OIL’S BAD IS NEW ENERGY’S GOOD SAYS KANSAS CITY

Oil spill is a call to action for a new energy policy
June 16, 2010 (Kansas City Star)

"President Barack Obama gets the big picture right when it comes to the tragic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

"This unprecedented environmental disaster reinforces the fact that the nation needs to increase its use of clean renewable energy and reduce its reliance on polluting fossil fuels…The Deepwater Horizon tragedy should help convince Americans they have reached a turning point in how the country gets its power."

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"Oil and coal won’t be replaced overnight. They are now and will remain important sources of energy for this country for many years…However, the nation also has waited far too long to invest significant private and public research dollars in renewable energies…

"…Congress needs to approve an energy policy that better promotes [them]…[A] cap-and-trade measure favored by many lawmakers in Washington is deeply flawed…A carbon tax is a better idea…It would encourage investment in cleaner energy sources that could create millions of new jobs. The tax would impose new, but not dramatic, costs on Americans using power that damages the environment."

Time to reach for something better. (click to enlarge)

"Unfortunately…most Americans are focused on other important details…Despite an Oval Office speech…and a meeting with top BP officials…Obama still hasn’t convinced the public that he or his administration are effectively dealing with this environmental catastrophe.

"…BP has been unable to stop the oil now spilling into the gulf at the rate of up to 60,000 barrels a day. That failure understandably galls many Americans…The federal government — especially in the years before Obama took office — fell down badly on the job in making sure BP (and other petroleum companies) had fail-safe mechanisms in place…Obama and the feds have failed to quicken the speed of the cleanup and of the financial payouts from BP…Obama must keep the pressure on to make sure this is not a drawn-out process…[that] would add insult to injury to the American people."