I am in favor of
increasing government funding and
incentives to develop wind, solar,
hydrogen fuel cell and biofuel
technologies, and natural gas.
Twenty-three
percent of our energy consumption needs
are supplied by natural gas – the
fastest growing energy source. By
increasing the flow of natural gas as a
bridge energy source, and phasing in the
conversion to coal gasification
technology, we can decrease our
dependence on foreign energy sources and
insulate the U.S. from price shocks and
shortages
Our current
policy is one of over reliance on
increasing supply to meet surging
demand, defending unstable oil importing
states to sustain energy access, and
wishful thinking that discovering new
oil fields will provide adequate future
energy flows. These policies simply
cannot sustain our growing energy
needs. These new fuel sources will of
course take time to be fully implemented
in our economy. In the interim, we
should look at reducing the burdensome
federal and state taxes on a gallon of
gasoline.
We should
also combine the current 18 different
fuel types and around 45 different fuel
blends into 6. Throughout the nation,
different areas have chosen their own
unique blends, leading to fragmentation
of our nation’s fuel system and tight
supply conditions that foster price
spikes, particularly if there is a
supply disruption affecting an area’s
particular blend of fuel.
