Clean Energy

A golden opportunity is bubbling up beneath that undersea volcano of oil spewing thousands of gallons per day into the Gulf of Mexico. We have a chance to truly move our country, as BP says in its ad campaigns, "beyond petroleum. " Despite the spill's devastation, President Obama continues to claim that we must push forward with more offshore drilling - albeit with stronger safeguards - if we want to increase our energy security. I disagree. We wouldn't ever be secure, even if we drilled every well off our nation's coasts.

Hardly a 'decline' for Mozart Music critic David Patrick Stearns is swell to suggest Mozart might have made a comeback if he hadn't died during the creative decline of his last years ("The later lives of child prodigies," Tuesday). Products of that decline that come to mind: the Clarinet Concerto and Clarinet Quintet; the Requiem; Don Giovanni, Cosi Fan Tutte, and The Magic Flute; the E flat, G minor, and Jupiter symphonies; three string quartets; four string quintets, and Eine Kleine Nachtmusik; two piano concertos.

An energy bill can't magically slash gas prices. It can't instantly undo years of short-term thinking and failure to invest in research. It can't get industry to shed subsidy-addiction overnight. But it could set a new course that reduces dependence on foreign oil, curbs environmental degradation, increases the use of renewable fuels, and invests in the technologies of the future. That's the energy bill Reps. Jim Gerlach of Pennsylvania and Michael Castle of Delaware were looking for. That's why they joined 20 other Republicans in saying no when the House voted 249-183 to pass the 2005 Energy Policy Act last week.

Gov. Rendell's Energy Independence Strategy, a far-reaching plan for the promotion of renewable energy and conservation, was short-circuited by an intensive lobbying effort as the Pennsylvania General Assembly broke for summer recess in July. With a special session on energy set to begin today, it's time for citizens to power up. Unveiled in February, the Energy Independence Strategy (EIS) would establish an $850 million energy independence fund to promote energy-efficient appliances, solar panels and renewable energy projects; direct utility companies to use conservation measures to meet increased demand for electricity; require utilities to provide "smart meters" to their customers, and oblige Pennsylvania to grow and use more biofuels.

During the last 10 years the prices of oil, natural gas and now coal have increased about 400 percent. Higher fossil-fuel prices are adding to our economic pain and soon will be reflected in electricity bills, since we make 70 percent of our electricity by burning fossil fuels. Electricity rate caps in Pennsylvania that capped prices at 1996 levels have ended in six electricity-service territories and will end throughout the state by January 2011. Gov. Rendell has been sounding the alarm since February 2007 on energy prices, urging swift passage of a package of energy bills that would create great green jobs and give consumers practical tools to cut their electricity bills.

When Bob Keares proposed building Pennsylvania's largest solar farm in the heart of Chester County, he expected a warm reception, certainly from environmentalists. With 35,000 panels arrayed on a steep slope in Caln Township, the farm would generate 10 megawatts of energy, pollution-free. It could power 2,000 homes, he asserted, while reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 200,000 tons over 40 years - equivalent to planting eight million trees. Keares' green dream did not end there.

Union president Jim Savage doesn't represent the 400 workers who learned yesterday that Sunoco Inc. would permanently shut down the Eagle Point refinery in Westville, Gloucester County. But he does represent other Sunoco refinery workers - and he thinks they and other "old energy" workers are being left out of all the talk about new and green energy. "It has created a lot of anxiety," said Savage, who leads United Steelworkers Local 10-1. And no wonder. Old-energy jobs in mining, refineries, and electricity tend to be union jobs with decent wages and benefits.

The two main agenda items at the Group of Eight industrialized nations' summit were obscured by terrorists who aimed their bombs at London commuters. Decent citizens of the world - and that's the majority - still shed tears for the hundreds of injured, for the families of the dead, and for the missing. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, President Bush and other G-8 leaders showed strong leadership by carrying on with their important discussions on helping Africa out of poverty and combatting global climate change.

LAS VEGAS - Declaring the United States the "Saudi Arabia of natural gas," President Obama began pushing Thursday for greater use of the fuel resource under domestic soil as he pitched his economic plan in two battleground states. Speaking to a crowd of United Parcel Service workers, Obama said the government should encourage U.S. shipping companies and other large users to reduce reliance on foreign oil for their fleets. Tapping U.S. natural gas sources could "power our cars and our homes and our factories in a cleaner and cheaper way," Obama said.

AS REPORTED by the New York Daily News and other outlets tuned to NBC yesterday morning, the incredible (dare we say, ridiculous) Duggar parents, Michelle and Jim Bob , are expecting their 20th child this spring, the couple revealed on "Today. " "We are so excited," said Michelle, who is roughly a third of the way into this pregnancy, or roughly five months off from the next one. Michelle, 45, clearly has a biological clock that keeps on ticking like a Timex. No word if it also takes a licking.