Rusted Sky

Not from either party, no. It is cheap and easy to appease the eco-groups in the short run, but we pay, and dearly, in the long-run. We do not have a long term energy plan, but ANWR, Bakken, oil shales and sands must be a part of it as well as new refineries. That said slowly moving to new forms of power generation, generally off-planet with 3rd/4th gen fission nuclear and a hard look at the Polywell fusion project in New Mexico all point to a more and more electric future. It is time to look to encourage that via things like X-prize systems and contracts for those who get capacity in those areas, just as was done for the aircraft industry back in the 1910-20's, which would get airmail service and a real aircraft industry by the 1930's. Very limited government help by setting goals and *paying* for goods and services once those are met. Add that with private prize systems, like what was going on which would get the Atlantic crossed (how little we remember that!), and the outlines for the next 30 years can be drawn, with industry filling in the gaps on standards, performance and competition. If we want to continue economic growth and expansion, at some point we must do these things and get energy generation and manufacturing out of the biosphere. Economics will get us there, but a few incentives brings that future faster, harder and more broadly... just like with the aircraft industry. Take any 30 years of the aircraft industry and compare it to any 30 years of the space industry... the performance under government yoke vs encouragement for private enterprise is astounding and vast.

You can't do it by hugging trees.