New Apollo Project

The New Apollo Energy Project provides specific policy solutions to a problem that we all know far too well - that our addiction to Middle East oil shackles our foreign policy and entangles us in a regional quagmire that threatens our national security. The New Apollo Energy Project takes aggressive steps down the only path of energy independence for America - a strong conservation technology and renewable energy resource base.

This national endeavor will marshal federal resources to foster a vision of how to:

1. break our addiction to Middle East oil and protect our national security;
2. take on the challenge of global warming; and
3. grow our economy and create jobs.

The United States is letting other countries take the lead in the development and manufacturing of clean energy technologies. The worldwide clean energy market is already experiencing double-digit growth. Wind power has averaged 32% growth per year for the past five years, attracting more than $7 billion in investments in 2002 alone. Europe anticipates generating as much as 20% of its power by wind by 2010.

Clean energy technologies promise to be the next wave of new industries creating millions of new jobs. In the 1980's, it was the personal computer; in the 1990's, it was the Internet and software development; we are in the midst of a bio-tech revolution, and clean energy is next. The New Apollo Energy Project promises to keep America on the leading edge of this clean energy wave, and ensure that this growth industry creates new jobs in America, not Japan, or Europe.

Supporting undemocratic regimes in the Middle East is feeding a vicious cycle of violence and generating hatred toward the United States around the world, costing the American taxpayer billions for military deployments. With only three percent of the world's known oil reserves, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), the U.S. cannot drill its way out of its oil dependency, or even hope to counter the ability of OPEC to manipulate prices. Instead of continuing our efforts to maintain Middle East stability at almost any cost, or drilling in our most pristine national treasures, the United States must pursue a domestic alternative.

This initiative will also protect our health and our environment for future generations. Since 1880, the concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere has climbed by more than 30%. Scientists agree that these increases are a direct result of human activity, primarily from the burning of fossil fuels. Each year, we add an additional 29 billion tons of carbon dioxide to our atmosphere. Humans also add significant amounts of other greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere annually, including methane and chlorofluorocarbons.

Greenhouse gasses, such as carbon dioxide, play an important role in the Earth's atmosphere, affecting temperatures by trapping enough solar radiation from escaping back to space to make the planet hospitable for complex life. Changing the composition of atmospheric greenhouse gasses can disrupt Earth's energy equation, potentially causing adverse impacts on human societies, and putting additional pressures on populations of threatened and endangered species. The year 1998 was the hottest year since reliable temperatures have been recorded; 2002 was the second hottest; and the 1990's was the hottest decade in 1,000 years.

Despite a weak acknowledgement of global warming, President Bush's and the Republican propose to give huge breaks to the oil and gas industry, with wholly insufficient attention to any alternatives. We must oppose these policies and make sure that America has a smart energy policy befitting the can-do spirit and ingenuity of the American people.