I won’t pretend to know much about the energy breakdown that caused 50 million people to lose their power last week. I don’t know how it happened, why it happened, or what should be done to prevent it from happening again.<\/p>\n
I do, however, recognize political b.s. when I hear it.<\/p>\n
Despite my ignorance on energy policy, I find it pretty funny when politicians from both parties try and use the blackout to advance their agenda<\/a>, as if they’ve been talking about energy policies for years but no one’s been listening when, in fact, they’re seizing a political opportunity.<\/p>\n Bush clearly has to be the worst on this. It was amusing to hear the president address the breakdown on Thursday. “[W]e’ll have time to look at it and determine whether or not our grid needs to be modernized,” Bush said<\/a>. “I happen to think it does, and have said so all along.”<\/p>\n First of all, Bush may now believe that he supports “modernizing” the power grid, but if sincere, he’s a fairly recent convert to the policy. Just two years ago, Democrats in Congress offered a plan<\/a> to devote $350 million in federal loans and loan guarantees to improve the grid. Republicans in Congress opposed the effort and the Bush White House was silent on the issue.<\/p>\n Second, for Bush to say he has supported improving the grid “all along” is absurd. I checked Bush statements since the day he was inaugurated and found one — just one — instance when the president addressed improving the power grid in the United States. And that was over two years ago. Since then, nada. Not one word about the power grid in over two years. Bush has been “saying all along” he wants to modernize the grid? Afraid not.<\/p>\n Oddly enough, Bush has publicly touted tax cuts as part of his energy policy just as much as power grid modernization.<\/p>\n
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\nOn May 27, 2001, Bush said<\/a>, ” It is time to match your interstate highway and phone systems with an interstate electrical grid…. More and better wires can efficiently ship power across the country, reducing the threat of local blackouts or outages.”<\/p>\n