The People's Energy Policy - Where's the Federal Government?

Are the Candidates Listening? Can the Republicans Survive by Ignoring Renewable Energy as a Priority?

State legislatures from Florida to Idaho initiated renewable energy legislation this past week, and last week Congress sent a major revision to the federal tax code to the Senate that would shift $1.8 billion of tax credits for production and conservation measures from Big Oil to Average Man. These revisions would take the production credits away each year over ten years from Big Oil and give them to individuals to install solar, geothermal, and wind power generation, as well as for upgrading their appliances to more efficient models that meet the 2007 guidelines for energy usage.

Apparently the American people have the will to stop their addiction to oil, at least on the state level. And President Bush has already promised a veto to restructuring the tax code.

Are any of the candidates for President listening? Will the leader of the Republican Party, President George W. Bush, finally pay attention to the swelling support for these types of programs during an election year? Will the Republican Party continue sitting with its head in the sand, and continue on the reckless path of reliance on foreign oil?

Grassroots support for advancing renewable energy installations, both large scale and by the individual, is spreading rapidly around the country, as the nation is forced to increase its reliance on foreign sources for oil and natural gas. With gasoline hovering in the $3 per gallon range for over a year, consumers are finally responding to the higher fuel prices, with gasoline consumption in 2007 falling for the first time in nearly a quarter of a century.

And where in the United States on a coherent and cohesive set of policies and research initiatives to rapidly develop and deploy renewable energy sources?

The answer is - nobody knows.