Blue Dog Dems unleash weak energy principles

Lump of coal to Blue Dog energy view

WASHINGTON -- The conservative Blue Dog Democrats today released their energy principles.

These weak energy principles are a major disappointment.

As Arizona and the southwest get hotter and drier due to global warming, the Blue Dogs point largely to more coal, nukes, oil & gas, and slow going on global warming solutions.

Blue Dog Rep. Matheson (D-UT) said the first principle is that of "energy PAYGO"-- the insistence that U.S. energy policy should not result in a net loss of domestic energy.

So much for conservation and reducing energy demand.

"We have diverse energy resources in American today and we can't discard any of them... a reliable supply of conventional fuels are essential for our economy," says Matheson.

The Blue Dogs say U.S. energy policy should not reduce existing access to domestic energy resources, like dirty coal or expensive and dangerous nukes.

These conservative Dems weakly advocate 'more research and development' to help achieve meaningful carbon dioxide reductions in a viable manner.

"You have to be realistic about how far you need to go and how fast you can get there," said Matheson. "It would be wrong to produce an energy policy that doesn't live up to its billing and creates disruption and chaos."

Several Republican and Democratic Governors are saying do more now to cut global warming pollution.

Democrats can do better. I hope many in Congress will favor more and faster progress on energy and global warming than the Blue Dogs.

If you want the full 6 pages of Blue Dog energy views, please e-mail me.