Feb. 22, 2006 - 18:29 MST

Dutch Boy

I guess it would be easy to quote a news article that appeared in the Rocky Mountain News this morning. But Mike Littwin's column seems to be accurate and put forth my feelings about the situation too. So, in full with none of my bolding or italicizing here it is:

FOR PRESIDENT, IT ISN'T EASY BEING GREEN; IT'S CELLULOSIC

"I'm stunned."

"I'm not convinced. But I am stunned."

"You would have been stunned, too, if you had watched Tuesday as George W. Bush talked up solar power and wind power and something called "photovoltaics," which he apparently used correctly in a sentence. He had more trouble with the word cellulosic, but let's be honest, who doesn't ?

"The president said he wants to make fuel from wood chips and build houses that run on their own energy and make cars that plug into your wall."

"I expected him at any moment to mention Kyoto (he didn't)or SUVs (he didn't). Or propose raising the gas tax (just kidding)."

" But I'm telling you, if you didn't hear the part about nuclear energy, you'd have sworn it was Al Gore talking to the crowd at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory."

"President Moonbeam ?"

"Bush said he was in the presence of dreamers. I always imagine that when Bush is dreaming, it's of the gusher that he never quite hit back when he was a would-be wildcatter."

"But he was wide awake when he said -- just as he had in this State of the Union speech -- that the nation could no longer afford to be addicted to oil. I don't know if he had cleared the speech with Dick Cheney. Or with Exxon Mobil."

"And if this is a 12-step program, Bush may still be on step one. Still, he offered a methadone-style alternative to oil addiction -- far milder addictions to ethanol and hydrogen and wind."

"It was the second day of a two-day push on the issue. Not exactly like Bush's marathon push on Social Security "reform." On the other hand, as far as I know, nobody was kicked out of the room for having the wrong bumper sticker on his car."

Of course, it's it's easy to be cynical about the whole thing."

"Or maybe you've forgotten the Mars mission from the previous state of the Union speech."

"When Bush showed up at NREL, the first thing he had to do was explain why 32 people had just been laid off -- and then possibly reinstated -- from the place tht he said was developing technology vital to the future of America."

"Bush blamed "mixed signals" for the layoffs. He didn't say whether the signals involved his itinerary."

"I think the safe guess is that when they laid off the NREL 32, no one knew that Bush was coming to Golden."

"it was sufficiently embarrassing that the Department of Energy, which owns NREL rounded up $5 million to rehire everyone. That still left a $23 million shortfall for the lab developing the technology that will help free America from oil dependence."

"That's a little harder to explain than cellulosic ethanol."

"Or say, the "mixed signals" from Bush's State of the Union, when he said that renewables could replace 75 percent of the oil from the Middle East by 2025. A day later, the secretary of energy said that the president was talking hypothetically."

"No one needs to explain why renewable ernergy is now so attractive."

Oil had just slipped over $60 a barrel again. There's the problem of Iran . There's the problem of Venezuela. Something bad is happening in Nigeria."

"Meanwhile, Exxon just posted record profits. Dick Cheney, the energy czar, has told us that energy conservation was a "personal virtue" but not something you'd want to base your energy policy on -- not when there's ANWR."

"There's the price of gas at the pump. There's the price of your home heating bill."

"And if you're Bush, you need an issue. Your approval ratings are at 40 percent. Your vice president just shot a guy. And Time just had a story headlined "One Thousand and Sixty-Five Days To Go."

"And then there is the matter of national security. What -- you want to go back to Star Wars ?"

"Who said it wasn't easy being green ? Or at least talking that way."

"There couldn't be a better time to get behind renewables. The panel at the NREL session was an impressive mix of business people and science people all talking about renewable technology. There was even someone from Habitat for Humanity, which is building energy-efficient houses."

But, in the end, you come back to funding and whether there's real urgency from the Bush administration."

"Ken Salazar, was there for the panel session. It was held in NREL's shipping and receiving area. NREL, in case you're wondering, doesn't have a room to hold large-sized photo ops."

"Salazar was also there when it came time to get the jobs back for the NREL employees. He said it's time to give Bush the benefit of the doubt -- that after all, Bush's conversion to renewables is, Salazar said," radical."

"He had breakfast with Bush then flew with him to the NREL panel."

"I think he understands renewable energy is not just a fictional issue," Salazar said. "Sometimes when we talk about the sun, the wind, you say, "They've been talking about that stuff for 30 years." I think he's serious about it. "

"Mark Udall, who is definitely serious about this stuff, was also there. He hopes Bush is committed to more than talking."

"I tip my hat to him," Udall said. "The president took the initial step in a long journey. He needs to continue to travelthat road. Spending needs to be increased dramatically. Five million (dollars)to replace 32 jobs -- that's good and well, particularly for the people laid off."

"But it ought to be 532 jobs. It ought to be 10,032 jobs."

"If that kind of gusher for renewables ever comes in, maybe then I'll be stunned and convinced."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

MIke Littwin appears to hit the nail on the head with a very well applied hammer.

With Bush's cohort so intimately involved with the oil industry, will he be allowed to do anything concrete about renewables ? Or will it take time for the biggies to figure out how to get in on the bucks to be made with renewables ?

In the news article in the same paper today is mentioned: "On Monday, the Department of Energy -- which owns NREL -- gave it $5 million to help restore the jobs. But some of the terminated employees have decided not to come back, said Bob Noun, NREL's deputy assiciate director. Also, the remaining $23 million budget shortfall means the lab's cancelled contracts and subcontracts with private partners will stay in place."

So -- here's your jobs back boys and girls -- not enough money to run the place, but come back to work anyhow. Now, hypothetically there is pie in the sky . . . . . .

Over time it seems Mr. Bush is bopping around photo-opping here and there in an attempt to divert attention from things embarrassing to him and his administration. But hey, there are more holes in the dike than you have fingers DUTCH BOY . . . . . . . . . . .

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