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| The Global Freedom Institute |
| Energy Crisis: Bush the hero or just another politician? In the 70�s, there was an �energy crisis.� Conservation was talked about as a key to making it through the crisis. What became strange was the ending of funding for research into alternative energy supplies in the 80�s. In spite of this, alternative energies began to take hold. Today, many people recycle, some states have �wind fields�, though there are few of them, solar panels are on some houses, some people have electric cars. However, these energies were never embraced as a real alternative or even complement to the traditional fossil fuel focus of our energy strategies. As we enter the first years of the 21st century, we again have an opportunity to move farther into alternative energies. President Bush has labeled the �energy crisis� as such. What seems to have started in California, may also spread (with very little blame to California) to other parts of the country. President Bush has taken this opportunity to push for Alaskan oil drilling and opening of areas that have been �off limits� to oil, gas and coal companies. Any of these opportunities will take 5-10 years or more to actually impact the energy supply in this country. It isn�t as though the signing of one executive order will cause power plants to be running the next week, oil to flood the American markets within a month, or natural gas to be infused into the country in 2 months. Even if it could all be supplied tomorrow, the oil and gas pipelines are no where near capable of transporting it all. So any solution is years away. Some scientists have said that the fossil fuels of the world may last less than 50 years. Those estimates were considering the current levels of use. If one considers the growing economies of the world and their need for increased power, then this level may be less. If one considers the Presidential advisors being quoted as saying we need about 65 more power plants built nationally every year for years to help solve the power problem, and most of those rely on natural gas, then those fossil fuel supplies may be less than 50 years away from an end. President Bush has said it is important to be �straight forward� in talking about issues. It is important to not just be a �quick fix� but actually be a long-term solution. It is important to deal with issues as they come up, not simply leave the real problems for future administrations to deal with. However, to deal with this by only dealing with the fossil fuel area of energy needs is to leave the tough decisions and leave Americans unprepared for what lies ahead. President Bush is repealing most of the environmental �road blocks� to building new power plants, drilling for new oil, building refineries and pipelines, finding new natural gas reserves, and using more coal. Just wait, a tax break to give incentive to build these things is on the way. No one is talking about it yet, but it will come. However, this is an incomplete policy that makes President Bush no better than his predecessors, because he leaves the real solutions for some other crisis down the road. A complete policy must also use this opportunity to expand the creation and use of alternative energies. President Bush should push for, and congress should pass, a tax cut for investment into new power plants, building new refineries and pipelines, but he must supplement this with tax cuts for investment into the expansion and building of alternative technologies for energy for sustainable power sources for centuries to come. Those alternative energies should include solar power, wind power, biomass power, and geothermal power systems. Systems such as the hot dry rock system, tested in New Mexico, should be expanded to supply electricity around the country. Some would say that alternative energies mean very little in terms of power. However, for a one day �sick out� in California, 3,000 megawatts were lost in a day. Consider that alternative energies are not widely used, and you may begin to realize how much it can do. Also, doing so should be used to complement the current energy strategies, so that it won�t negatively impact the economy, but rather create new jobs and new wealth. President Bush has yet another opportunity to show �vision� for the future and meet it head on. This is one of many opportunities that he has to really do something insightful, and leave a legacy that few could match. Ronald Reagan dropped the ball on what could have been an even greater legacy than the Cold War, President Bush should not do the same. A new world of solar panels on homes, geothermal and solar energy when the fossil fuels are used up could start to be a reality soon. President Bush could be the person that history looks back on to see who had the vision to conquer these future problems. Will President Bush be seen as short-sighted for not using the �energy crisis� to start the long-term move of the future, or will he be seen as the President who changed how we live for centuries to come? Opportunity is knocking, will President Bush open the door? --Chris Knight 3/22/01 Return to Main Page Chris Knight is a Sr. Fellow at the Global Freedom Institute |
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