Hey BOB! Wasn't the SUV invented on Clintons Watch?
Robert Redford, in an op-ed opinion piece published in the Los Angeles Times, accused the Bush administration on Monday of "lack of leadership" for failing to wean the United States from dependence on fossil fuels.
The actor, a longtime solar power advocate, warned that the nation's wasteful use of gas and oil created political problems abroad and air pollution at home.
"Prolonging our dependence on fossil fuels would guarantee homeland insecurity," the actor wrote. "If you are worried about getting oil from an unstable Persian Gulf, consider the alternatives: Indonesia, Nigeria, Uzbekistan."
He touted San Francisco's $100-million bond initiative, passed last year by voters to pay for solar panels, wind power and energy efficiency for public buildings as the template for a pollution-free United States.
"American rooftops can be the Persian Gulf of solar energy," Redford wrote. "...wind and solar power generate less than 2 percent of U.S. power. We can do better."
The 65-year-old actor also demanded that the U.S. auto industry use existing technology to increase fuel economy standards to 40 miles per gallon.
"Phasing in that standard by 2012 would save 15 times more oil than Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is likely to produce over 50 years," Redford said.
Innovation in energy policy, he concluded, "would keep energy dollars in the American economy, reduce air pollution and create jobs at home."
washingtonpost.com |
