Local Energy Independence

The Mother Lode embraces domestic energy independence but is split on how to achieve it. As the political parties outline their party platforms, a new state law is paving the way for a potential local solar farm to be built off O’Byrnes Ferry Road. The news story is here. There is also a Yosemite Solar project story here.

Both the republicans and democrats have plans for how the U.S. to can become energy independent.

The Republican Party platform says “The Republican Party is committed to domestic energy independence.” The Democratic National Platform says, “In the last four years, President Obama and the Democratic Party have taken concrete steps to make us more energy independent.”

An informal myMotherLode.com poll asked; “Is it possible for the U.S. to become energy independent?” and only offered three choices: Voluntarily, If Mandated, and No. A mandated can be defined as: an authorization (from the people) to act given to a representative.

Both Democrat and Republican candidates state different ways they will accept the mandate of the people to lift restrictions or impose restrictions, offer incentives, create jobs and issue mandates, pass laws and budgets that they feel with help the U.S. become energy independent. The opposite of a people giving the government a mandate to influence energy consumption and production is allowing it to be voluntary. The Libertarian Part Platform states “While energy is needed to fuel a modern society, government should not be subsidizing any particular form of energy. We oppose all government control of energy pricing, allocation, and production.”

Fourty-three percent who voted in the informal poll for voluntary energy independence. Thirty-three percent said it will take a mandate and 32 percent said no we will not achieve energy independence.

Missing from the poll were many other options which could be discussed in our forums. A September 6th CNN blog by By Scott Tinker concluded “energy independence is actually possible, but getting there will require some of each of these: replacing some consumption with alternatives, cutting some demand with efficiency, and increasing some domestic supply with shale oil and gas. These changes will take time and effort from industry, consumers and government. But the potential impact will be remarkable.”