tar sands pipeline compromise: give us equal or greater clean energy FIRST

[yurbud]

The current fight over the tar sands pipeline could be solved with a new energy rule: for every dirty energy project, an equal or greater clean one must be built, and the clean one has to come online FIRST.

That means a wind farm, solar plant, solar panels on homes or businesses, ocean hydro geothermal plant, or whatever that produces the same or greater amount of energy per day as whatever is coming out of the pipeline, gas field, or whatever (forget nukes--those are planetary suicide).

While this proposal isn't ideal, it neutralizes a couple of tactics of dirty energy supporters.

• The oil companies now more or less admit that clean energy is the future, but claim their product has to be ''part of the mix.'' What they don't say out loud is they want it to be all of the mix until they run out of batter. This proposal would force them to either live up to their PR or admit it's a lie.
  
  The oil companies, can hardly say they can't afford since they pay so little taxes and make more profits than any corporation in the history of the world.
  
  
• This gives Obama and corporate Democrats in Congress their precious fucking bipartisan compromise that they seem to value more than good policy, the wishes of their constituents, and even more than staying in office.
  
  
• For those in Congress who were pushing cap and trade, this borrows the basic concept, but applies it more narrowly to energy producers instead of users, so it would be tougher to say it's a jobs killer.
  

For the rest of us, it gives measurable progress toward giving up oil, gas, and coal. Sure Obama has spent several times more on alternative energy than Bush and previous presidents, but how do we know how big the impact is on our total energy usage, whether it's actually moving us toward a future without oil, or is just a bigger token effort that will lead nowhere?

That's also why it is imperative the clean energy part is online before the oil companies are allowed to flip the switch on the dirty--so we know the clean will actually be done, and not just as http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/03/big_oil_misers.html">an ad campaign that cost more than the oil companies investment in alternative energy itself.

[Cool Logic]

1. "an equal or greater clean one must be built, and the clean one has to come online FIRST. "

I don't understand...is there something that is preventing clean energy projects from being constructed?

[yurbud]

2. the point is to tie the growth of dirty to clean, so we know the clean isn't a token effort