Congress has so far refused to set a mandatory national renewable electricity goal. Al Gore would like to make a suggestion - 100 percent:To meet his 10-year goal, Gore said nuclear energy output would continue at current levels while the nation dramatically increases its use of solar, wind, geothermal and so-called clean coal energy. Huge investments must also be made in technologies that reduce energy waste and link existing grids, he said.
If the nation fails to act, the cost of oil will continue to rise as fast-growing China and India increase demand, Gore said. Sustained addiction to oil also will place the nation at the mercy of oil-producing regimes, he said, and the globe would suffer irreparable harm.
One weird part of the article - the AP's Ron Fournier oddly references "ozone-killing" coal plants and never mentions carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas pollutant. Does Fournier think ozone depletion is what causes global warming? Strange. Fournier was recently in the news when his sycophantic, pro-war, overtly-religious emails with Karl Rove were revealed.
As The Hill reports, Republican leaders are already responding to Gore's call for bold leadership by ... pandering on gas prices. Way to step up, guys. But who comes to Gore's defense? Virginia's own Rep. Rick Boucher, who says, “Those who oppose a climate control measure will make the argument that it should not be considered at a time of high energy prices, but that is a bogus argument.” Nice job, Rick!
Cross-posted from RK
Al Gore is an An American Hero. I do disagree with regards to clean coal. What my 4 year old has in his shorts is cleaner than the cleanest coal ever devised. Where does the bad co2 sox and mercury ect. just turn into pixie dust and disappear? Lets be realistic. In the Applalatian Moutins there is 3 billion tons of sludge waster from coal plants. What do you do with it? Do like China and take it out into the sea and dump it like any responsible corporate citizen would? 2 billion every day to the terrorist so we have to borrow 2 billion from the Chinese so that we can pay people to harm us. We give big oil 18 billion a year in corporate welfare. We can not invest any of that in clean energy. Then America certainly deserves what it gets. We have a chance to turn this into one of the greatest economic booms in the history of mankind-what are you going to do?
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