The attention that had previously been given to the energy crisis shifted drastically because of the economic crisis and the Presidential election. Now with the Presidential election over (finally) it would seem energy is coming back into focus. The big question now is what exactly Barack Obama is going to do as far as energy policies and whether or not we can depend on him to take America into the next generation of energy. As the gas prices have been falling many may say there is no longer a need for drilling here in America. Unfortunately nothing could be further from the truth. Since before starting this campaign we have understood that oil we drill here in America would not be available for quite some time. The idea behind drilling here and drilling now has never been about instant gratification in the energy department. The idea the whole time has been taking action now so that in the not-too-distant future we could all benefit. I’m as happy as the next person that I am no longer paying $4 a gallon for gasoline, however I also understand there is a good chance that price goes back to what it was. Stopping the fight now for energy independence would be a major mistake. I would only hope President-elect Obama will have new policies and the determination to see this thing through.

It is good to hear that he is a strong advocate of green energy. I would hope that all of us as Americans would prefer clean, green energy to anything that pollutes the environment. However the realistic choice is obviously not so straight forward. Obama’s comments about “bankrupting the coal industry” really concern me. Why not make the attempt to make clean coal, rather than destroy the industry all together. I understand that pushing green energy forward will result in the creation of new jobs, but will it make up for the amount of jobs destroyed by bankrupting the coal industry? All in all my biggest concern is that we may try and bite off a lot more than we can chew. The faster we can produce clean, green energy the better, but let’s not bankrupt our current source of energy before finding a new one. We need to move forward, but we need to do so by putting one foot in front of the other. We need to make sure we go about it in a way that will not place a huge burden on the already suffering economy, and we need to make sure we’re creating jobs at least fast as we are destroying them. It is also important that each of us keep fighting for this campaign. Drilling now and drilling here should still be a huge priority. You won’t hear much about it in the news currently, because there is just so much else going on. Let’s not forget however, that if we wait until it shows up in the news again, gasoline will probably be back up to around $4 a gallon. Quite frankly I don’t want to wait that long. -Jon Stallings