If the Republicans take control of congress on Tuesday, one area where they need to act is energy production and usage. Over the last two years Obama has managed to lower oil production and exploration, increase regulation of energy production facilities, discourage the production of coal, threaten the pasage of a massive tax on all energy in the form of cap and trade and waste billions of dollars on wind and solar energies by pushing projects that make no sense. The Republicans need to bring some common sense rather than ideology to this issue. Obama and the Al Gore crowd all love solar and wind energy (unless it spoils their view), and they want to push these enrgy forms above all others. the problem, of course, is that neither solar nor wind has the ability to furnish a substantial portion of US energy needs for the foreseeable future. The love affair between the Obamacrats and wind/solar energy has meant that the Obamacrats have not acted rationally with regard to other forms of energy, and this is where Republicans need to move the debate.
The first thing that the GOP needs to do on this front is to take steps to promote the greater use of natural gas. The USA has ample reserves of this clean fuel which can provide much of the energy requirements of the nation using existing technology. Natural gas is abundant and low in price. Recent discoveries of new gas fields mean that reserves are increasing.
In the current congress there were two versions of the Natural Gas Act of 2010 that never made it to the floor for a vote. These laws provided incentives and tax credits to promote the production of natural gas powered vehicles as well as for the construction of a natural gas dispensing/refueling system. Just imagine! Each natural gas powered car gives off about half the emissions of the cleanest gasoline based car for the same usage. Each natural gas powered truck uses domestically produced natural gas instead of imported oil with the result that American jobs are created while foreign enemies get less moeny from us. Each bus powered by natural gas means that a whole new American vehicle industry is helped to grow, something that can be particularly reinforced if the tax credit for these vehicles is for those manufactured predominantly in the USA only.
The truth is that there is no down side to this program except for one thing: in the minds of the Obmacrats, this program would reduce the need for solar and wind energy. The American people, however, are not afflicted with the mass psychosis on this subject that seems to afflict Obama and nearly all of the Obamacrats. The enormous benefits from a natural gas vehicle program would be apparent to nearly everyone. Even more important, such a program would be of great benefit to the USA.
Needless to say, the GOP shold also oppose cap and trade. The last thing that the economy needs at this point is a massive energy tax that will not even have any positive impact on carbon emissions. In truth, cap and trade is akin to the conduct of those medieval zealots who thought self flagellation was the path to salvation. It does no good, but it surely will hurt.
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