The Case

The current energy policy is socking our pocketbooks. Families will spend $2,300 more this year to fill up their cars and $1,700 more for home heating oil than at the beginning of the Bush presidency.

And it’s socking our planet. The warning signs of catastrophic climate change are all around us. Arctic ice is melting at a record pace. Wildfires are burning hotter and longer. The lake that supplies water to Phoenix and Las Vegas is drying up. A record number of Category 5 hurricanes have formed in the Atlantic Ocean this decade. Hunting seasons and wildlife habitats are beginning to be adversely impacted.

Turning to domestic oil is not a serious option. Not only will that do nothing to reverse global warming, but the oil simply isn’t there. The United States has less than 2% of the world’s oil reserves and imports 60% of the oil we use. We can’t drill our way out of the hole we’re in. The reality is: world oil production is at or near its peak. Global demand for oil—up to 86 million barrels a day—has exhausted spare capacity.

The path to a clean energy economy has been blocked by the Bush administration and its conservative allies who scorn the threat posed by global warming and discount the growing economic and security costs of reliance on foreign oil. The new Congress has been thwarted by an obstructionist conservative minority, committed to the do-nothing, know-nothing policies of the past. For too long, conservatives have been subsidizing the disease and starving the cure.

We can create millions of new jobs in renewable and low-carbon energy production, green building construction and retrofits and the manufacture of new energy-efficient products—good-paying jobs that can’t be easily outsourced. Rather than shipping billions abroad for oil, we’ll profit from taking the lead in the growing markets for green technology. We’ll provide sustainable and affordable fuel options for consumers and businesses. We’ll fortify our economy and our security.