New Energey Sec. is very fanatical

[MontyB]

I actually agree with point 1+2.

1. Low gas prices kill innovation to find better alternatives, and it encourages people to drive which it turn makes the USA dependent on Foreign oil and ruins the economy.

2. Coal is a dead end technology. Dirty, polluting, dangerous to mine, and provides less watts than a nuclear power plant which is a much better option.

Once again though the problem of oil dependency and lack of development in the alternative fuels area is not to arbitrarily raise the price of gas to $20 a gallon and then smugly tell everyone to find an alternative, it is to do all you can to keep prices as low as possible (without subsidising it) and give incentives such as tax breaks and funding to companies prepared to devote time to finding an alternative and if you want to ensure a return on your money you make further incentives available for the completion of milestones.

Basically we didn't discover powered flight by breaking the public's legs until they invented the airplane.

I will not argue that coal is a dead end technology, all nonrenewable resources are dead end and there is no doubt that in its current form it is a dirty technology but if somewhere some one can make a coal fueled power station that can meet environmental concerns profitably then why not let them build it.

The key to fairness in this issue is to set limits that all power plants are required to meet and let technology and investment determine what can and cannot meet these limits.