Consider some highlights. Simply put, there are more people using energy to power their homes, cars, air conditioners, televisions and computers. But the number of power plants and lines hasn t increased in proportion to the population surge, so prices have risen. The president supports this because he knows price controls don t work. They encourage consumption and impede investment.
Opponents are quick to raise the specter of Three Mile Island or even Chernobyl.
But the Three Mile Island accident involved only a tiny amount of leakage in the first place and no loss of life or widespread increase in disease. As for Chernobyl, no plant in this country ever has or will operate with so little regard for safety. Besides, nuclear power plants already supply about 20 percent of U.S. electricity, and hardly anyone complains. About 56 percent of the oil the United States uses is imported, mostly from the Middle East. In contrast, when we had our first energy crisis in 1973, only 35 percent of our oil came from foreign sources.