SULLIVAN ON ENERGY

SULLIVAN ON ENERGY

The oil crisis is real and it will get worse. Oil is the lifeblood of our economy and way of life.

Politicians in Washington and Albany are posturing, but doing little or nothing to provide the public with relief from the rapidly escalating costs of gasoline, diesel, home heating oil, natural gas and electricity.

These politicians have failed to take effective, immediate short run, and long term steps to deal with our energy crisis.

In the short term the public is on it's own. We must adapt our way of life to use less fuel, and other forms of energy. Driving less, car pooling, driving at slower speeds, keeping on vehicles in peak performance, lowering the thermostat in winter, insulating our homes, keep thermostats down in work places, schools and other public buildings, using less lighting in homes, shopping plazas  and public places and so. In a word conservation.

Transportation for organized sports at schools, colleges and  for professional sports will have to be curtailed or eliminated altogether.

At the same time we must demand that the Congress and state government stop the partisan posturing on the energy crisis and enact immediate, short term relief. at at the same time, take action to provide long term relief.

Short term, federal and state governments, must suspend collection of federal and state taxes on gasoline, diesel and home heating oil.

Congress and the state legislature must not adjourn this year without passing concrete legislation aimed at long term solutions to the energy crisis.

Congress should:

1. Authorize drilling for oil in Anwar and in offshore U.S waters,

2. Authorize rapid expansion of alternative energy production, including coal, water power and wind turbines, recognizing that it may be a decade or more before these alternative energy sources are on line.

2. Mandate that automakers make a crash program to produce vehicles that get 40 to 50, or more miles per gallon of gasoline. Note that electric or battery powered vehicles have a short range and may be an option in urban areas, but, in the vastness of our country, more MPG is the immediate need.

3. Improve repair and expansion of rail road building. Rail will eventually replace long haul trucking as a means of moving freight and automobiles for commuting to and from work.

4. Reform and shorten Congressional sessions and travel by adopting telecommuting as an alternative. Stream line legislative calendars, eliminate dead end legislation that is going nowhere, and amounts to political partisan grandstanding or posturing.

New York State should:

1. Take steps to expnad and improve railroads for movement of freight and passengers.

2. Move quickly to restore the Erie Canal and Hudson River ( and port facilties) as  highways for transporting heavy freight. The building of the Erie Canal , put lots of people to work, and made New York The Empire State. 80 per cent of the state's population still resides along the Erie Canal-Hudson River corridor.

3. Reform and streamline the state legislature by adopting telecommuting, reduce needless and expensive travel and per diems, and limiting the length of sessions, introduction of legislation  and legislative session agendas to only meaningful bills that have sponsorship in both houses.

The above are but a few of the steps that should be considered for action, now, buy individuals, families, groups, institutions, state government and Congress.

Let's get cracking!

                                                                  J P Sullivan