Jimmy Carter was right about energy. Had we followed his advice we would be far better off today.

His advice? In speeches in 1977 and 1979, Carter advocated more energy conservation, plus development of alternative fuels. Those included coal-derived fuels, oil from shale, plant-based ethanol, wind and solar energies.
A series of five energy bills were passed during the Carter administration. Those would have created a comprehensive energy policy that had at its heart extensive conservation and alternative energy proposals.

He also encouraged individual responses, including vehicle maintenance (yes, including checking your tire pressure regularly) and slowing down.

But those things were not presented in a vacuum. Rather, they were part of an intensive government program, not instead of one.

Unfortunately, when the energy crisis of that time passed, the next president, Ronald Reagan, eliminated most of the energy plans.

The result was continued reliance on oil production — and increasing dependence on oil from the Middle East and elsewhere in the world.

Congressman Ron Kind, D-La Crosse, has recommended a comprehensive energy plan, too. He basically echoes the congressional Democrats’ plan that called for more oil drilling and exploration in already designated oil reserves and on land that oil companies already lease for exploration but are not exploring at the current time. He opposed offshore drilling and drilling in Alaska’s natural wildlife area.

Republicans rejected the Democrats’ plan and called instead for offshore and wildlife area drilling.

Regardless of where oil exploration occurs, there will have to be some additional oil. But more important than that is the need to start developing alternatives. Those might include using natural gas for transportation and increasing the use of vehicles powered by electricity.

Wind and solar should be a part of any plan, and there should be exploration of ways to use coal and coal-derived fuel in ways that don’t pollute.

“The impulse right now is to focus only on the immediate future,” Kind said in a prepared statement, “but we cannot squander this opportunity to make the investments now that will prevent this situation down the road.”

We could have started that process in the late 1970s. We’d better do it now.

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