the 941

Vern Buchanan, our local U.S. Representative, sends out e-mail newsletters on a regular basis. This week’s asked a simple, yet profound poll question:

What do you think is the SINGLE most important action we should take to lessen America’s dependence on foreign oil and reduce the cost of gasoline?

The poll then goes on to offer six choices for answers.

Build more nuclear power plants
Invest in alternative energy
Drill in Alaskan reserves
Drill off the coast of Florida
Conservation
All of the above

The poll’s answers were all reasonable, and this would not have been the typical political push poll, but the whole thing was prefaced by this sentence:

 In 1970, we imported 24 percent of our oil from overseas. Today, that figure is 70 percent.

Talk about planting the desired answer in people’s heads.

And in case you are wondering, the correct answer is Invest in alternative energy.

Building more nuclear power plants is poor solution as we have no idea what to do with the waste and it needs to be safely stored for at least 10,000 years.

Additional drilling in Alaska or the Gulf won’t bring gas prices down anytime soon as it would likely be a decade before any new oil entered the market. And, because oil is a global commodity, just because it’s pulled out of the ground here, does not mean it will be used here. Were we to drill more here, we’d be taking all of the environmental risk without getting much payoff.

Conservation is essential, but the only way we are going to solve the energy crisis is to take the lead in alternative energy.

The United States has been the greatest breeding ground for innovation in the last 100 years. You name it and we either invented it or perfected it. Guess what the brass ring for business is going to be in the next century? You got it – alternative energy.

We’re fools not to invest and invest heavily in the future. Tell Buchanan that this is where he needs to focus his legislative energy for however long he remains in the House of Representatives.

Turn the page for details about Jennings’  earning the Sierra Club’s endorsement.

Buchanan’s opponent, Christine Jennings earned the support of the Sierra Club this week.

Her environmental chops are solid and put Buchanan’s to shame.

Here are some highlights:

• Rep. Vern Buchanan has refused to fill out Greenpeace’s global warming questionnaire and make his positions known, as Jennings has done.

• Buchanan also did not show up for a forum on global warming in April on Lido Beach sponsored by Greenpeace and local environmentalists.

• Jennings recognizes the vital importance of protecting our environment and aggressively moving toward clean, renewable energy, leading to energy independence.

• Buchanan will not share details of his plan to address global warming, but is focused on ‘greenwashing’ his record through taxpayer-funded mailings sent out through his office.

• Buchanan has not signed on to co-sponsor 152 other members of Congress in co-sponsoring the Safe Climate Act, which calls for an 80% emission reduction by 2050 (from 1990 levels) and would create a “cap and trade” system offering  industries an incentive to reduce emissions, among other provisions designed to lead to energy independence.

• Buchanan also voted against the Renewable Energy bill that mandated a 15% renewable energy standard by 2020. (H.R. 3221, Aug. 2007) The mailers from Buchanan’s congressional office mention neither of those issues.

• In its most recent legislative scorecard, the League of Conservation Voters gives Buchanan low marks, with a rating of 25 percent on key environmental issues.

Get his complete scorecard here.

Bookmark to:

Posted in Editor's Desk, News, Politics, Sarasota-Manatee | Leave a comment