The George Report

The long-but-necessary road to energy independence

By state Rep. Camille "Bud" George, D-74 of Clearfield County

How did it get this bad – gas prices at $3.30 a gallon and diesel a dollar or so more?

          Many culprits exist, including increased global demand, speculative commodities markets, the plummeting value of the dollar, refinery bottlenecks and downright greed.

 A harder truth to swallow is that there are no quick and easy fixes.

 The Harrisburg Patriot-News, in a recent editorial, concluded, "Any real solution is long term and requires a shift to different fuels and alternative means of transportation. That isn’t going to happen overnight, so we need to get started before the cost of moving goods and people becomes even more expensive."

In this region, we’ve started. Last month’s groundbreaking in Clearfield for a $270 million ethanol plant – Pennsylvania’s first – is a significant step forward. A projected 108 million gallons of ethanol annually is nothing to sneeze at.

 Those reaping mind-boggling profits from the current energy vise on families and businesses don’t want to see America take control of its energy future. A misinformation campaign against home-grown fuels is in full swing, including the canard that corn-based ethanol is fueling increases in food prices.

Outrageous fuel prices are more likely to blame for the food prices.

The alternative-energy companies know that corn-based ethanol is just the first step. BioEnergy, the company building the Clearfield ethanol plant, is five miles ahead of ethanol critics. Its plans are a pilot cellulose-ethanol plant that will use wood and animal waste and other organic sources to make fuel.

 I don’t know when it became in vogue to demean America’s brain power and innovation. The country that build the Panama Canal, rebuilt Europe after World War II and put a man on the moon can’t take the reins of it energy future?

I refuse to believe that the United States doesn’t have the guts or the gumption to forge a future with cleaner, home-grown fuels and clean-coal technologies.

We can’t afford to dawdle. As much as I wish there was a quick fix lurking out there, the truth is no one can lower fuel prices effectively by duking it out with a Saudi oil sheik or demanding that other countries stop paying top-dollar for oil. 

Three measures to Pennsylvania’s energy future await action in the state Senate:

n My House Bill 2200 that would enable Pennsylvanians to take control of their energy use and costs;

n Special Session House Bill 1 that would invest $850 million in Pennsylvania energy projects;

n House Bill 1202 that would free Pennsylvania to grow and use 1 billion gallons of clean and renewable fuels.

          As Pennsylvania cries for prompt action, thousands of independent truckers and small trucking firms have a boot to their throats from the high diesel prices. Some 2.4 million Pennsylvania families are now using nearly $1 of every $4 in net earnings to pay for energy.

The process can be discouraging. Just last month, a powerful trucking lobby endorsed across-the-board increases in Pennsylvania’s already-high fuel taxes to pay for our many transportation needs. Such a plan amounts to throwing small trucking firms, independent truckers and all Pennsylvania consumers off the cliff.

Cast a cold eye on those who would derail or delay Pennsylvania’s Energy Independence Strategy. We have to walk before we can run.

 And we have to start now on the road to energy independence, or we’ll all be walking.

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