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George Allen is out, but he's not down Date published: 8/10/2007
FORMER SENATOR George Allen may be out, but he's not down. Speaking recently to young conservatives in Washington, he decried "counterproductive taxes, impediments, and dictates" as a response to America's energy problems and global warming. "Instead of trusting free people and the free markets," he said, "[liberals] believe the nation's energy policy is something best managed by political science. We need to reasonably conserve now, but we need more energy exploration, more energy innovation, more energy development, and more energy infrastructure." By limiting our own oil production we are shooting ourselves in the foot, Mr. Allen thinks. He pointed out that "Castro with Hugo Chavez and the Peoples Republic of China are exploring 45 miles off the coast of Florida, but we prohibit our own oil producers from exploring 50 miles off the coasts of Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia." Mr. Allen also encouraged use of nuclear energy, clean coal technology, and natural gas--as well as reasonable conservation methods. His "we can do this" attitude is positively refreshing in an era when "America is the problem" has become a popular mantra and "woe is us" the common refrain. Mr. Allen has formed a political action committee, the Good Government Action Fund, and plans this fall to campaign for Virginia Republicans. His voice remains a consequential one.
Sounds like Allen is positioning himself for a lucrative lobbyist job
According to BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy for 2007 (google it), the US has only 2.5% of all the proven oil reserves in the world. The same report shows that we use over 24% of all oil that gets consumed in the world. As long as we use oil, we will be forced to import the majority of it. Mr. Allen’s comments ignore the biggest issue in energy today, that of global warming. To combat global warming, the US needs to lead the world away from oil, not find ways to get more of it.
We should definitely let the free markets run the economy...because they did such a great job with the subprime lending issue?..... What George Allen meant was a "free for all". All those Wall Street bankers with derivatives, re-packaged loans, and other contrived debt instruments they make up to market to another Wall Street banker. Unfortunately, the music stopped and now they are all looking for a chair and placing blame on the other guy. Greed begets greed... Allen lost: get over it....
George Allen does not mention solar power or wind technology, much cleaner, safer, and potentially more abundant sources of power than those listed in the editorial. Already, vast turbine farms are already springing up on the Great Plains. Maybe he's not pushing these sources because they didn't contribute to his campaign.
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