Strong energy policy needed

Kansas City Star: President Bush devoted a paltry 23 words to America's energy policy in his State of the Union speech. And they were mostly hollow words at that.
The president urged Congress to "promote conservation." Yet he offered no specific ways to do that. In fact, he has worked against sensible proposals to save energy. Case in point: The administration weakened previously approved efficiency standards for air conditioners, so future models will be more wasteful than necessary.
The president in his speech said Congress should "make America less dependent on foreign sources of energy." This is the same president who has actively worked against the best way to accomplish that goal, which would be to make vehicles more fuel-efficient and thus reduce petroleum imports.
It's discouraging that Bush's speech included little of substance about energy, which Americans think about every day as they fill up their cars or pay to keep the lights on and their houses heated.
Last year, Bush sent an energy bill to Congress that was so excessive with subsidies for ethanol and other fossil fuels, and so restrictive with help for clean renewable sources of energy that even a Republican-dominated Senate rejected the measure.
The president has not moderated his position from that debacle.
No proposals
In his speech last week, he did not discuss how essential it is to diversify the country's energy supplies. He didn't promote the benefits of encouraging the development of more efficient homes and businesses. He put forward no proposals to make automobiles or refrigerators or other appliances more efficient.
Because it's unlikely Bush will pursue such changes, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle need to develop their own plan.
America's energy policy is drifting at a most inopportune time. Domestic energy consumption is rising. Prices for oil are going up. And the Middle East remains unstable.