By Tiara Etheridge

Mother Earth can breath a small sigh of relief because Capitol Hill is finally wising up.

Late Thursday night the Senate passed an energy bill that includes provisions for increasing automobile fuel economy, a requirement for huge increases in the production of ethanol and new laws against price gouging.

If this legislation is approved by the House and later signed by President Bush, who incessantly touts America’s “addiction to oil,” fuel economy will increase by 40 percent to 35 miles per gallon for cars, SUVs and pickup trucks by 2020. (I can’t wait to see Hybrid Hummers go mainstream.) With this increase alone, 2.5 million barrels of oil would be saved each day by 2025.

In addition, the bill requires ethanol production to grow to at least 36 billion gallons a year by 2022, which is seven-times the amount of ethanol processed last year. Now, Governor Brad Henry’s declaration that Oklahoma will become the “Kuwait of biofuels” actually seems tangible.

Where there's a will, there's a won't
But as with all things, even those good for our environment and pocketbooks, there are opponents. The Republicans tried to filibuster the bill, complaining that the energy bill is “tilted too much toward renewables and fuel efficiency and does nothing to boost domestic oil or natural gas production,” according to a June 22, 2007 AP article, accessible at http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/06/21/congress.energy.ap/index.html.

Hmm, oil reliance, I thought that was the rut we were trying to dig ourselves out of.

The truth is this measure is what the American people and, for that matter, the planet needs. Oil is too expensive, we’re using too much of it and we’re releasing too many carbon emissions in an environment already saturated with ozone-threatening toxins.

A positive start
In a political atmosphere, in which the smallest measures are prolonged with weeks of debate, we should be proud that are Senate reached this eco-friendly compromise after only two days of closed-door meetings. Although more can be done to make our country more green-friendly, our Senate is off to a wonderful start.

To find out the detrimental effects global warming will have on Oklahoma and how you can reduce carbon emissions that lead to global warming, check out my article at http://ardmoreite.com/stories/060707/news_42866.shtml.

Also, here is a reader’s letter complaining about Oklahoma’s continued reliance on coal: http://ardmoreite.com/stories/061307/opinion_43075.shtml.