Posted by Dean Kukral [ 66.82.9.63 ] on April 04, 2005 at 22:34:43:
In Reply to: America's Fuel Program posted by Wayne Parham on April 04, 2005 at 07:12:59:
Back in the late 70's when we were having the "gas crisis" (remember when prices shot up to 79 cents a gallon?), it drove me crazy. All the polls ranked the "economy" as the number one issue and "oil" in third place. People simply did not (and still do not) appreciate the fact that cheap oil along with plentiful natural resources and lax regulatory laws are what made this country rich.
One of the first things Carter did was cut back research money on atomic energy. Yikes!!! (BTW, in 1980 I voted for Anderson who wanted to tax gasoline 50 cents a gallon to pay for Social Security. If he had been elected and put that program into effect, we would be a lot better off today.)
Agreeing with you on this point, I said back then and still say that we should have a program attacking nuclear fusion with at least the same effort that we put into the space program.
The first country that is able to effectively harness nuclear fusion is going to dominate the world for years - if it can keep its technology a secret, which is getting pretty difficult in today's world.
I don't see any other source of energy that could satisfy our needs, although coal has been touted for years. Maybe it could provide an interim solution. Anti-pollution technology would have to be developed.
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