If Al Gore tries to sell the Kyoto Protocol or a lighter form of greenhouse gas regulation on the campaign trail, George W. Bush should be ready with the science and economics to make some electoral hay. Cars and power plants are not the enemy, and Earth in the Balance is not a good read. All that is needed to cut this issue down to size is education and Bush's leadership on the campaign trail. The depletion scare is over. Technology is on its way to controlling the real pollutants from fossil-fuel combustion.
Climate change is the last, and failing, rationale to comprehensively regulate energy.
It is time to declare victory in the sustainable energy debate and drive home to a well-lit house in good conscience. Robert L. Bradley Jr. is president of the Institute for Energy Research in Houston and an adjunct scholar of the Cato Institute. He is also a member of the Board of Advisors of the Texas Review Society.