An Energy Plan Powered By Ideas

Democratic Senate candidate Mark Warner drew a sharp and welcome distinction between himself and his Republican opponent Wednesday. Warner offered Virginia voters an energy policy plan, not a slogan.

Warner did open the door a crack to possible offshore drilling in coastal waters where it is now banned. He did not pretend though, as his Republican opponent Jim Gilmore does, that lifting the federal moratorium on drilling for oil or gas is the fast and easy way to bring down the price of $4 a gallon gasoline.

That is a fool’s dream.

Warner’s ideas on drilling require careful scrutiny and debate, but at least they are not based on two false premises: that even an immediate end to the moratorium could affect gas prices one iota any time soon, and that the nation can drill its way to cheap energy, now or ever.

As he noted, the U.S. uses 25 percent of the world’s oil yet holds only 2 percent of its oil reserves. The pain at the pumps now is real, but it will be a pale memory compared to the economic and security crises the nation will face if it does not wean itself from its dependence on oil which, by virtue of global geology, means dependence on foreign oil.

Because Warner is a big-picture thinker, much of his energy plan deals with proposals, as he put it, “to fundamentally change how we power our country and our economy.” Among these, he mentions bigger tax incentives for consumers to buy the next wave of high fuel- efficiency vehicles — he’s talking 100 mpg — and permanent tax credits for renewable energy companies on a par with tax advantages the oil industry enjoys.

Others include encouraging upgrades and expansion of the petroleum industry’s refining capacity, raising auto fuel efficiency standards at least to 40 mpg and investing much more in alternative energy technologies.

These are the kinds of ideas policymakers need to act on — and quickly, as the benefits can only be realized over time.

As for near-term relief for money-strapped motorists, Warner offered several proposals that might actually have an impact at the pump, including closing some regulatory loopholes that have allowed speculators to drive up oil prices in the world market.

Republicans, nationally as well as in Virginia, have turned the conversation to drilling, though, with a false promise of a quick fix.

Democrat Warner told reporters Wednesday that he favors lifting the moratorium to allow for exploration for oil and natural gas offshore, then letting states decide whether to allow drilling along their coastlines: a middle path politically, but a nonstarter in a practical sense.

States should continue to have a voice in any debate about drilling off their shores, but the decision whether to open up new waters is properly a federal one. Ocean currents are no respecters of boundary lines. As North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley noted: “If the state above or below you has a problem, it affects your shores as well.”

But in the larger context of energy independence, the debate over offshore drilling is nothing but a meaningless distraction in this election year.

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