We can't rely just on fossil fuels

I saw Mr. Dorr's letter stating that fossil fuels are necessary for our future, particularly Canada's tar sands (oil sands). While the tar sands are important (Indiana refineries process that heavy oil for the Chicago market), they are not as clean as he suggests. They take immense amounts of natural gas for processing before it can even be transported, and single-handedly erase Canada's promise to reduce greenhouse gases. An area the size of New York state needs to be stripmined to meet American needs. But even this isn't enough, as current oil fields dry up and there are signs OPEC isn't pumping more oil because they're at or near their maximum abilities.

Offshore drilling will be of minor help.

I agree with Mr. Dorr, it's a scary future, but trusting only in fossil fuels will make it much scarier. Energy will become the biggest issue for our next president. Unfortunately Sen. McCain doesn't understand the gravity of the situation. Obama may not be

perfect but at least he had the courage and insight to say a gas tax reprieve is not a solution. The first way to secure our energy future is to use less energy. We have the technology to double or triple our

car's mileage (my 2006 Prius gets 50 mpg), we can telecommute one day a week or work 4 ten-hour days. Then we must look at T. Boone Picken's plan for trucks powered by natural gas and pursue electric cars, geothermal energy and more if we want to maintain our standard of living. This has the nice side-effect of reducing our payments to unfriendly countries, and not paying for both sides of the war in Iraq.

Rob Neff

Lake Zurich