Given our debt, we can't afford to disregard oil as a commodity

To the editor,

Saturday's Sun (Jan.21) had a good letter from Kent Warner from Center Harbor, which I found I was in agreement with a good portion of. Kent rightly bashes ethanol production as he showed costs more overall then it saves all considered. He blames Republicans. Okay, I don't know who stuck us with this but I'll go along with him on this. What both sides have to recognize is that when something doesn't work it needs to be stopped not defended and continued for purely political reasons.

On solar energy he is right again. We can't compete with China's subsidized solar industry. But continuing to throw money at it even for a while longer is very unlikely to change anything. I will remind readers that research has been going on since 1973's oil embargo with minimal progress. Does anyone out there have news of any breakthroughs?

Electric cars are a great concept but are far more expensive then conventional cars and there-in lies the problem. I have long hoped that there would be a battery breakthrough to make them viable but again cost and limitations keep them far away. Kent thinks nuke power will be the solution but I'm nor convinced of that as it would still depend more on battery power and duration. I have my hopes set on hydrogen-powered fuel cells but even that seems along way off. This is one area the funding should go into and not the solar companies. In the end it will still all come down to cost effectiveness.

As for Kent's thinking that oil drilling should not be pursued, here we part company. Oil is a commodity not just an energy source. It's just like gold, silver, copper, iron or any other commodity. With our natural reserves, if exploited, we could not only become energy independent but an exporter to the rest of the world. Considering our national debt, in the trillions, we simply can't afford to disregard this resource.

I can wait for that electric cost effective car, but I need oil to heat my home and at an affordable price. I think most people living in the northern half of the U.S. would agree with that sentiment. Otherwise Kent, nice letter.

Steve Earle

Hill