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Monday, May 05, 2008

It's Time To Rethink U.S. Energy Strategies



      Sen. Pete Domenici and some of his Republican colleagues dared this week to suggest that America needs to muster the political will to open new American oil reserves for drilling.
       They're right.
       Sen. Jeff Bingaman won't go along with that, but he's right when he says the country needs a crash course in conservation, a shift to more fuel-efficient vehicles and development of alternative energy sources. He's also right when he says in the long run we can't drill our way out of this deadly dependence on foreign oil.
       On that, he and Domenici would agree.
       What Domenici suggests is that a decision to tap sources such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the outer-continental shelves sends a powerful message to the world's oil barons and might give us the safety net we need to avoid a national economic catastrophe that lurks in any number of scenarios.
       He argues these oil reserves can be tapped using technology that would minimize environmental impact.
       In the long term, as Bingaman argues, the United States must move away from fossil fuels. But there are immediate problems like pump prices draining household budgets, fueling trade deficits and enriching foreign governments. That tight feeling in Americans' throats isn't just sticker shock: it's the noose of imported oil strangling the life out of the U.S. economy.
       Domenici proposes shaking off the noose long enough to build a new national energy infrastructure. Doesn't that simply make sense?
      

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