We all watched in horror as the news agencies made their broadcasts of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in flames after suffering a huge explosion. Now many weeks later we are learning that there were many alarming and negligent lack of repairs that are allegedly responsible for the millions of gallons of oil that are now poisoning the Gulf of Mexico. An entire fishing industry which spans the entire southeastern US and which supports thousands of workers and their families braces as their very livelihoods are being threatened as is the wildlife. Companies like British Petroleum “promised” to protect our Gulf coast, waters and wildlife through proactive maintenance measures of their oil rigs and even assured congress that something like this could never happen and now there is no end in sight for this horrendous event that will detrimentally affect our gulf coast and its residence for years to come.
Meanwhile, new legislation was introduced by Senators Kerry and Lieberman to deal with Clean Energy and Climate Change concerns that many Americans now have a new perspective on given this latest oil spill disaster. Should the US Senate craft this legislation with all of the mandates such as requiring state utilities to provide at least 30% of their electrical energy generated from renewable energy systems of home and business owners who provide this energy through net metering to their grids and mandating an energy buy back program to incentivize it the end results would be incredibly positive on many fronts. Renewable energy system sales and installations would skyrocket while at the same time creating hundreds of thousands of jobs nationwide and instead of anticipating carbon fueled energy reductions of 83% by 2050 we could realize these goals much sooner. When was the last time the US actually beat a dead line we set when it came to any kind of carbon reductions? For many weeks and months we have been hearing how badly our country needs to “lead” the world in renewable energy system manufacturing and use yet when it comes to actually making it happen it has become far too commonplace to offer up excuses for having missed the mark.
Aggressively proactive Clean Energy legislation is what this country needs to ensure that the likelihood of any further disasters such as the one we are currently facing in the Gulf are a thing of our past rather than a future we need to dread and wait in fear of. Now is the time for every American to voice your opinions to your Senators on just how important it is to pass this legislation so that it is cost effective for every home to have a renewable energy system so they can take personal responsibility in not only their own energy needs but the energy needs of our world. There are just too many positive effects that would result from this to be ignored and if handled correctly could prove to be the shot in the arm our nations economy needs to put 12 million unemployed citizens back to work.
