A Q&A with Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman
With gasoline prices expected to hover at record levels for the near future, Congress is once again looking to alternative sources of energy to ease supply woes.
The prices of basic necessities — fuel and food — are through the roof. Corn was $2 a bushel when many ethanol plants were built two years ago. It hit a recent high of $7.
In the clamor to stem the hemorrhaging in the checkout lane and at the pump for American consumers, the blame game is spinning out of control to assign culpability for rising food prices and $4-a-gallon gas. From corporate boardrooms to office carpools and the halls of Congress, people are yearning to nail a scapegoat for rising energy prices.
The United States faces a great crisis with the rising cost of gasoline and diesel. Congress must work toward finding a short-term solution to high energy costs, and at the same time we must begin to move our nation to the next generation of automotive fuel.
Earlier this month, acquiescing to objections by House Democrats, the Senate voted to block an overwhelmingly popular bipartisan plan to extend the tax credits for renewable energy and energy efficiency that are scheduled to expire at the end of this year.
With oil prices reaching new highs almost daily, it’s clear we need a national commitment to solving our energy crisis. The solution is a New Apollo Project — a bold, optimistic and truly comprehensive plan that would harness the innovative spirit of Americans to break our addiction to oil by transitioning our economy from fossil fuels to clean-energy technologies.
We all know there is neither one cause to blame for gas prices that set record highs every week, nor one silver bullet that will solve our energy crisis. But there are steps we can take right now to help ease the burden of this crisis for American families. For example:
Gas prices are more than $4 a gallon and are rising. Home electric bills will soon go through the roof. Yet, as Americans suffer under the heat of this summer’s energy crisis, Democrats in Washington are digging in their anti-energy heels using scare tactics about the environment as a diversion to any common-sense solution.
