Draft Letter to Congress for Support of Long-Term Energy Policy and the Pickens Plan

Here's a second draft of a letter to a U.S. Senator / U.S. Representative. Thank you to Clyde, Cheryl, and many others for identifying many of the issues which Congress should address in adopting a comprehensive long-term energy policy. Thank you Cheryl for your editing comments.


(ADDRESSED TO MEMBER OF CONGRESS)

Over $700 billion of this nation’s wealth will be transferred to foreign countries this year as a result of the burgeoning trade deficit. Every credible economist agrees that no society, even one as great as America, can withstand such a colossal wealth transfer. Finally a strategy has emerged to attack this problem, and in so doing bring tremendous benefits to our economy, decrease U.S. unemployment, and provide for a cleaner environment. This strategy is called the Pickens Plan. Along with tens of thousands of fellow members, this plan has attracted hundreds of thousands of supporters in a very short time. Why? It simply makes sense.

My fellow citizens and I have grown tired of the gridlock in Congress and our nation’s lack of a cohesive, long-term energy policy. Confronted with a fiscal crisis, we must unite now, before it is too late, to take prudent action. I urge you and Congress to set aside politics and vote for the following:

• 10-year extension of the production tax credit for wind energy, a natural resource of America’s heartland and shores which can provide a significant portion of our energy needs at reasonable prices;

• 10-year extension and modification of the investment tax credit for solar energy.

• 10-year extension of the production tax credits for biomass, geothermal, hydropower, landfill gas, and solid waste;

• The formation of a national task force, consisting of representatives from the many state governments, to create transmission corridors for transmission of energy from rural areas in which wind and solar energy farms are deployed to our population centers;

• Incentives for the production of renewable fuels such as biodiesel and cellulosic biofuels, incentives for companies that produce energy-efficient products, and incentives to improve efficiency in commercial and residential buildings;

• Policies to support the deployment of compressed natural gas vehicles in our governmental fleets of vehicles;

• National legislation requiring net-metering with a sensible 2 MW standard for the net metering tariff, to encourage business and residential deployment of clean energy technologies;

• Expansion of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration, to provide funds for research and development, deployment, and expansion of alternative energy projects by small U.S. businesses; and

• Policies to require U.S. oil companies to invest their profits in additional domestic oil exploration, expansion of domestic oil refineries, and an allocation of a significantly greater portion of their profits for alternative energy research and development and deployment.

Please be aware that shorter-term renewals of tax credits are ineffective to spur investment in the deployment of wind farms, solar thermal and solar PV manufacturing, and the construction of electricity transmission infrastructure. Our nation requires a sensible policy approach to effectively promote the necessary longer-term investment of hundreds of billions of dollars in alternative energy technologies.

I urge you, and the Congress, to act now to enable America to improve its energy security, spur on domestic alternative energy manufacturing, create tens of thousands of quality jobs, combat pollution and global warning through clean energy, and reduce our dependency on foreign oil. In so doing, you will dramatically lower our foreign trade deficit with a single stroke, and help to restore long-term fiscal health of the United States of America and the future of the American Dream.

Abraham Lincoln once wrote: "The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew." Nearly 150 years later, in the present day, Lincoln's words ring true again; as T. Boone Pickens has stated, "This is one emergency we cannot drill ourselves out of." I urge you, and the Congress, to rise to the occasion, to set aside partisan politics, and to enact a long-term energy policy for this country.

I also urge you, personally, to support the Pickens Plan, and to join hundreds of thousands of your fellow citizens who also support the Pickens Plan by joining us at www.PickensPlan.com.

Sincerely,

(Name)

~$ttertoMemberofCongressComprehensiveLongTermEnergyPolicyDraftTwo.doc