Sandy Treadwell Energy Proposal - More Oil

Sandy Treadwell, Republican candidate for the House of Representatives (NY-20) was nice enough to send me a color brochure outlining his energy plans. The cover shows an oil pump and says "Less of this..." and next to it a photo of a solar array and windmills which states "More of this...". Good for Mr. Treadwell. He understands that the security of the USA is dependent on energy independence - unlike all those Texas oil men currently running our government.

But read a bit more closely and you will see that there is not much difference between Mr. Treadwell's energy plan and that of Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney. First thing we must do according to Mr. Treadwell can be determined by reading this sentence.

Transitioning our country to alternative energy sources will not happen overnight, so we must focus on increasing domestic energy supplies as well.

Does that mean drill for more oil? If so, where should we drill for more oil - offshore and in ANWR I presume. But Mr. Treadwell does not address that matter.

Go to Treadwell's website and he makes his energy plan a bit clearer. An article from the Glens Falls Post-Star is prominently featured. The headline is: Treadwell calls for more oil production.

Republican congressional candidate Alexander "Sandy" Treadwell is calling for increased domestic oil production as he looks to differentiate himself on issues from incumbent U.S. Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-Greenport.

Why didn't the campaign brochure tell me that? Is it a secret plan Mr. Treadwell?

But Mr. Treadwell will probably insist this new oil drilling is only a short-term solution. We need "research" into methods of producing alternative energy. More research? We've been "researching" alternative energy since the 70's. Isn't it about time to actually start using alternative energy? Will more oil move us faster towards energy independence based on alternative methods? I doubt it.

Say we did drill for more oil. How fast would that new oil be refined and into my gas tank? A year or two? Of course not - more like 7-10 years. How will drilling and using more oil address climate change? Does Mr. Treadwell even accept that climate change has been predicted? Mr. Treadwell is merely proposing more of the same failed policies of the last 30 years.

We don't need more oil. We need a "Moon race" energy policy proposal. Energy independence in ten years - repeat, not more oil.