I’ve proposed three steps.
n First, Congress should pass the legislation I helped draft to end the excessive speculation in the oil futures market. It’s the most effective way to put some immediate downward pressure on energy prices. Oil speculators have turned the energy futures market into a casino, doubling the price of oil in the past year when it is not justified by changes in supply and demand. There is a need for legitimate hedging, but when a market is overtaken by speculators, it must be fixed.
Some experts predict the price of oil and gas could be cut by 30 percent to 40 percent if we shut down the excess speculation in the futures market. I am pushing to make that happen.
n Second, we need a new comprehensive energy bill this year that takes major steps toward aggressive conservation measures, efficiency standards and tax incentives for renewable energy.
n Third, we need a national commitment to a “moon shot” approach that would dramatically change our future energy use. Fossil fuels must be used in new ways while we explode the use of renewable energy to dramatically reduce our need for foreign oil. That includes new battery storage research to unlock the potential of electric vehicles and, ultimately, hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. And it includes an aggressive national commitment to renewable energy products from wind, solar, biofuel and more.
North Dakota is home to cutting-edge energy research and production in places such as the Red River Valley Research Corridor and the Energy Corridor. These initiatives are turning North Dakota into a front-line laboratory for the new energy technologies our country needs, but there is no time to lose.
LinkI think the third point he mentions is most important--what we did with the Apollo Program, what we did with the Manhattan Project, we can do with energy. If we put the time, money, and effort in to get the best scientists and labs working on solving what problems we have with energy production, transmission, and storage, we can drop foreign oil to let the rest fo the world deal with it. Al Gore
has already said it--100% of our electricity from renewable and "carbon-constrained fuels" within 10 years. What we need to do is use our best abilities to solve the problem of high energy and fuel prices.
There is nothing "un-American" about this--this type of ingenuity is America, plain and simple. More drilling is not the answer, it's the lazy way out. We can show the rest of the world that we're not the lazy stereotype that they've seen in recent years, that we can still be leaders, and that we know what is right. I'm not claiming a morality in being "more green" than the rest of the world--but more efficient and diverse energy sources will be cheaper in the long run. We don't need to outlaw oil to reduce our dependancy on it: we need to develop cheap and efficient renewable energy sources, and the American market will follow.
Topic: Senator Dorgan calls for serious energy program (Read 3670 times)
