Why New Energy

America’s energy policy is running on empty. Families are strapped by rising gas and heating costs. We’re shipping billions to oil producers abroad. Our security is weakened by deepening dependence on foreign oil. Catastrophic climate change is a real and present danger. Thanks to years of Bush administration denials and obstruction, we are running out of time.

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.

But the genius of America is to turn crisis into opportunity. In 1961, President Kennedy challenged us to send a man to the moon within a decade and launched the Apollo plan to make it happen. Now we need a similar vision—an Apollo initiative for energy independence, mobilizing science and technology to build a new energy economy.

With a concerted drive for energy independence, we can put millions of Americans to work generating clean, affordable energy alternatives and maximizing energy efficiency. We can reverse the loss of 3.4 million
manufacturing jobs, the spike in energy costs and eventually the warming of the planet.

There’s no reason to wait, and no time to lose.