Declaration For Energy Independence

The United States needs a determined commitment to energy independence, and we need it NOW! According to the NRDC we spend more than $13 million per hour on foreign petroleum products. That's more than half our national petroleum consumption.

There are several reasons we must have energy independence. Here are a few:

1) Energy is essential to our economy and our security. It's our lifeblood. We cannot continue the risk of being at any other nation's mercy in this regard.

2) Purchasing so much of our energy abroad is having a devastating effect on our balance of trade.

3) Much of what we spend on foreign sources of energy goes into the hands of governments and groups hostile to the United States. We are giving them the money to fund terrorism.

4) Dependence on foreign oil has hijacked our nation's foreign policy.

5) Dependence on foreign sources of energy can lead us into war. Many would argue that it already has.

One of the reasons we don't have energy independence is because we rely so heavily on petroleum based energy sources. Even if we exploit all the known and suspected domestic deposits of oil fully (regardless of the environmental impact), we will still not be able to replace all the oil we are importing from abroad. We cannot use what we do not have.

The only way we will successfully achieve national energy independence is by developing other sources. This takes initiative. This takes determination. This takes ingenuity. This takes MONEY.

My Congressman, David Scott, recently sent me an e-mail in which he wrote, " I have joined as a co-sponsor of H.R. 395, the Cellulosic Ethanol Development and Implementation Act, which would authorize $1 billion in grants for research and development in cellulosic ethanol fuel." I applaud his efforts; I really do. But, what is a $1 billion investment in our future compared to the $2 billion we are gobbling up every week on the war in Iraq?

We won't have energy independence for this country until our citizens demand it. Only then will we be able to marshall the financial and intellectual resources to bring it about. I firmly believe it is past due.

That's Wade's two cents.

Wade Houston
September 14, 2007,