Everyone's talking about gas prices. Let's shift the conversation to real remedies and real energy stability. Our prescription: smart energy policies that will renew our economy, cut global warming pollution, and help us kick an unhealthy fossil fuel habit. Why remain captive to skyrocketing fuel prices when we can stabilize our economy with efficient transportation and clean, abundant sources of energy like the sun and wind?

Thanks to our colleagues at Climate Solutions for help with these talking points.

 Click here for a printable version of Flashcard No. 10>>

Talking Points: Prescription for a Healthy Energy Economy

An addiction to fossil fuels threatens our economic health. It’s time for smart remedies that spark a clean energy recovery.

•  Fossil fuel dependence threatens our economic health and the heath of our climate. 

• We have an opportunity to ensure our energy security, economic prosperity, and a stable climate.
  
• It’s time to take control of our energy future. It’s time for real solutions.
  
  

The Malady:

Our oil addiction is a dragging down the economy and rising fuel prices are hurting working families.

We’re sending billions of dollars to far-off, unstable regimes, and oil companies – money better spent in our own communities on efficiency and clean technologies.

• Washington, Oregon, and Idaho produce virtually no natural gas, and no petroleum. All our energy dollars are siphoned out of the region's economy -- which leaves less money circulating locally, among the region's residents and businesses.
• Every day, Northwesterners send $61 million out of our pockets -- out of our communities -- to far-off oil nations and huge corporations. The Northwest spent $22.3 billion, a new record, to import petroleum and natural gas in 2007. (Washington, $12.6 billion; Oregon, $7.0 billion; Idaho, $2.7 billion.)
• The United States consumes more than 20 million barrels of oil a day, accounting for roughly a quarter of worldwide demand. Yet we have less than 2 percent of all known oil reserves and import about 60 percent of our oil, making us dangerously dependent on a single, precarious energy source to keep our economy moving.

Quack Medicine:

No band-aids, no gimmicks, no placebos! Prolong dependence on oil and we prolong consumer pain.

We’re not fooled by the business-as-usual response – stubborn efforts to prolong our dependency on fossil fuels. As KC Golden of Climate Solutions says, "We wouldn’t treat a drug addiction by increasing supply or decreasing prices." Consumers see through sham remedies like drilling off our shores or pandering to voters with “gas tax holidays.”

• Oil companies have been posting record profits; no wonder they favor the status quo. More drilling will equate to no relief at the pump. Even under the most optimistic scenarios, drilling in all our wilderness areas would only mean a few cents reduction in the price of a gallon of gasoline by 2025.
  
• According to the US Department of Energy, the total additional oil that could be brought into production from drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Outer Continental Shelf, and the Rocky Mountain states is likely to be only about 1.2 million barrels of oil a day at peak production. This only adds up to a $1.20 reduction in the price per barrel of oil (now at $120 - $140 a barrel). If drilling started today, mere pennies' worth of savings would not be seen by Americans for at least ten years.
• Recommended: National Wildlife Federation talking points on oil drilling.
  

Real Remedies:

Smart energy policy sparks innovation and efficiency and gives us the freedom to shift away from dead-end energy sources.

American families will suffer increasingly high prices and prolonged energy insecurity unless we aggressively reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and invest in alternatives. Real, home-cooked remedies and smart, efficient solutions are at hand. We can kick the habit and revitalize our economy by unleashing American ingenuity and shifting to clean technologies. We have an opportunity to ensure our country’s energy security and economic health through smart energy policy. Here’s how:

The policy prescription

First: implement policy incentives to significantly reduce the amount of fossil fuels we use.

Invest in convenient choices for transportation.

• Build fast, comfortable, reliable transit systems.
• Grow well-planned neighborhoods where we have choices about how we get around.
  
  

Use smart policy to encourage efficiency.

• Double the fuel economy of our cars and trucks.
• Save money by making our buildings and homes more energy efficient.

Invest in renewable power and develop sustainable biofuels that don't use food crops.

• Generate power here at home, developing domestic sources that are stable and secure.
• Create good jobs in the clean energy sector.

Second: Stop the fossil-fuel drain on our communities by placing a cap on global warming pollution.

Setting a cap to stabilize our energy future is a win-win: We increase efficiency, we break free from fossil fuels, and we gain control of our energy dollars, protecting consumers from volatile prices.

• Voluntary measures aren't working to curb global warming pollution or kick the fossil fuel habit. A cap, gradually ratcheted down over time, allows us to make a responsible switch to smart, clean energy sources.
• The cap gives us a timetable for kicking the habit, with real accountability for results. It gives businesses a recipe for success in the new energy economy: maximum flexibility, clear and feasible goals, and a predictable time line.
• The cap spurs investments in clean energy and rewards efficiency and innovation.
  
• A cap is tested and proven effective. A cap was successful in reducing acid rain pollution in the US in the 1990s.
• Clean air is a resource we all own and enjoy.  With a cap, we stop using the sky as a free dumping ground. We cut air pollution. And we’ll leave a healthier climate to our kids and grandkids.
• A cap is an investment in our stability and security.
• Recommended: FAQ: Cap and Trade in the West
  

Full Recovery:

We take control of our energy economy. Our energy dollars stay at home. We stabilize prices and we cut pollution.

Smart energy policy can stabilize energy costs, reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, and spur investment in clean energy solutions that we produce here in our own communities -- meaning local economic benefits and green jobs. By shifting away from fossil fuels, we can build a stronger, healthier economy.

• Prolonging our dependence on a dead-end energy source is like giving oil producers the PIN number to our ATM card. By taking control of our energy economy, we make sure our money stays here at home, in our communities and in our pockets.
• Nations that can produce and sell energy will hold the leading edge in the global economy. With global oil supplies becoming more questionable that means prosperous nations will develop the best alternative-energy technologies.
• Growing the green economy will help us create local jobs -- jobs that can't be outsourced. We can build pathways out of poverty for those who are getting hit hardest by high fossil fuel costs.
  
• Americans will save $180 billion through the year 2030 on foreign oil expenditures as a result of the legislation, according to the Department of Energy.
  
• With a cap, we can grow our economy without growing our carbon output. Wall Street Journal: "The leading congressional proposal to control greenhouse-gas emissions could be implemented without significantly harming the nation's economic growth over the next two decades, according to an analysis published by the Bush administration."

 
Click here for a printable version of these talking points.
 

Who said it?

"It’s as if our addict-in-chief is saying to us: C’mon guys, you know you want a little more of the good stuff. One more hit, baby. Just one more toke on the ole oil pipe. I promise, next year, we’ll all go straight. Give me one more pop from that drill, please, baby. Just one more transfusion of that sweet offshore crude." -- Thomas L. Friedman. Read more>>

Who said it best?

Quotes from climate leaders with real policy prescriptions for our energy crisis.

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