by Ellen Kudlicki

Created on: June 12, 2008

It has been said that " a little knowledge is a dangerous thing." Never was this put into play more clearly than the poor excuse for conservation of resources as put forth by self-proclaimed environmentalists. So many erroneous actions have been implemented in the name of being "green", but never more so than in regards to our domestic energy policy. Beginning with the fall of Iran's monarchy, the United States began what best resembles a two-headed, but no-brained approach to energy. Prices rose rapidly with the drying up of Iranian resources and at the same time the government began limiting the sites where oil could be drilled domestically. It is one thing to suffer the very real limitations brought about by war or civil unrest, it is quite another to have one's own government artificially put in motion laws and limitations that seek to bar access to potential energy sites.

In another in a series of stellar demonstrations of isolation from the American public, a Congressional Subcommittee turned down a chance to open oil fields that are already being tapped by Cuba, India and China off the Florida coast. Here we are in the middle of a serious economic hump and the "let them eat cake" crowd in Congress is more concerned about the welfare of coastal dwellers than the survival of America's heartland. you can look at the vote online and it breaks down into party politics. What happened to Nancy Pelosi's claims that she would work across the aisle? Instead we are shackled to the environmental tunnel vision foisted on us by "true believers" who would rather see us all live in caves and eat roots than realize the denial of reasonably price fuel is an economic deal breaker.

I have no problem with conservation. It's not a coincidence that conservative and conservation come from the same root. To conserve means to save, to keep strong, to protect. We can and should protect our resources, our children, our parks. But Congressional fiat is making the saving of these things virtually impossible. The throw bogus solutions such as corn-based ethanol, which was passed based on a totally different kind of ethanol produce in Brazil, which has only succeed in raising livestock feed prices and down the line food prices. While corn could be used to feed people, instead farmers and corporate farms are raising it for fuel and getting subsidized to boot. And in the end, corn based ethanol REDUCES fuel efficiency by 15% and is so costly to produce that it's significance is moot. It

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