Our Declaration of Independence from Foreign Fossil Fuels

Today marks the anniversary of the ratification of the Declaration of Independence when the United States declared independence from Great Britain.  People typically associate the holiday with fireworks, barbecues, parades, and other patriotic displays.   It is a day where we celebrate our country and  all the great sacrifices we made to be the great nation we are today.

I don’t want us to forget the original meaning of the day, but rather also talk about one of the next big sacrifices our country needs to make:  We need to end our reliance on foreign fossil fuels.  We have an addiction that threatens both our national and economic security. As a nation, we let more than $1 billion go to foreign countries to finance our oil needs.  This is money that sometimes goes to enemies who pose a threat to our country. There has been a lot of talk about making the commitment towards sustainable technologies, but we really haven’t come together.  For those ready to take the challenge, let us start with today.

You could say we have been held hostage by oil companies overseas.  We face a new threat as the Chinese government has been subsidizing their domestic  solar manufacturing facilities allowing these companies to dump their products in the United States.  We can celebrate a small win with news that President Obama has committed $1.85 billion in loan guarantees to two solar companies.  ”We’re going to keep competing aggressively to make sure the jobs and industries of the future are taking root right here in America,” the President said.  Abound Solar Inc. is one of the lucky recipients and will use the $400 million loan guarantee for the production of  thin film photovoltaic solar panels at two new plants, creating 2,000 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent manufacturing jobs.  Abengoa Solar Inc. is the other recipient with $1.45 billion in loan guarantees.  They will utilize these funds to build the largest concentrating solar plant in the world at 250 Megawatts.  The plant will generate enough electricity to power 70,000 households and eliminate the emission of 475,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually.  We lost the fight for fossil fuels, let’s not lose our place in the growing renewable energy industry.

I want to leave everybody with some inspiring words from President Calvin Coolidge’s speech on the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence:

About the Declaration there is a finality that is exceedingly restful. It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning can not be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers.