2008 Woodie Awards
Rising gas prices are not our only problem
From the Editor
Sally Cramer
Issue date: 4/26/05 Section: Forum
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Despite rising gas prices, the House passed a bill last Thursday which opponents say will not bring down prices, and instead will "further inflate energy companies? soaring profits," according to the Washington Post.
Instead of concentrating on finding alternative, SUSTAINABLE sources of energy, the bill allows for drilling in the beautiful Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), and would also grant funding for research into oil and natural gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, which is estimated to cost approximately $2 billon. In one of the very few instances in which I agree with President Bush, he called for more funding to go to researching alternative energy methods.
However, the House bill provides for "far more tax breaks to the oil and natural gas industry and less to alternative energy and efficiency than President Bush had proposed," the Washington Post reports.
The bill is similar to legislation that was passed in 2003 at a House-Senate conference committee but later died in the Senate. Hopefully, the Senate will have the same sense again, and recognize that the bill will do nothing to lower gas prices and only provide a mere six months worth of oil from ANWR.
I agree that we need to reduce our dependence on foreign sources, and even more so that we should find sustainable methods of providing energy.
We should instead put money towards building more wind farms to provide wind power or building other plants for providing renewable energy. Even though this would still not solve the transportation problem, it would greatly reduce pollution because much less coal would be used to create electricity.
With so many problems facing the world?s energy supply, I would think that the House would at least vote to raise gas mileage standards, but unfortunately, the House crushed a stipulation in the bill that would have required increased mileage standards, as well as other conservation measures.
Aside from running out of oil in the future due to production not meeting the world?s demands, people in cities may not be able to go outside without having an asthma attack due to so much pollution caused mainly from the chemicals from automobile exhaust.
Instead of concentrating on finding alternative, SUSTAINABLE sources of energy, the bill allows for drilling in the beautiful Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), and would also grant funding for research into oil and natural gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, which is estimated to cost approximately $2 billon. In one of the very few instances in which I agree with President Bush, he called for more funding to go to researching alternative energy methods.
However, the House bill provides for "far more tax breaks to the oil and natural gas industry and less to alternative energy and efficiency than President Bush had proposed," the Washington Post reports.
The bill is similar to legislation that was passed in 2003 at a House-Senate conference committee but later died in the Senate. Hopefully, the Senate will have the same sense again, and recognize that the bill will do nothing to lower gas prices and only provide a mere six months worth of oil from ANWR.
I agree that we need to reduce our dependence on foreign sources, and even more so that we should find sustainable methods of providing energy.
We should instead put money towards building more wind farms to provide wind power or building other plants for providing renewable energy. Even though this would still not solve the transportation problem, it would greatly reduce pollution because much less coal would be used to create electricity.
With so many problems facing the world?s energy supply, I would think that the House would at least vote to raise gas mileage standards, but unfortunately, the House crushed a stipulation in the bill that would have required increased mileage standards, as well as other conservation measures.
Aside from running out of oil in the future due to production not meeting the world?s demands, people in cities may not be able to go outside without having an asthma attack due to so much pollution caused mainly from the chemicals from automobile exhaust.
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