Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue, but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy. Those shortages have been at least partly contrived by the energy and electrical utilities that will profit enormously from a policy designed to placate a populace frightened of gasoline shortages and unaffordable heating and cooling bills. In fact, it is Bush and Cheney who are in denial. Not about America's appetite for gas-guzzling cars, central air and heated swimming pools. But about the fact that the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases we are pumping into the air are gradually and surely asphyxiating the human race and Earth itself.
Conservation is off the table.
So are alternative fuel sources like wind, sun and the promising use of hydrogen. Wyoming is a giant useless hole in the ground. All that new fossil fuel will be consumed by the 2,000 new generating stations Cheney says we need to build over the next 20 years. That's one a week, a goal not even insatiable greed can meet. Those who think the Brothers Grimm share a common-sense approach to the country's future energy needs should reflect on an important fact.