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| A Balanced Energy Plan |
June 27, 2001 |
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| Dear Friends,
It’s been a busy week thus far in Washington. We’ve been working our way through some important budget bills and we’ve been busy working to put together a balanced national energy plan for the first time in a decade.
The energy crunch is hurting everyone. Gas prices are high this summer and electric bills are putting a big dent in family budgets. It’s especially difficult for New Mexicans on fixed incomes.
We need a balanced, long-term plan to meet our energy needs. Our plan should include conservation, increased supply, improvements to infrastructure, and government reform.
Any plan we develop to meet America’s energy needs must preserve and protect the beauty of the home we love. We’ve made tremendous progress in the last twenty years cleaning up the air, water and land and there’s no turning back. No one wants to.
The good news is we can have a safer, cleaner, healthier environment and meet the growing energy needs of our prosperous nation.
Conservation must be a pillar of our energy strategy. Conservation allows us to use less energy to produce the goods and live our lives the way we want to. Refrigerators today use 1/3rd less electricity than a refrigerator built in 1972. Cars get more miles to the gallon and new research in hybrid vehicles may double gas mileage without compromising power or range.
Renewable fuels like ethanol made from corn, co-generation of electricity and heat, advances in technology made possible by cutting edge energy research will bring us the next generation of clean, efficient power.
But conservation alone will not save enough energy to power our growing economy and rising standard of living. We need to increase and diversify our supply of energy.
We are more dependent on foreign oil today than we were at the height of the energy crisis. 55% of our oil is imported, mostly from the Middle East. We must reduce our reliance on single foreign sources of supply by developing resources at home and in other areas of the world, including the former Soviet Union and Latin America.
Our goal in the House is to pass comprehensive, long-term energy legislation by August that emphasizes conservation, increasing supply, building infrastructure, and streamlining government.
America should have the most advanced energy system in the world and now is the time to act. If we don’t act we need look no further than California to see our future. Rolling black-outs, $2.00 a gallon or more for gas, continued reliance on foreign dictators and soaring electricity prices.
I believe we can do better than that. I’ll work on the balance, long term approach that New Mexicans deserve.
Wish you were here,
Heather |
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