistance toward boosting domestic energy supply, and lift its moratorium on offshore drilling.”
- Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, First Congressional District of Wisconsin
THE CONGRESSMAN is right; we need every drop of oil we can find, and we need it fast. America's so-called political leaders have much to answer for when it comes to energy policy, or, more accurately, the country's lack of a consistent forward-leaning energy policy.
For decades it has been a stalemate.
Very little exploration and drilling has taken place, because of environmental objections.
Refinery capacity has stagnated for the same reasons.
Nuclear power has been hampered by the high cost of construction and shameful lack of leadership on waste issues.
Harder-to-develop sources, such as shale and oil sands, have not been profitable.
The nation ignored fleet mileage standards and embraced gas guzzlers again, well, because people liked them and there was big profit to be made.
So, yes, congressman, the political leadership is late to the game. About 35 years late.
SOME READERS may have seen the television ads aired by legendary oilman T. Boone Pickens. Here are the key numbers he points out. In 1970 America imported 24 percent of its oil; today it's about 70 percent and growing every day. The U.S. sends about $700 billion to foreign suppliers every year, more than four times the annual cost of the Iraq war. Over the next 10 years that's expected to balloon to $10 trillion total, the largest transfer of wealth in human history.
Pickens puts it bluntly: We can't drill our way out of this problem.
His Web site - pickensplan.com - urges the nation to embark on a crusade to convert to such things as wind power and cars fueled by natural gas.
“Together we can raise a call for change and set a new course for America's energy future in the first hundred days of the new presidency - breaking the hammerlock of foreign oil and building a new domestic energy future for America with a focus on sustainability,” Pickens said.
CAN WE? The politicians of both parties have proven, year after year, their contemptible commitment to doing nothing. The incumbents are useless and ought to be thrown out with the trash. Better to toss out a few good ones, by the way, than keep any of the bad ones. Translation: America desperately needs term limits.
And, for heaven's sake, don't look to energy businesses for the answer, either. So long as billions in record profit flow in, why change?
Pickens, on the other hand, has shown more leadership overnight than America's do-nothing politicians have shown in years. Check out his Web site.
We're not saying he has all the answers. We are saying he's right in calling for change and insisting we can get there if we try.
John F. Kennedy called America to greatness, with the task of putting a man on the moon in one short decade.
Would it not be equally daring to call Americans to break the bonds of oil - particularly, foreign oil - in 10 years?
For our money, the presidential candidate who rallies America to that goal deserves to win.
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The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of beloitdailynews.com.
mentor397 wrote on Jul 18, 2008 2:43 PM:
" Except he wasn't talking about breaking the bonds of oil by drilling domestically. He was talking about breaking the bonds of FOREIGN oil by drilling domestically.
Comprehensive means you deal with the entire issue. Higher mileage standards will not reduce our usage of oil and any new technology will need time to develop and adapt. This is a multi-stage solution to a multiple cause problem. "
Comprehensive means you deal with the entire issue. Higher mileage standards will not reduce our usage of oil and any new technology will need time to develop and adapt. This is a multi-stage solution to a multiple cause problem. "
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badgerpop wrote on Jul 18, 2008 6:15 AM:
I agree with Pickens and Al Gore, but if you can explain how off-shore drilling helps to break the bonds of oil--your phrase--you may have a Pulitzer in your future. We've already seen, in the past couple of weeks, the effect of getting off oil: usage has dropped and so will prices at the pump after the oil companies have soaked us as much as they can. That is a far more effective way of dropping prices immediately than waiting ten years for the off-shore oil, not all of which will be sold in US markets, by the way, to reach the energy stream. "