Use caution before going green too fast
While Mark Kirk searches for the right response for his unfathomable vote supporting the abomination of the energy bill that just squeaked through the House of Representatives, and also tries to figure out where his future political aspirations just went, let's assess the state of current U.S. energy policy.
Spain has been trumpeted as the model the U.S. should be emulating when it comes to "green" energy, especially as it relates to wind turbines. All those green jobs that are supposedly coming our way because of the House bill doesn't seem to be materializing in Spain. Spain's current unemployment rate is hovering at 18 percent. The Spanish government has announced that for every green job created three have been lost in the private sector. Spain is currently reassessing its commitment to alternative energy. While we are closing the Yucca Mountain repository for nuclear waste and hobbling our nuclear industry France is committed to building 25 new nuclear power plants over the next decade.
According to the American Petroleum Institute, if the U.S. opened areas that have long been off limits to drilling, it would create 160,000 new, high-paying jobs over the next 20 years and generate $1.7 trillion in government revenues.
"We must free ourselves from foreign oil" is the mantra of Democrats and environmentalist that is fueling the alternative energy policy. The U.S. produces 40 percent of its oil needs domestically and derives a far great percentage of its imported oil not from the Middle East but from Canada and Mexico. If we want to "free ourselves" let's do it with our own proven reserves creating great jobs in the process, while continuing to support our NAFTA partners.
Increasing the efficiency of coal a mere 1 percent has the same impact of increasing the energy derived by solar power by a factor of 30, at a far lesser cost, according to a study done my Highland Capital Group, which focuses on clean technology applications. China, India, Brazil and Russia are all increasing their coal and oil explorations with little nod to green energy technologies. The U.S. will simply be taxing industry and eventually consumers for a noble cause the rest of the developing world will simply ignore for generations to come. Goodbye, U.S. industry. It was nice knowing you.
Steve Sarich
Grayslake