Conservation Nation?

JunkScience.com -- Steven Milloy, Publisher

President Bush almost got it right this week when he declined to call on Americans to conserve energy. Sadly, he still seems to think that conservation is a win-win proposition. Worse, so do both major presidential candidates.

A reporter asked President Bush, "... understanding [that energy supplies are] tight and the debate over energy... has gone on for years and will continue... into the next administration... one thing nobody debates is that if Americans use less energy the current supply/demand equation would improve. Why have you not sort of called on Americans to drive less and to turn down the thermostat?"

President Bush responded, "They're smart enough to figure out whether they're going to drive less or not... it's interesting what the price of gasoline has done, is it caused people to drive less. That's why they want smaller cars, they want to conserve. But the consumer is plenty bright... The marketplace works. Secondly, we have worked with Congress to change CAFE standards, and had a mandatory alternative fuel requirement... One way to correct the imbalance is to save, is to conserve... I talked about good conservation. And people can figure out whether they need to drive more or less; they can balance their own checkbooks."