Our energy problem is a self-inflicted wound

Friday, Feb. 6, 2009

Now I must assume the majority of people in Maryland were on board with that. The Democratic Party was rushed into state offices. I'm sure even Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert, Prince George's) and Del. Sue Kullen (D-Calvert) know regulation of energy has its price attached; after all, utility companies aren't charities. They're actually entities that produce something, provide nongovernmental jobs, sustain our economy and, oh yes, are expected to make a profit. I guess their local party members and their constituents just didn't get the memo.

So what's the problem when excessive regulation causes cost increases? We just have to do it anyway to control the world's weather; i.e. man-made global warming. A little heads up — you haven't seen anything yet. Wait until 2011 when all the regulations that were just passed this year really start to kick in. Our liberal Democrat buddies have had a busy year up in Annapolis. May I suggest the following reading list of bills written in Annapolis, for the commissioner and others who want to get up to speed? The list should include: SB 442, SB268, SB1013, SB208, SB209, SB417, HB1337, HB374 and HB375. Let me remind those interested that elections do have consequences. Decisions by those elected also have consequences. Politicians that casually tinker with economies should be prepared for the consequences and so should their constituents. Politicians know they're working both sides of the street when they do the fashionable thing and attack the rascally energy companies in the name of global warming. By the way, did everyone read the U.S. Senate minority report on man made global warming, released Dec. 11 2008? It says 650 international scientists now disagree with the premise of manmade global warming. That number is up from 400 scientists just last year. Many consider the premise junk science. That would be science that can't be proven.

Did anyone notice who the new president of the European Union is? It's Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic. In his book "Blue Planet in Green Shackles," he calls manmade climate change a myth and even the new world religion. That information didn't make it into The Washington Post.

In the meantime, what do we say to our neighbor who is struggling to pay his bills? We could tell him legislators wrote bill SB268. It has a line item to return tax money to certain lucky individuals, for relief from those nasty rate increases. Maybe he's lucky. Such is circular political logic. Ask Mr. Miller or Ms. Kullen they can explain it.

We now see politicians causing havoc as they stray from building roads and providing basic services and start manipulating parts of Maryland's economy to change society. When national and state politicians jump the gun and run like lemmings off the cliff with their excessive regulations, hand-in-hand with the extremist environmentalists screaming "follow me," we all pay. Future generations will be paying for a long time. As long as fanatical opinions continue to say conventional energy producers, who built America, are all evil idiots, it's going to be tough. While we still move natural gas by ships instead of pipelines, we'll pay more. As long as we believe clean coal is not possible, the price of all energy goes up. When we are afraid to drill on a postage stamp spot in Alaska, the size of Dulles Airport, the largest oil find in North American history, Calvert County families are impacted. Who knows whether all liberal state and national politicians believe this global warming hysteria, but I do know it fits nicely with the agenda. But consequences trickle down to our checkbooks. Fear is a very useful tool to those whose agenda it is to control people, to build a dependent and restrictive society, a society where government, state and federal, chooses winners and losers. As regulations increase, costs go up, non-government jobs become scarce, dependency on big government increases and self reliance and freedom slowly fades. Some might call this creeping socialism. I call it slow death to the American dream.

So, are we really surprised when restrictive state energy policies affect Calvert county family budgets; where we decide to live, work, if our children have to move to find jobs or if Aunt Suzy can afford to heat her house? Some obviously are surprised. These politicians told us what they would do, we know their history and we elected them anyway. Its tough when some are jarred awake when they find out there's no free lunch.

Thomas Sasscer, Huntingtown