Fuel solutions are right under our nose

Richard A. Brown, Pahrump

Saturday, Aug. 9, 2008 | 2:02 a.m.

It’s very odd that the Republicans keep blaming the Democratic Congress for the high price of gasoline. What have they done since George W. Bush has been president to make things better for the U.S. population?

Offshore drilling will produce more oil, but will it change the price of gasoline when the refineries are running at maximum capacity?

Instead of offshore drilling, how about uncapping the oil wells across the country that the government pays to keep capped?

Russia has set an example that could be followed in a short time of changing automobiles over from gasoline to natural gas. Israel is converting to electric cars by installing a half-million recharging stations.

The closest we got to oil independence was when General Motors started building the EV-l electric car. The few people who got to try it were more than pleased with its performance. GM then knuckled under to the wishes of Big Oil and took all the cars out to the desert and trashed them.

Now GM is looking for a bailout because it took a $15.5 billion bath after switching to autos such as the Hummer and the Cadillac Escalade. I don’t think it was visionary, just greedy.

So, let’s just keep blaming the Democrats while the Russians and the Israelis show us the way to become energy efficient.

Oh, did I mention that a national laboratory in Golden, Colo., has been working with Mexico and China, offering them wind and solar technology?