OPINION:
Back in 1962, President John F. Kennedy challenged the country to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade and, by doing so, he established a objective for the nation to aspire to. We met that goal and won the space race.
In the process, we created new technologies, industries and jobs, bringing us out of the doldrums and creating a boom time in business. It was a win-win scenario all around but that was then, this is now. Today, the space program is considered passe and the country is experiencing economic stagnation. Frankly, we don’t know where we are going anymore, except possibly in circles.
We should learn a thing or two from Kennedy’s challenge and establish a new goal. Perhaps it should be underwater research, fix the national infrastructure or devise a new rapid-transit system. To me, the logical choice would be to establish energy independence as our national priority, thereby freeing us from Middle Eastern entanglements and economic extortion.
Such a national goal would invigorate education, particularly in the areas of geology, engineering and mathematics. New technologies would inevitably be devised to access and cultivate energy resources. We already know there are huge reserves of untapped oil, gas and coal in this country that we could capitalize on. Beyond this, there is the prospect of nuclear, wind, solar and oceanic energies, all of which we should continue to pursue. Whoever masters the energy resources of the world commands their own destiny. Currently, we are forced to dance to somebody else’s fiddle, which does not bode well for our economic well-being.
More than 4 billion barrels of oil have been discovered in Montana and North Dakota, easily dwarfing oil production in the Middle East. We also are sitting on a huge gas field in Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and western New York. And let us not forget about the other billions of barrels of oil in Alaska and off our shores. Such resources offer a golden opportunity to relieve our economic plight as exemplified by the current oil rush in North Dakota and Montana, where jobs are aplenty.
The challenge, of course, is extracting energy without harming our environment, which is why we need a national campaign to meet our demand without hurting ourselves. This requires presidential leadership which, unlike the Kennedy era, is unfortunately lacking at this time.
A national energy objective would put the country back to work and promote education, research and development. It would free us from foreign dependence on a commodity.
TIM BRYCE
Palm Harbor, Fla.
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