Papamoka Straight Talk: Finally a Realistic Energy Policy

It only took 32 years for the Congress and the White House to finally realize that the sacrifice American’s need to make is in our energy consumption. All of the SUV’s that are gulping down the Go-go juice will have to change and that is just the beginning of the end of the oil monopoly in the world. President Bush has stated that he will sign the bill into law and frankly I thought he would have vetoed it based on some ridiculous facts. I am frankly and apologetically stating that I was wrong about President Bush and this issue. Stuff that up your back side Haszinski! That is another story from another post.

Through all the arguments in the House and in the Senate over the last few weeks we now have a compromise and an energy policy that just might reverse the madness that is our energy usage. Over at the New York Times they have this coverage on the only real energy policy change in 32 years in America…

House Passes Sweeping Energy Bill

By JOHN M. BRODER
Published: December 18, 2007

WASHINGTON — Legislation that will slowly but fundamentally change the cars Americans drive, the fuel they burn, the way they light their homes and the price they pay for food cleared the House on Tuesday by a large margin. President Bush said he would sign the hard-fought energy bill on Wednesday.

The bill, which passed on a bipartisan vote of 314 to 100, sets higher fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks by law for the first time in 32 years and requires the production of 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels by 2022, a nearly fivefold increase from current ethanol production levels.

The measure, known as the Energy Independence and Security Act, also establishes new efficiency requirements for household appliances and government buildings and aims to phase out the incandescent light bulb within 10 years.

Its passage marks one of the largest single steps on energy that the nation has taken since the Arab oil embargoes of the 1970’s. But its full costs will not be known for years.
Critics contend it will make cars and trucks less safe and more expensive, divert farmland to costly production of feedstock for ethanol and other synthetic fuels, and raise the price of food because of competition for corn and grain between fuel refiners and livestock growers. - New York Times

With the strangle hold of the Middle East on our energy consumption needs we need this policy as a starting point. No matter what items were dropped from this piece of legislation it gets us started down the road to freedom and energy independence. Arguments from both sides of the aisle have finished for now and the debate on tweaking it will be up to the next President’s of this nation and for that matter the next generations coming up. What has been started with this legislation we can only hope that it will begin the process of new energy sources from all thoughts possible by the human mind.

There are so many payoffs to our nation with these changes in the future that leads me to a sense of comfort for the first time in my adult life. This is the first time in three plus decades that our nation and our Government has literally chucked the bird at the corporations here at home and around the world when it comes to our energy needs. Our children or future grandchildren will never be obligated or owned by a foreign nation that can dangle our way of life over their heads ever again. Energy sources made in the good old United States of America and not imported can never be a bad thing.

Somewhere at OPEC headquarters it could possibly be heard “Doo-ohhh!” when President Bush signs this into law. That would be similar to Homer Simpson with an Arabic accent but you get the general idea. At $2.00 production cost for Saudi Arabia and the market price flirting at $100 per barrel every couple of weeks the writing is on the wall for this over priced energy source.

The ramifications of American interest and involvement in the Middle East region with its never ending turmoil because of this policy will drop as our nation slowly backs away from their strangle hold on the oil supply. Energy independence will only work if we keep locking horns over it and debating this critical issue for all Americans. This should not have taken 32 years. I think we can do better than that now. Realistically, we do not have a choice other than to do better.

Papamoka