Trying to pour fuel on the fire waging around the economic stimulus package, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell took the podium last week proclaiming that the Senate's version of the stimulus bill that will be signed into law by President Obama later today is, effectively, "turning America into Western Europe". A familiar drumbeat that now rings hollow - like a small, tin spoon beating on an empty oil drum. The specter of Europeanization is one that American politicians have employed effectively for at least a century. Mike Huckabee sang a similar song about candidate Obama at the Republican National Convention last summer. But almost a decade into the 21st century, that line is becoming hopelessly, pitifully outmoded. Or démoder, as the French might say.
The 2008 election and the economic crisis that preceded it have provided the Obama administration and Congress with a mandate to change the way we run our economic engine. In order to do that, we must look at America's relationship with the fuel that feeds that engine. Cheap petroleum is what we have been running on to date - a formula that fails to calculate the cost of externalities that include pollution, health care and production inefficiencies. It is a strategy that our children will, at minimum, call myopic.
In addition, the financial engineering profits generated by the Lehmans and Bear Stearns of the world are now gone with the institutions that promoted them - we are back to basics in finance. In order for America to secure its place as the world's economic driver, our political leaders will need to support a return to an economy rooted in high value-added innovation and manufacturing.
As economists across the spectrum have opined this week, it is going to take a lot more than just an economic stimulus bill to lift us out of this economic quagmire. And when it comes to policies that will position the United States for energy independence and clean tech innovation, we can learn from our allies across the Atlantic who have been implementing policies that promote energy independence for decades. Granted, the thought of looking to our European neighbors for anything more than troops to send to Iraq may cause some to swoon. However, the success and failure of energy policies in countries such as Spain, Germany and Sweden are case studies for the Obama administration to consider as choices around the role that "new fuels" and "old fuels" will play in a 21st century economy.
While no party seems satisfied with the compromise product that is now the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act, its provisions suggest that the federal government may be getting more serious about large-scale investments in clean energy. The stimulus bill includes approximately $50 billion in clean energy investments and another $17.7 billion for energy efficient transportation. For a more detailed analysis of these investments, see a blog by Cai Steger of The Center For Market Innovation here: http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/csteger/renewable_energy_provisions_in.html. The Natural Resources Defense Council estimates that the clean energy investments in the bill alone will create 1.5 million jobs. If the stimulus bill is a first step by the Obama administration to linking a forward-thinking energy policy with good economic policy, then it is a step in the right direction.
When it comes to shaping an intelligent energy policy, the silliness that took the form of partisan political theater last week and the need for energy independence are sharply at odds. Watching the documentary film Fuel (www.thefuelfilm.com) last night and listening to a Q&A with Director Josh Tickell afterwards, it was all too clear that Mr. McConnell and his colleagues may need a little European vacation in order to better understand the change being sought by ordinary Americans. Senator McConnell hasn't even begun to consider that Americans may soon need to look even farther east than Europe - to projects like Masdar in the United Arab Emirates (www.masdaruae.com) - to understand the integral relationship between the long-term health of our economy and the fuel that feeds it.
One of the film's more compelling interviews is with environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. who recalls childhood memories of traveling with his father to Europe and the way in which Europeans looked to America for political leadership. While Fuel does include a "who's who" of experts and activists, some with celeb credentials, the film itself is really a celebration of an Everyman, his Veggie Van and their quest - one that is, albeit, distinctly deep-friend and American in flavor.
"It's a shame, it's a flat-assed shame" says Elmer Fudd, a truck driver with an intriguing nom de guerre, as he remarks upon the state of America's energy policy in the film. Mr. Fudd articulates what so many Americans are just coming to understand: our energy policies are holding us back economically and forcing unimaginable costs onto the backs of America's youngest generations.
Ultimately, the filmmakers behind Fuel are looking to harness and deliver a clear and timely message: Energy independence is feasible and can become a reality if you demand it at the ballot box. Seeking to empower its audience outside of the theater, the film offers viewers suggestions, a website and even a movement for catalyzing change. Purveyors of Paleolithic politics be forewarned: the Fuel change menu includes an item called "Change Your Politicians." It was this message that received a loud, spontaneous blast of applause from the audience as it flashed across the screen.