Western governors: 'Obama, act quickly on energy'

[fishenrg]

The governors of the nation's largest energy-producing states are encouraging President-elect Barack Obama to quickly adopt a national energy policy that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The bipartisan Western Governors' Association has delivered Obama a four-page letter outlining what steps it believes his administration should take in his first 100 days in office to address the issue.

Among the recommendations are annually spending tens of billions of dollars to develop clean energy technology; establishing an 'aggressive' greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal to help stop global warming; and proposing a mandatory national system for reducing greenhouse gas emissions through "market-based mechanisms."

"We must not repeat the mistakes of the past," says the letter signed by association chairman, Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah, and vice chairman, Democratic Gov. Dem Brian Schweitzer of Montana. "The future of our nation depends on it."


Rest of the article at:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i0lmIQX3QvZgT8N7-XDolHdnSfLAD94NPPSO0

Copy of the letter is here:

http://www.newwest.net/pdfs/obama-energy_WGA.pdf

[Bwana]

This is great. Imho, Energy is one of the few major inititives Obama has promised to tackle that can actually solve multiple problems and is therefore a logical starting point. Tackleing energy can stimulate the economy; clean the environment; increase our domestic supply of energy; and reduce our reliance on foreign oil and the rathole dictatorships that are generally in charge of the oil supplies. I just hope other areas of environmental stewardship aren't overlooked because of the lefts current obsession/belief that global warming is caused solely by anthropogenic activities.

[Brian S.Kroll]

Exactly spot on!
...This country needs to understand that an energy policy that frees us from foreign dependency is essential to our security, our economy, and our future.
...Second to that, is our health care problem, where over 40% of our population is uninsured.
...Aside from the personal impact, this is a drag on our industrial competitiveness, that foreign competition does not have.
...And the third thing we need to do is encourage, not punish risk taking, and entrepreneurship.