Text 565, 90 rader
Skriven 2004-08-03 19:23:00 av VERN HUMPHREY (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av JEFF BINKLEY
Ärende: Cheney
==============
JB>HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) said
JB>Tuesday that rising consumption and decreasing domestic production have
JB>led to high gasoline prices but also blamed his Democratic opponents and
JB>their opposition to the Bush administration's energy policies.

Amen!

JB>Cheney advocated increasing domestic oil production in wildlife areas in
JB>Alaska and other regions that are off-limits to development.

Yes -- and as anyone who's been to Alaska knows, we can do it without
harming the environment.

JB>"We have put ourselves into a box. The only thing I can think of to do
JB>is to keep pushing for a comprehensive energy policy," he said. "We are
JB>at the mercy of those international oil prices."

Here's my energy policy:

                A Sane Energy Policy


There are four measures we must take to achieve energy independence.

1.  Conservation:

I strongly support conservation measures, such as raising auto fleet
mileage, and building or providing more public transportation.  But I
realize not all of us live on Manhattan Island, nor inside the
Washington Beltway.  We cannot take the subway to work in the First
District of Arkansas.  Further, many conservation measures will take
effect only in several years to come - for example, raising auto fleet
average mileage is a good idea.  But it will take years for automakers
to reach the goals, and years after that before all the old cars are
replaced.  Similarly, building public transportation wherever it can
work is a good idea - it just won't work in many places.

And I urge city planners to make efforts to recreate the old "walking
cities" where there were sidewalks, people could walk to the store, to
school and other places.  And people could actually cross the streets
before the lights changed, instead of getting caught in the middle of a
dozen lanes of traffic.

But conservation, while needed, can never keep up with an expanding
economy.  And none of us is really willing to halt economic expansion.

2.  Increase supplies:

We need, first of all, to gain access to all the oil reserves we have.
Using domestic sources both enhances our national security and helps our
balance-of-payments.  The Arctic National Wildlife Reserve should be
explored, using modern methods.  If we confirm there is a large reserve
of oil there we should drill there - despite the nay-sayers, we have
proven we can have the oil AND protect the environment.

We need to push ahead with bio-fuels, such as a mixture of
biologically-produced diesel (from soy beans, peanuts, and so on) and
conventional diesel fuels. The promise here is incalculable - we have a
virtually unlimited, renewable and domestic source of clean fuel.  Our
goal ought to be to convert the entire long-haul trucking fleet to
bio-diesel.

We need clean, high quality coal.  We have a couple of century's worth
of proven reserves.  Unfortunately, it has been locked up by a previous
administration.  It should be unlocked and exploited, using technology
designed to minimize the environmental impact.


3.  Increase our refinery capability:

Once we have the oil, we have to refine it.  There has not been a new
refinery built in this country in more than twenty-five years.  The
reason is simple - we have erected a thicket of laws that pander to the
radical "environmentalists."  The costs in lawsuits and paper work would
exceed the cost of building the refinery!  We need to streamline our
laws.

4.  Resume the construction of safe, clean nuclear plants:

We need nuclear energy.  Some European nations are far ahead of us in
nuclear power technology - because we have not built a nuclear plant in
this country in decades.  Again, the problem is the maze of laws we have
erected that make it uneconomical to even plan a nuclear power plant.

Without a forward-looking energy policy, America can strangle to death,
and there are those quite willing that we do so.  We have to have
intelligent laws that protect the environment, without creating endless
delays for projects of vital importance to our well-being.
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
 * Origin: Try Our Web Based QWK: DOCSPLACE.ORG (1:123/140)