John McHugh's Energy Plan

Rep. McHugh was in Plattsburgh yesterday explaining how our country needs to become energy independent. After 6 terms serving in the House of Representatives, its good that McHugh has finally decided this is an issue worth thinking about. In an article published by the Plattsburgh Press Republican, McHugh comes off sounding like a Democrat in the first part of the article, afterall, its an election year and sounding like a Bush Republican isn't the wisest campaign strategy. We need to conserve, drive less, develop the latest alternative energy sources and we need to start now says McHugh. Oh yeah, and we need to drill for more oil and that drilling needs to be done in the Arctic and offshore. See, the poor oil companies currently don't have enough places to drill for oil, nevermind that they hold all these oil leases. [At the current fuel prices you might even ask if oil companies are serious about drilling anywhere]

No, like most Republicans, what Mr. McHugh really wants is to solve our energy crisis the same way its been solved over the last 40 years. Drill for more oil. Should we drill for more oil....absolutely. But I want something in exchange from Republicans. I want a serious energy policy that will actually make us energy indepedent. And, that is not going to happen under a Republican President. It may not even happen under a Democratic President if Democrats don't hold in reserve the possibility of offshore drilling as a bargaining tool to get Republican votes on a real energy policy. Just look at the money John McCain has received from big oil since he flip-flopped on offshore drilling and ask yourself who is beholden to big oil now.

McHugh also claims that we need to stop oil speculators. I've yet to read a single article written by an economist that shows that speculation on oil prices is contributing to high fuel prices. As I've written before, it's all about supply and demand. Fuel prices have recently fallen because demand for gasoline has fallen. Demand has fallen because of the high prices. My conservative friends have always told me that is the way the system works.

I for one will not trust John McHugh to solve our energy problems. He's had his chance.