Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Editorial: A comprehensive energy plan
Wind farms off the coast of Virginia could be one part of a forward-looking national energy policy.
From the RoundTable blog
Read the latest entries
Congress strolls back into Washington this week after a month of vacation. While representatives and senators were fundraising, attending conventions, meeting with lobbyists and campaigning, America's energy security remained at risk.
Prices might have moderated at the pump lately -- if gas prices in excess of $3 per gallon can be called moderate -- but oil remains in short supply. Natural gas and oil for winter heating threaten to break household budgets, and some members of OPEC are openly talking about reducing production.
The baying from friends of the oil industry never quieted during the August recess. For them, drilling in the nation's coastal waters is the only solution. Their approach almost certainly will dominate Capitol discourse in the coming weeks.
Congress needs to do something; we just hope members do not rush to pass poor legislation because there is an election coming up. The nation needs a comprehensive energy plan. Perhaps drilling should be part of it, but supporters have not yet put forward a convincing case that it can be safe and affordable.
America must invest in the clean, renewable sources of energy that will power the nation for decades to come. Things like wind, solar and nuclear power must be ready when oil, natural gas and coal supplies dwindle.
For example, Virginia's coastal waters might make better sense as home to wind farms than to oil platforms. A team of researchers from Virginia Tech, Old Dominion, James Madison University and Norfolk State recently concluded that the area off Virginia Beach could be the best spot on the East Coast for a wind farm. The commonwealth could sit at the fore of a new-energy economic boom.
Like oil, the benefits would be years off and require more research. The difference is that wind promises to be a long-term source of power, whereas coastal drilling at best would help for a few short years then dry up.
Windmills off Virginia's coast pose other problems, too, not least how they would fit with naval maneuvers. Government and private industry will have to cooperate to solve such challenges.
If Congress focuses exclusively or predominately on drilling, it might postpone the end of oil-dependence, but it will not prevent it. Oil is the fuel of the past; electricity from renewable sources is the fuel of the future. It is time to realign the nation's priorities and investments to reflect that.
