In Preston County recently, Congressman Alan Mollohan spoke at length on the need for a national energy policy. High gas and other fuel prices are the result of the nation lacking a sound plan and of course you know who, as usual, is to blame.
Maybe Mollohan and other Democrats forgot that in George W. Bush's first term he pushed hard on the need for an energy plan. His administration warned that unless the country expanded its access to domestic oil supplies, we could face shortages or severe price hikes in the future. Democrats and environmentalists produced staunch opposition while weak willed Republicans wilted under the pressure. (Shelley Moore Capito thankfully supported the president.)
Over and over again President Bush pushed his energy ideas and warned about the crisis to come. No one listened. Even when gas prices started a steep rise, no one listened. Yes America was short sighted, but do not count President Bush, Congresswoman Capito, and a few others with political courage among them.
West Virginia Democrats are now stuck in the unenviable position of opposing drilling on a few thousand of the many millions of acres in ANWAR while supporting widespread mountaintop removal in West Virginia. White tailed deer flourish here despite the mining, interstates, and cities, but we are to believe that reindeer would perish in Alaska with much less development.
Consistency alone demands that Alan Mollohan and other West Virginia Democrats back the president on this issue. Fairness dictates that they stop blasting the one man who constantly urged Congress to act on energy before it was too late.
I can remember in one of the President's first State of The Union addresses he called for the need to develop a National Energy grid in the same manner that we developed the national highway system
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