 The choices we make in 2008 will define our future - especially when it comes to the election and energy issues. The contrast between competing visions of America's energy future could not be sharper this year: We can move forward to a clean energy economy that creates jobs, save consumers money and solves global warming, or we can continue the expensive, polluting policies of the past.
For the last seven years, the Bush Administration has promoted energy policies that have produced record high oil and gasoline prices, delivered historic profits for the big oil companies, kept us dependent on foreign sources of oil, and put us dangerously behind in combating climate change. Oil companies have reaped record profits of more than $100 billion while consumers continue to pay record prices at the gas pump and for heating oil.
But we have the power to change direction. The technology exists now to move us beyond oil and coal to a clean energy future driven by wind, solar and other renewable sources of power, along with cost-saving energy efficient buildings, cars and appliances. This vision of America's energy future is not a distant dream, it is a change that's already underway - a change that's already creating and keeping thousands of jobs in our country, generating profits, saving money and cutting the carbon emissions that cause global warming
The stories in this report make the choice before us in 2008 very clear:
The big energy companies that have profited from the policies of the past are pushing hard to build more coal-fired power plants, to mine more mountaintops, to take more of our public lands for oil drilling, and to fight increased fuel efficiency standards for vehicles - all while electricity, gas and heating oil prices climb each year.
This report tells the stories of oil and utility companies across America - from Big Oil's drive to drill in western wild lands, including the Roan Plateau in Colorado and New Mexico's Galisteo Basin, to Virginia's Dominion Power and Sithe Global in Nevada - that are rushing to build one hundred more power plants generated by coal.
This report also tells the tale of an energy transformation now underway by documenting the opportunities created by taking a different energy direction and sharing the story of people, businesses and governments already profiting from the switch to renewable power and energy efficient technologies. Mortenson Construction in Minnesota, for example, is the largest installer of wind turbines in the United States and employs close to a thousand people. Schott North America is building a plant south of Albuquerque that will employ 1,500 people and manufacture parts for solar thermal power plants. Since the city of Milwaukee started using LED traffic lights, the city's electric bill decreased and maintenance costs have been cut in half. In Ohio, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is training 210 apprentices a year and upgrading the skills of 100 electricians to make buildings energy efficient. And in Colorado, homeowner Thomas Acompora has a near-zero energy bill thanks to his solar heating system.
This year, America will chose from two very different visions of our energy future. We can keep on the path - more oil, more coal, more high energy prices, more pollution, more global warming. Or we can take a very different path, one that leads to a clean energy economy and a safer, healthier, more prosperous nation.
We have the technology, know-how and power to build a clean energy future. What we have lacked is the political will and leadership. We need to challenge all our elected officials - including the next President - to provide the leadership we need to move us forward.
Clean Energy: The Right Path
Nine States Choose Between the Past and the Future
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