Editorials
Tuesday, May 8, 2001
VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY was emphatic a week ago in saying that vast expansion of oil, coal and natural gas development will be needed to meet the nation's energy needs for "years down the road." He rejected the notion that "we could simply conserve or ration our way out" of what he called an energy crisis. Energy policy
dismisses conservation
too quicklyThe issue: A study by scientists at
five national laboratories contradicts
the Bush admin-istration's dismissal of
conservation as a significant aspect
of the U.S. energy policy.A new study by scientists at five laboratories conflicts with that overview and brings into serious question the Bush administration's credibility on this vital issue.
President Bush and the vice president both are former oil industry executives, but those backgrounds could have been regarded as having provided expertise in the field of energy. Instead, the policy statement by Cheney, who should have known about the scientific study, reveals a disturbing bias.
Cheney said energy demands are soaring so quickly that the country will need to build 1,300 big 300-megawatt generating plants in the next 20 years. He also said the government must help the energy industry find new domestic sources of oil and gas, including in protected areas of the Arctic National Refuge.
While proposing greatly to increase the supply of energy, Cheney gave little credence to controlling demand. "The aim here is efficiency, not austerity," he said. "Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue, but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy."
Cheney made no mention of the lengthy report to the contrary, based on three years of work by five national laboratories. Scientists at the labs concluded that research and adoption of new technologies could reduce the growth in electricity by 20 percent to 47 percent, eliminating the need for as many as 610 of those 1,300 power plants embraced by the vice president.
The methods are neither futuristic nor expensive. A fluorescent table lamp already has been developed that would match the combined output of a 300-watt halogen lamp and a 150-watt bulb, but use only a fourth of the energy. Geothermal heat pumps -- circulating fluids through underground coils using conventional technologies -- have been proven to be so efficient that President Bush has installed a system in his new ranch home in Texas and Cheney uses a similar system in his official residence in Washington.
The scientists found that the federal government, the nation's largest user of energy, could reduce consumption by one-fifth at no cost to taxpayers by adopting widespread energy conservation measures.
President Bush's budget proposal calls for drastic cuts in researching and developing energy-efficient buildings and factories, more fuel-efficient automobiles, new appliance standards and more efficient lighting. The explanation is that the administration would prefer that such work be done by the private sector.
Cheney has divested himself of financial holdings in the oil industry, but his ease in dismissing conservation as an important ingredient in energy policy indicates he is on an industry-driven mission. A policy that gives short shrift to conservation is neither sound nor comprehensive.
TIMOTHY McVeigh's execution will be conducted behind locked doors before a handful of onlookers and by closed-circuit television to scores of others. Executions carried out by the government are said to be private matters not conducive to public viewing, but the reason for the locked doors is the government's shame for carrying out such a brutal and repugnant act. Shame is behind
locked doors
on executionsThe issue: Timothy McVeigh's
execution will be seen only by a few
observers, including Gore Vidal.Any shame on the part of the public did not stop more than 1,400 members of the news media from applying for press credentials for McVeigh's execution by lethal injection. Most of the dozen or so people who will be allowed to watch the execution in person are relatives of people killed in the Oklahoma City bombing. Other relatives of the 168 people who died in the bombing will be allowed to watch by closed-circuit TV.
One of the three people McVeigh himself was allowed to invite is the writer Gore Vidal. The author of "Burr," "Lincoln" and "The Last Empire," says McVeigh, "has a sense of justice" because of their shared disapproval of the federal government's raid on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, in which 80 people died in 1993. Vidal says he will write an article about the execution for Vanity Fair, which McVeigh undoubtedly regards as an important boost on his way to martyrdom.
Public radio stations caused discomfort last week by broadcasting official audio records of electrocutions that took place in Georgia in the past two decades. The monotone utterances of the process perhaps fed the imagination of some listeners.
"Executions are an act of government that has been completely hidden from the public," said David Isay, the radio producer who obtained the tape recordings. "I wanted to shine a light on this process so people could understand what an execution is."
Most Americans may prefer not to know, at least not up-close and personal. That is why the doors will be locked.
Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, President
John Flanagan, publisher and editor in chief 529-4748; jflanagan@starbulletin.com
Frank Bridgewater, managing editor 529-4791; fbridgewater@starbulletin.com
Michael Rovner, assistant managing editor 529-4768; mrovner@starbulletin.com
Lucy Young-Oda, assistant managing editor 529-4762; lyoungoda@starbulletin.com The Honolulu Star-Bulletin (USPS 249460) is published daily by
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