Guest Opinion
Obama: Solving energy crisisis going to take time
Barack Obama
May 11, 2008
Here in Oregon, gas costs about $3.70 a gallon — and across the country, gas costs more than at any time in almost 30 years.
Over the past year alone, the price of oil has shot up more than 80 percent, reaching a record high of more than $124 a barrel — all of which helps explain why the top oil companies made $123 billion last year.
There's nothing wrong with a company being rewarded for its success. But the reason Americans keep going to the pump isn't because oil companies are being particularly innovative. It's because Washington politicians haven't dealt with the challenge of alternative energy.
Instead, we've gotten poll-driven ideas like the gas-tax holiday that won't actually change anything for families today or in the future and will just put more money in the pockets of oil company executives.
We need a president who's looking out for families in Oregon, and that's the kind of president I'll be.
It isn't right that oil companies are making record profits at a time when ordinary Americans are going into debt just to fill up their tanks. That's why we'll put a windfall profits tax on oil companies and use it to help Oregon families reduce energy costs.
We'll also take steps to reduce the price of oil and increase transparency in how prices are set so we can ensure that energy companies aren't bending the rules. And to help Oregon families meet the rising cost of gas, we'll put a middle-class tax cut in their pockets that will save them $1,000 a year, and we'll eliminate income taxes altogether for seniors making less than $50,000.
But the truth is, there is no easy answer to our energy crisis — and we need a president who's going to be straight with us about that; a president who's going to tell the American people not just what they want to hear, but what they need to know. And what they need to know is that any real solution isn't going to come about overnight. It's going to take time.
To bring about real change, we're going to have to make long-term investments in clean energy and energy efficiency.
That's why I reached across the aisle in the Senate to come up with a plan to double our fuel standards that won support of lawmakers who had never supported raising fuel standards before. And that's why I voted for an energy bill that was far from perfect because it was the largest investment in renewable energy in history, and I fought to eliminate the tax giveaways to oil companies that were slipped into that bill.
And as president, I'll work to solve this energy crisis once and for all. We'll invest $150 billion over the next 10 years in establishing a green energy sector that will create up to 5 million new jobs — and those are jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced. We'll invest in clean energies like solar, wind and biodiesel.
The candidates with the Washington experience — my opponents — are good people. They mean well. But they've been in Washington for a long time, and even with all that experience they talk about, nothing has happened. This country didn't raise fuel standards for over 30 years.
So what have we got for all that experience? Gas that's approaching $4 a gallon — because you can fight all you want inside Washington, but until you change the way it works, you won't be able to make the changes Americans need.
Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois is a Democratic candidate for president.
statesmanjournal.com |
