When it comes to energy independence, Republicans and conservatives tend to argue in favor of more nuclear power and loosening restrictions on drilling for oil in the U.S., while Democrats and others on the left have renewed calls for reducing our reliance on fossil fuels altogether and shifting to renewable sources of energy.
President Obama has tried to chart a middle course in the debate, although even he hasn't been playing up his previously stated support of the nuclear power option.
In response to a speech by Obama on energy independence earlier this month, Republicans recited some familiar lines. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, countered that this nation's energy problems can be dealt with by increasing drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico and other domestic locations and by reducing EPA and other regulations on businesses.
Boehner's position stems from the long-held positions of conservative organizations such as the Heritage Foundation, which has maintained that energy independence can be achieved through more domestic production and that peak oil is not an imminent problem.
David Kreutzer of the Heritage Foundation has argued, for instance, that the technology for extracting oil from hard-to-reach areas has been improving rapidly and that the real obstacles standing in the way of that domestic oil extraction and its contribution toward energy independence are federal regulations and moratoria on off-shore drilling.
At the same time, the Democratic calls for renewable technology reflect positions such as that of Robert Lempert of the RAND Corporation, who has suggested a strategy under which nations "would invest towards a clean energy revolution," which would involve international negotiations over carbon tariffs and other measures to promote "zero emissions economies."
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David Kassel
Accountable Strategies Consulting, LLC
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