Roll Call Executive Editor Morton M. Kondracke speaks with House Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.) about the nation's energy issues.
In debating the United States’ energy future, policymakers find themselves divided into two camps: those who seek to drill our way to energy independence and those who hope conservation and alternative sources alone can meet the challenge. The reality is the actual solution requires both. In Louisiana and across the Gulf Coast, we understand this dual track and have been at its forefront for generations.
At some point since I first won a seat in the House of Representatives more than 25 years ago, oil turned into a four-letter word. Any proposed legislation to expand American drilling is immediately criticized by policymakers who want everyone to believe that expanded domestic capacity will do nothing but devastate our ecosystem and increase our “addiction” to oil.
Nuclear power is doomed by the enormous long-term cost to taxpayers and rate payers of the siting, securing and storing of radioactive waste for thousands of years. Emerging operational safety issues will put nuclear power back in the spotlight in a way that will cause public reappraisal of the wisdom of continuing to build new plants. It is likely that nuclear power is past its prime and will begin a long-term phaseout in favor of less expensive, more environmentally friendly, alternative-power sources, such as wind and solar energy.
America’s power problem is simple, and so are our choices. Our country must generate 40 percent more electricity in the next two decades just to keep up with people’s daily needs. Either the economy stagnates to obviate that requirement, or generation expands to fill it.
Should the U.S. fuel industry become more reliant on ethanol? The short answer to this question is an emphatic “yes!” But we also must be sure not to become overly reliant on just corn-based ethanol. H.R. 670, the Dependence Reduction through Innovation in Vehicles and Energy Act, a bipartisan bill Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) and I have introduced, would help develop technologies such as cellulosic ethanol, biodiesel, biobutanol and plug-in hybrids so that our drivers have an array of fuel choices and are not dependent on one narrow technology.
Today, the U.S. ethanol industry stands tall, boasting 113 manufacturing facilities with an annual capacity of nearly 5.6 billion gallons of ethanol. In my state of Illinois alone, there are eight ethanol plants producing more than 900 million gallons of ethanol.
It is hard to believe, but a documentary about science featuring a former politician was one of the most acclaimed films of 2006. While Al Gore’s Oscar win last week may not land him future roles alongside Robert DeNiro, it certainly affirmed what many of us already knew: People are eager to learn more about the environment and climate change and are ready for a new direction.
I won’t spend a lot of time expanding on why we need to reduce our reliance on foreign energy. I think by now most of us recognize that depending on others for our energy is not a sustainable position for the United States. Whether it be global warming, peak oil, high prices or instability in the Middle East, signs point to a day when we need to have energy sources that are not petroleum-based. And some signs may suggest sooner rather than later.
