Editorial: Destructive strategy on energy use

Wednesday, May 2, 2001 | 9:01 a.m.

When President Bush appointed Vice President Dick Cheney to head a White House task force to develop a national energy policy, many skeptics wondered whether a former energy company executive was the right man to develop a balanced approach. For instance, would Cheney acknowledge conservation's essential role as part of a comprehensive energy strategy? Cheney's final report still hasn't been released, but a speech he gave Monday in Toronto offers plenty of evidence that this administration is devising a policy that will reward polluting industries at the expense of conservation and the environment.

In an attempt to answer his critics, who have said that the administration has given short shrift to conservation, Cheney responded: "To speak exclusively of conservation is to duck the tough issues. Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue, but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy." Cheney is missing the point, though. Any time there is a shortage, whether it's money or any commodity, people first explore ways to reasonably cut back on consumption in order to dig themselves out of the hole they're in. Conservation, just like the development of more energy efficient products -- such as light bulbs and air conditioners -- is an integral component of a national energy policy. Conservation isn't the only answer, but it is an important part of the solution.

It also was dismaying that the vice president said the most environmentally friendly option to increase the supply of energy was to build new nuclear power plants. Referring to nuclear power, Cheney said that "if we are serious about environmental protection, then we must seriously question the wisdom of backing away from what is, as a matter of record, a safe, clean and very plentiful energy source." Cheney didn't mention that the waste produced by nuclear power not only is dirty, but it also is deadly, posing a threat to the environment and the public's health and safety. Cheney's unwavering insistence that nuclear power's role be dramatically heightened is an incredibly troubling prospect for residents of this state, especially since the federal government has targeted Nevada's Yucca Mountain as a possible repository to hold 77,000 tons of nuclear waste .

Whether it's a failure to acknowledge the benefits of conservation, a belief that environmentally sensitive public lands should be opened to oil drilling, or an advocacy of a dangerous energy source such as nuclear power, Cheney is pushing a policy that will please big energy producers -- but will fail the needs of this nation.