Chu's false choice

Future of energy?

Energy Secretary Steven Chu had this to say last week,

“America has a choice to make today: Are we going to be importers or exporters of solar technologies? We can accept defeat and watch the solar jobs go to China, Germany and other countries, or we can get in the game and play to win, creating jobs in Colorado and across the country.”

“The public and private sectors can, and should, work together to make sure clean energy technologies are invented in America, made in America and sold around the world. This is what we need to do to prosper in the 21st century.”...

“The stakes are too high to turn our backs on the clean energy industry. We can compete in the global marketplace – creating American jobs and selling American products – or we can buy the technologies of tomorrow from abroad. The choice is ours.”

The false choice he presents is build it here or buy it from elsewhere.  The 'technology of tomorrow' is not yet here.  There are other options.  The energy of today is sitting underground and offshore in America - in abundance.  The technology of today is being foregone in exchange for shipping dollars to the Middle East to buy it.

The real choice is to invest in today's resources while working towards the future, or contributing to the bankrupting of America and the dearth of jobs while lending money to green companies that go bankrupt.  If green technology is the technology of tomorrow it will happen in America just as it will happen in China or elsewhere.