Publisher’s Corner
Not Sure I Have the ENERGY For This Discussion!
All the talk these days is about gasoline prices. In our
office we discuss broader energy issues and how things came
to this point. There is plenty of blame to pass around.
And yet, blame is an empty action. What we need is truth.
What is the truth about our addiction to oil. What are the
big oil companies doing to keep prices high and our spirits
low? Many suggest just drilling more wells to meet demand.
Oil companies say environmentalists and legislators keep
them from exploring and drilling new wells. And yet the
oil companies currently have thousands of leases on untapped
sites in the Gulf of Mexico. We want more gas but we don’t
want more drilling in our country. We fight wars for oil
but we don’t take responsibility for our consumption.
Some feel we should open up the Arctic wilderness and other
public lands to drilling. Some would feel better having
the oil companies drilling in the Gulf of Mexico where their
business can be more closely watched. Right now both Florida,
California and other coastal states won’t allow offshore
drilling in the waters off their shores. Everyone has an
energetic opinion on oil drilling as gas prices continue
to soar.
Many are not convinced that drilling for more oil is the
answer to our energy problem. Environmentalists strongly
favor furthering the production of alternative energy such
as wind, solar, geothermal and other renewable sources.
But even for those of us who feel that this the most logical
and eco-friendly path to follow, I can’t help but
have some burning questions. Why don’t we know how
long it will be before we are driving zero-emission cars?
Why have the scientists and those involved in renewable
energy research not come out and given us the plain truth?
Will it be 10 years, 20 years, 50 years before we can break
our addiction to gasoline power? How long will we need to
burn coal to produce electricity? How many windmills will
it take to light our cities? Can we really afford to use
corn for fuel while we increase the use of herbicides and
pesticides? We need some plain truth. Some hard talk from
those in the know. A world without oil could be a kinder,
gentler world, but will it ever happen in our lifetime?
Our childrens’ lifetime? Our grandchildrens’
lifetime? The one thing I can promise you is there are people
who know the answers to these questions. I hope they are
not sitting on their research and the answers to our problems
just to wait for the highest bidder. Come on, John McCain
says you can make $300 million for a building a better fuel
cell --much more than a Nobel Prize winner gets. It appears
as if many of the auto companies are rushing around trying
to put the first hydrogen car on the market. And yet it
is hard to find a hybrid on the lot when you want one. Especially
an American-made hybrid. More hybrids are coming out this
fall but why were they not more readily available over the
past 5 years? Conspiracy theorists love to talk about auto
companies having a master plan - now that we know “who
killed the electric car”.
Someone with the answers needs to come forward and just
tell us the plain truth. It’s time for a serious reality
check! Why do we have to have a blackout before we buy a
flashlight?
J.B. Lester, Publisher
