One of the most important issues is to reduce our dependence on foreign energy. I believe the most encouraging acknowledgement President Bush has made was about our dependence on foreign oil.
This issue is complex and impacts not only every American but permeates both our trade and foreign policies. To move our country toward a REAL solution will require a massive program that must be spear headed by the Federal Government. Past inaction has shown that the “Market Place" alone will not provide a solution. We need a program that consists of the more effective use of existing energy- foreign and domestic. We need a massive plan to put into place the production of energy using current technology. We need to advance the research and development of new technology to provide energy.
We must establish new and more stringent standards to increase the energy efficiency of our homes, appliances and the vehicles we drive. To implement this we should use our tax system to provide incentives to individuals and companies that meet or exceed the established standards and create tax penalties for those who fail to meet the new efficiency standards.
We should use our tax system to use existing technology to produce domestically controllable energy. There should be Tax credits and accelerated write off for the instillation of things like solar and wind farms. To convert oil and gas fired electric generation to clean burning coal. We need to increase the production and distribution of Bio Fuels. We need to allow the exploration of new gas wells off the coasts. New oil exploration should be limited to areas where danger to the environmental does not exist. We should develop oil sand and oil shale use rather then drilling in Alaska and off the Gulf Coast.
Finally we need to stimulate research into new ways to produce energy and new methods of propulsion. Since the pay back from this research is long term and may in some cases produce no tangible results, this element will need to be funded, for the most part, by Federal Taxes.
Nothing less then an aggressive energy program spearheaded by the Federal Government has any chance of producing results that will truly move us significantly toward real energy independence. We need a program on a scale of the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe or the Manhattan Project to develop the Atomic Bomb. What we are currently doing, or not doing, will not produce results that will come close to solving this problem! We should demand that the New Congress establish such a plan because it would truly benefit ALL Americans regardless of your political outlook or financial condition.
"