My letter to the Omaha World-Herald's Public Pulse in response to a full-page ad by the National Manufacturers Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce entitled "Can America's economy afford Congress' energy bill?"
The National Association of Manufacturers and U.S. Chamber of Commerce are running full-page ads urging Americans to "Reject Congress' Energy Bill" in a myopic campaign that ignores the realities of America's energy predicament. These organizations apparently haven't gotten the message found in the National Petroleum Council's "Facing the Hard Truths About Energy" report, which admits that finding new sources to meet growing demand is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive. They also apparently haven't read the GAO's March 2007 report ominously entitled, "Uncertainty about Future Oil Supply Makes It Important to Develop a Strategy for Addressing a Peak and Decline in Oil Production." Then there's the 2005 Army Corp of Engineers report titled, "Energy Trends and Their Implications for U.S. Army Installations" that warns, "The earth’s endowment of natural resources are depleting at an alarming rate -- exponentially faster than the biosphere’s ability to replenish them." And then there's the Hirsch Report for the Department of Energy, which cautions that there are few unconventional replacements for petroleum despite the hype over shale oil and tar sands.
Both the Senate and House energy bills recognize the reality that oil is history, the latter body by rejecting $10 billion in oil and gas industry tax breaks, while encouraging the development of renewable energy and energy efficiency initiatives that have demonstrated their ability to create good paying jobs while reducing pollution, eliminating funding to terrorists and slowing global warming.
Before we reject Congress' energy bills, maybe we should read them first?