More Energy Policy

February 3rd. 2006
Sent to but not published by the New York Times

It seems to me that President Bush has never come across a dot that he didn't try to disconnect.
The latest example is given in Paul Krugman's column (New York Times, February 3rd., page A 27) describing the Energy Policy of the Administration. With one breath, the President, in the State of the Union Speech, talks about increasing research on biomass and renewable energy; yet at the same time, his budget measures result in a reduction of funding to the Energy Department's research group that is working on those issues.
To understand the Administration's goals we need to look at what they do, not at what they say. Just as with the pious profession of help to the poor in New Orleans that has been coupled with cuts to Medicaid, the true goals of the Energy department do not embrace  renewable resources.