Attending the Illinois Republican Convention in Decatur took us past three energy sources.
We went south of I-39 past the Byron Nuclear Power Plants and the giant windmills. We saw we think were windmill blades sitting in water on Route 51 between Bloomington and Decatur. In Decatur on I-72, we saw oil wells.
All we missed were coal mines.
And, of course, there were corn fields all along out route. Decatur’s ADM distills more alcohol from corn than any other company.
With that as background, let’s see what the energy plank of the Illinois Republican Party says.
A CALL TO MEET ENERGY NEEDS
We believe the best answer for our current and future energy needs is to continue our investment in the technology necessary to discover new sources as well as ways to better use the sources we now have. From promoting wind energy, the use of clean coal technology to fostering exploration for natural gas and oil in Illinois, our state’s own natural resources offer a contribution toward our country’s energy independence and our economy’s future strength.
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We embrace more robust initiatives to develop Illinois’ energy resources and embrace environmentally responsible efforts to expand domestic production of oil both here in Illinois and nationally.
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We publicly support energy resource development within the borders of our 50 states, including environmentally responsible private sector initiatives to tap the vast reserves under the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. We further support the expansion of our U.S. refinery capacity. The end result of expanding production will be the creation of tens of thousands of high-paying jobs, the lowering of cost of fuel to the end user and the lessening of dependence on foreign countries.
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Illinois Republicans call on the Governor and General Assembly to take all steps necessary to add to Illinois’ nuclear power capacity.
Drilling and consuming more oil from our oceans and wilderness areas is both insignificant in terms of our total energy needs and impossible to do without further environmental damage. To assert the contrary is to deny the economic and historical facts. There is nothing clean about coal or nuclear power. Natural gas is only “clean” when compared to these other two huge polluters. The timeframe for new coal and nuclear plants is at least 15 years and that is without making any improvements to the current waste and emission handling systems (which are abhorrent). All the money and time that Illinois Republicans would like to allocate to obsolete technologies would be better applied to implementing cleaner and more visionary ones.