Governor Schwarzenegger Pledges “One Million Solar Roofs”

With oil prices at near-record highs this week, Senator Katherine Laforge, took the opportunity to speak out about the positive actions California has embarked upon to be more energy self reliant and less dependent on foreign oil. The energy issue is a major concern in California as indicated by numerous power outages and the fact that they have the highest average gas price of any state in the union.

Sen. Katherine Laforge praised Governor Schwarzenegger for his pledge to move towards creating “one million solar [paneled roofs” during his term as governor of California. Gov. Schwarzenegger stated: “I promised the people of California during the campaign that as governor I would push for solar power. Today, I am keeping that promise to harness renewable solar energy with the help of my friends… to create one million solar roofs.”

While Gov. Schwarzenegger did promise to push for solar energy, and I and most Californians are glad to see him keep that promise, he also promised to balance the state budget. That promise he has not kept. He and the legislators are too busy worrying about supporting the illegal immigrants in a life style most Californians can't achieve. If the Gov. and the legislators would simply take the illegl immigrants off our welfare rolls, California would not be running out of money, and the Gov. would not have to tax California US citizens to death!

Sen. Laforge passionately protests the United States’ unquenchable thirst for oil and said, “Our country has become the oil hog of the world, voraciously using more oil per capita than any other country in the world.” The United States uses twice as much oil per capita than any other country. She contends that we have become dangerously dependent on foreign oil in recent years. With the money the United States spends importing oil every year, it would be very easy and cost effective to develop and improve on existing technologies for wind, solar, BioDiesel, Thermal Depolymerization, and hydroelectric power.

Senator Katherine Laforge is expected to pioneer a key movement towards alternative energy both before, and after the next presidential election. Gov. Schwarzenegger efforts towards more solar power in California, is a positive step in his effort to make alternative energy a reality. In the Senator’s latest address, she focused on America’s over-dependency of foreign oil and expanded on the Governor’s plan by suggesting new programs to make us completely self-reliant through renewable energy sources. She said, "America has become a vassal state to OPEC. Our military men and women are offered as a serf army to the OPEC nations. We use billions of US tax dollars and the blood of our soldiers to preserve the power of these unpopular governments. Wind power and solar energy could quickly free us from OPEC’s shackles."

Sen. Laforge’s has made her belief clear that the energy problem should be a bipartisan issue solved by members of all political persuasions. Gov. Schwarzenegger, among other high-ranking leaders, have showed through actions that they share many of the views Senator Katherine Laforge espouses on oil and alternative energy issues. A major concern of Senator Katherine Laforge has always been the dream to implement an alternative energy program that would allow us to say “Hasta La Vista, Baby” to the tight grip the Middle East has on us.

Currently, the US spends seven hundred billion dollars or more just to ensure that oil from the Middle East reaches us. This cost is not included in the barrel price that news sources use to gauge the current price of oil but you pay it in income taxes as the shipping charges for the oil to our shores.

Sen. Laforge proposes to, “…allocate a sum of money, equal in significance to the money budgeted to insure OPEC oil reaches our shores. A sum of that magnitude in billions of dollars should be used to create solar power plants, thousands of wind farms, thermal conversion processing plants, and pay for research on more efficient ways to use hydrogen energy. A billion dollars spent in that fashion would provide benefits for decades to come instead of simply being a one time fee to insure delivery of a shipload of oil.” And in this writers opion, we'd have more than enough money to power every single house in America with alternative energy, if we simply quit supporting illegal immigrants and fighting wars we never should have been in in the first place.

The United States government has failed to implement any policy that would seriously decrease our dependency on oil from the volatile Middle East and other foreign counties. President Bush released a statement last Saturday encouraging new energy legislation but nothing yet of any significance has been accomplished during the last congressional session. Sen. Laforge reminds her followers that it is the duty of elected leaders to find better ways to meet the energy needs of their constituents through alternative means and not by simply accepting the status quo or shoring up governments of friendly Middle East regimes. She hopes that concerned citizens will start grass roots campaigns insuring that bipartisan energy legislation is introduced that charts out a national move to reduce foreign oil dependency.