ABQjournal: Subsidy-Laden Energy Bill Light on Conservation
By David Cargo
Former New Mexico Governor

By failing to enact measures to reduce our nation’s oil consumption, Congress has committed an unforgivable sin of omission. The technology to dramatically improve vehicle fuel economy is fully mature, and the potential savings are enormous: a modest increase of five miles per gallon would save 1 million barrels of oil each day by 2010, nearly 10 percent of our current imports.

If all U.S. cars (not including light trucks) sold today used off-the-shelf hybrid technology, the nation would save 15 percent more oil than it received from the Persian Gulf in 2002. That’s what some of us would call progress on the path to energy security .

But instead of addressing the oil efficiency issue, Congress lavished billions on tax breaks and subsidies on the oil and gas industry — an industry that is hardly in need of financial assistance. It’s a stretch to imagine how these subsidies could lead to lower costs for consumers, or to greater energy security for our nation.

To add insult to the injury suffered by America’s taxpayers, Congress has decided that our right to clean, safe drinking water is less important than the oil and gas industry’s right to drill, drill, drill. By weakening both the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act, Congress has imperiled the West’s most valuable natural resource.

This should cause special concern here in New Mexico, where many communities already struggle to protect their water supplies from contamination in the oil and gas patch.

While some may trust the industry’s promises to protect our water, I’d be far more comfortable knowing that those promises were backed by the force of law. Now, it will be up to cash-strapped state agencies to protect our water from pollution. Call it another unfunded mandate from Washington.

Lonesome Dave Cargo is the kind of Republican who can’t get elected anymore. mjh