America must focus on clean energy solutions

America’s dependence on foreign oil hurts our economy, subsidizes hostile regimes overseas and puts our national security at risk. Rather than continuing to send billions overseas for Middle Eastern oil, new clean energy policies mean spending that money here at home on clean energy sources that will create new jobs, build new industries and make us more secure.

Right now, countries like China are making decisions and investments that are attractive to clean energy businesses and technology companies and the jobs that go with them. If America is going to compete in the new global clean energy economy — if we want to prevent the outsourcing of America’s clean energy future to other countries like China and India — we need to act now. With smart clean energy policies, we can support new industries and innovations that will create jobs here at home and help to insure that America is a leading exporter of clean energy technology to other nations.

It’s not surprising that the big oil companies are fighting these changes with everything they have. They’re spending millions to protect their billions in profits and to maintain the status quo. But more of the same hasn’t worked for American families — average household energy spending increased between 2001 and 2007. We just can’t afford it anymore.

Arthur Duffy,
social relations and policy sophomore and membership director for MSU College Democrats