THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume IX, Issue # 11, January 18, 2007
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
STRANGLING THE ENERGY BABY
By Alan Caruba
POLITICAL ENVIRONMENTALISM VERSUS MEETING U.S. ENERGY NEEDS AT REASONABLE PRICES: A MANIFESTATION
OF THE CONNECTION BETWEEN LIBERAL LEFTIST POLITICAL OPPORTUNISTS & THE POLITICAL ENVIRONMENTALISTS, WHO
OPPOSE USE OF ANY FORM OF ENERGY DERIVED FROM FOSSIL FUELS OR NUCLEAR FISSION -- LIBERAL DEMOCRATS &
"MODERATE" REPUBLICANS, IN LEAGUE WITH LOBBYISTS REPRESENTING ENVIRONMENTALIST ORGANIZATIONS, SEEK
CONGRESSIONAL PASSAGE OF LEGISLATION WHICH, IF ENACTED, WOULD IMPOSE UNREASONABLE BURDENS &
RESTRICTIONS ON THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY & ELECTRICAL POWER COMPANIES & RESULT IN SHARP INCREASES IN THE
HEATING & TRANSPORTATION COSTS THAT AMERICANS HAVE TO BEAR
FULL STORY:
There is an effort in Congress — mostly thanks to the Democratic Party leadership — to strangle the energy baby in the
cradle.
Why they and some addled Republicans would want to do this defies an answer beyond the hatred environmentalists have
for all forms of energy, other than windmills, solar panels, and crops which should be eaten instead of poured into one’s
gas tank.
Let’s start by understanding there are now three hundred million Americans. More people increase the need for more
electricity. America currently must generate 15.43 trillion kilowatts of electricity and is in immediate need of more.
This is why, following every Winter storm, the very first piece of news reported is how many people are without electricity.
To put it another way, no electricity means an instant return to the days when heat came exclusively from a fireplace or
wood-burning stove. Light came from candles or from lanterns burning whale oil.
Nothing ran on electricity because there was no electricity. Try to imagine getting through your day without electricity.
Most of the nation’s electricity is produced in coal-fired plants, and in mid-January a coalition of environmentalist groups
was demanding that banks reject loan requests for projects that might produce greenhouse gas emissions, projects like
the eleven new pulverized-coal power plants that a Texas utility, TXU Corporation, plans to build, at the cost of about a
billion dollars per plant.
A pollution-free alternative for new electricity generation is, of course, nuclear fission. While the cost of natural gas and
oil is and will remain volatile, between 1990 and 1999, the cost of nuclear fuel decreased 46 percent. The environmentalists,
of course, have little to say about nuclear power plants that these days provide some twenty percent of our electricity
needs.
If we put aside the issues surrounding electricity, the other major factor of the nation’s economy is transportation, and
that runs on gasoline and diesel. Anything that affects the cost of these fuels has an immediate impact on everyone’s life.
The nightly news gets apocalyptic every time the cost of oil, i.e., gasoline, increases. The fact that the cost per barrel has
dropped precipitously of late is not being reported with equal fervor. Wall Street, however, has taken notice and is bullish
on America.
All of which brings us to the proposed “Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act.” Let me say this is probably the most
stupid title attached to a piece of legislation in the long history of Congress. Human beings, let alone Americans, are
not “stewards” — i.e., those responsible for — the climate, and are not likely to provide any “innovations” beyond what
now exist. In short, we are not in control of the climate. It is in control of us.
Six U.S. Senators, including at least two 2008 presidential contenders, revealed their plans to, as Reuters so
delicately expressed it, “force power plants and industry to curb heat-trapping greenhouse gases, seeking to cut
emissions to one-third of 2000 levels by 2050.”
Over in the U.S. House of Representatives, more than a dozen environmentalist groups gathered on January 17, 2007, to
lobby for the ”Clean Energy Act,” the keystone of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s mad schemes to punish Big Oil for
providing the fuel that keeps all of us on the road. This bill would actually require oil companies to “invest in renewable
energy research,” as if the U.S. government hasn’t already spent billions without much to show for it.
The “Clean Energy Act” not only will do nothing to encourage oil companies to explore for and then extract the oil and
natural gas we know exists offshore under the continental shelf of America — thus providing greater energy
independence — but will force up the cost at the pump for every gallon of gasoline or diesel fuel Americans will purchase.
It costs billions to find new sources of oil and billions more to extract and refine it. Where does Speaker Pelosi think that
money is going to come from, if she punishes oil companies for what she and other environmentalists deem record profits?
When you attack Big Oil, you are attacking every single driver of every single car and truck in America, because you are
rendering these companies less competitive in the global marketplace.
This explains why we are told, from morning until night, that global warming is happening, the oceans will rise, the glaciers
will melt, and we will surely all die. This is “science” based on computer models. If the U.S. weather bureau, using the most
sophisticated existing computer models, cannot accurately predict next week’s weather anywhere in the nation, why, oh
why, does anyone believe these same computers can predict it fifty years from now?
The real problem is now, and it comes in the form of these Senate and House pieces of proposed legislation based on
nothing but the vivid imaginations of environmentalist fear mongers and the unbelievable ignorance of politicians, some of
whom want to be your next President.
The real energy needs of America will not be met by Congress. Liberal Democrats and their "moderate" Republican
collaborators are set to impose new costs and new obstacles to the generation of energy, whether it is electricity or whether
it is fuel for your car or truck. They propose to do this by mandating “renewable” fuels and increasing the taxation of energy
companies.
Why we elect such people to public office is one of those vexing questions, but the least we can do to protect ourselves
against them is to write, phone or fax to tell them to leave energy to the people who know something about it or to pray to a
just and merciful God that Republican President George W. Bush vetoes these very bad laws.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Government, the Economy, & Economic Prosperity
American Government & the U.S. Congress
American Politics & Political Competition
The American Political System:
Politics & Government in the U.S.A.
Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a
clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly commentary, "Warning Signs," posted
on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center, which is located at
www.anxietycenter.com.
Caruba’s new book, Right Answers: Separating Fact from Fantasy, has been published by Merril Press.
© Alan Caruba 2007
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
ACaruba@AOL.Com
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
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Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity