Jan. 21, 2009Mr. President, last summer our nation faced a significant energy crisis, one of the steepest in years. In mid-July, gas prices peaked at an average of $4.11 per gallon nationally. Since the start of the war in Iraq, those prices represent an almost 2 1/2-fold increase per gallon for the American consumer-almost a full dollar from prices the previous year.

The problem, however, was never the price of gas. Nor was it foreign oil as opposed to oil produced domestically. The problem, then as it is now, was gasoline itself.

High gasoline prices were only ever symptomatic of a wider, more serious deficiency in our nation's energy policy, one that reaches as far back as the 1973 OPEC oil embargo. Our nation had a real opportunity to evolve beyond its dependency on fossil fuels then, and for a time, maybe we tried. But as prices fell during the 1980s and focus shifted away from energy costs, that evolution waned. A nation of innovators failed to innovate; a nation of immense creative vision failed to create the visionary technologies that it would so badly need a quarter-century later. America's potential to lead the world toward a future of clean energy was squandered on the altar of its addiction to oil.

Our oil addiction, conversely, has evolved-from a relatively serious energy and economic problem to an outright threat to America's energy and economic security. America imports about three fifths of the oil it consumes, a proportion that continues to increase with every passing year. This addiction has also begun affecting more than just the price of gas. Diesel fuel prices are rising, impacting the cost of transporting any goods by truck or rail, and thus the cost of everything we buy. Home heating oil prices are also up, and with each passing year more and more families are struggling to make it through the winter.

The longer we remain at the fickle mercy of foreign oil producers, the longer we allow basic tenets of both domestic and foreign policy-how we power the nation, how we interact with other nations on the world stage-to be dictated to us by the price listed at the local Chevron station. Your administration, Mr. President, must not waste time in crafting a policy that sets us on a road to true energy independence. The nation has suffered for eight years under a president blind to this growing crisis, one who was even party to its spread. We cannot afford to wait another eight to free ourselves of it.

We should "drill here, drill now," if it were at all possible. But drilling now really means drilling in at least a decade, after derricks have been erected, pipelines have been installed and the oil has begun to flow. A holiday on the gas tax during the summer months would be little more than a political ploy that might earn you points temporarily but would do absolutely nothing to solve our problems in the long term. Instead, consider increasing the existing investment and production tax credits on solar and wind energy. By increasing these credits you will stimulate investment in these renewable energies and ensure that they become economically competitive with more traditional sources like coal and oil. In fact, consider taxing gas further. Tax it here, tax it now, and tax it enough that we no longer want to drive unless we must. Offset an increase in gas taxes with a cut in taxes elsewhere-perhaps the income tax, as Denmark recently did, increasing incentives both to work and to save energy-and encourage further development of plug-in hybrid vehicles.

The accident at Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in 1979 significantly turned popular American opinion against nuclear power, and since then, no new nuclear generators have been constructed domestically. But nuclear power is clean and reliable, and while accidents like TMI's partial meltdown or the Chernobyl meltdown in 1983 are frightening, they are incredibly rare. Consider France, which produces over 80 percent of its electricity from nuclear power; since the first commercial nuclear plants went into operation there in the 1960s, there have been exactly zero major incidents. Obviously, there remains a good deal of opposition to nuclear power here, but if it can be determined that nuclear power remains safe, you should take a serious look at pursuing the construction of new plants. It is unlikely that any serious attempt at bringing America toward alternative energies will be successful if nuclear power continues to be rejected as a viable option.

Mr. President, America's energy crisis is real, and it hurts. If we are to have any hope of breaking our addiction to oil and achieving the energy independence we so desperately need, you must work, starting from day one, toward a radical shift in our nation's energy policies: a nuclear era in the 21st century.