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GREEN CANDIDATE: SENATE ENERGY BILLS “USELESS”
Augustson Criticizes Biofuels, Economy Acts
The Senate’s latest attempt at crafting a national energy strategy was called “useless” by Alan Augustson, a Green Party candidate for President.
The Chicago-based Presidential campaign lists the combined effects of a dwindling oil supply and global warming, as leading to catastrophic conditions “within twenty years” far too soon for this legislation to have any meaningful effect.
The two proposals, one by Senators Jeff Bingaman and Pete Domenici of New Mexico, the other by Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, would combine to quintuple ethanol production, demand more efficient appliances, ramp-up coal-fired power plant construction and raise fuel-economy standards for trucks.
Augustson refers to global climate change and falling fuel supplies, as interconnected problems with a common solution.
“We simply drive too much,” Augustson said. “That’s what has to change. You can’t just take biofuel and ‘plug it in’ to our current, unlimited-demand system. There’s no way we can grow enough crops to replace the oil demand not unless you want to grow less food.”
Augustson admitted some limited usefulness for biodiesel, particularly for mass-transit, emergency and military vehicles. “But everyone else,” he added, “needs to just get off the road.”
“We have to provide the incentives for people to move closer to their workplaces. Take a bus. Walk or ride a bike. Those who must drive, should get an HPV (human-powered vehicle). But the automobile is not the American birthright, and we need to stop treating it like one.”
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