GUEST OPINION
By Rush Holt
Access to reliable, sustainable, and affordable energy is critical to this nation’s long-term economic growth and prosperity. Today, however, the United States economy finds itself in a precarious situation. We depend on foreign oil to fuel for 56 percent of our energy needs.
If current events in the Middle East have made one fact crystal clear, it is that our economy can no longer afford to depend so heavily on foreign oil. Unfortunately, with only three percent of the world’s oil reserves, the United States will never be fully energy independent as long as oil and other fossil fuels remain our main sources of energy. If we drilled every untapped well of gas and crude in this country it would not change our situation. We would still be dependent on foreign oil. So what does that mean? It means that the foreign source of our oil is a problem, but it is not our main problem. It is a symptom of something larger and more threatening. It is a symptom of our economy’s total dependence on fossil fuels. And like any other dependence, it is debilitating and ultimately unsustainable. It poses a threat not only to the long-term health of our economy, but to our national security. Our production and use of energy by the current means is also the greatest insult to our planet, damaging the overall ecosystem in a very costly way. And burning fossil fuels is deadly, causing the early and unnecessary death of many thousands of Americans each year and condemning many more thousands of children and elderly to lives of asthma and other lung ailments. Our dependence on fossil fuels is more than a looming threat to the physical well-being of our people – it is an immediate cause of diminished public health.
I voted against the energy bill, H.R. 6, which recently passed the House of Representatives because it would only push us further along the dead-end road of dependence on an energy source that leaves our economy vulnerable, our environment devastated, and the health of our citizens compromised. Rather than leading us into a secure energy future with a lower dependence on fossil fuels, this bill merely subsidizes oil and gas companies to do more drilling. It is not a solution to our energy problems. It is a handout to special interests disguised as a solution. If we want a real solution, we need to get serious about weaning ourselves off of fossil fuels, both foreign and domestic. We need to invest in a responsible and sustainable approach to addressing our nation’s energy needs. We need to commit ourselves to developing alternative and sustainable energy sources such as fuel cells, wind power, and fusion. As a scientist who spent three decades working in the energy field, I know that there are real alternatives to fossil fuel. We simply have to begin investing in them.
On behalf of my constituents in central New Jersey, I pledge to continue to push for passage of a balanced, comprehensive energy plan one that finds sustainable ways to decrease our dependence on oil, protects our environment, and provides the alternative fuel our economy needs to grow well into the future.

