No Se Nada

Thursday night saw the inaugural Energy and Environmental Security Initiative lecture at the University of Colorado School of Law. The lecture was given by Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, an early undeclared candidate for the '08 Democratic nomination for President.

It is unclear why Gov. Vilsack was invited to give this lecture, but it might have everything to do with Iowa's record on renewable energy. Iowa has not only ramped up ethanol production and use (which does not impress me all that much, seeing as how ethanol is bound to have a negative EROI as long as it comes from corn), but has become one of the nation's biggest producers of wind power (which does impress me).

Others polologists have described Vilsack as being in "full-presidential mode" at the lecture, but I came away with a different feeling. While everything Vilsack does now must be viewed through the '08 lens, Vilsack's EESI lecture was toned-down, staid, and entirely policy-oriented. What Vilsack did not show was Bill Clinton tendencies to be both wonky and a happy Labrador eager to soak up and give licking adoration to anybody and everybody who would take it.

The meat of Vilsack's energy vision for America came as three strategies for energy security. First, Vilsack proposed, America must tackle conservation. CAFE standards must double in ten years [NB: only if Mr. Levin gives up his Senate seat] and the U.S. must create a market-driven cap-and-trade system for GHG emissions. The cap-and-trade will encourage conservation more than any other strategy, but the states will need to lead the federal government in driving it.

Second, the federal government must substantially increase support for alternative fuels and do it more intelligently. For example, the federal ethanol subsidy currently goes to the oil industry rather than the retailer. In addition, the ethanol subsidy is not tied to oil prices: when the prices of petroleum-based fuels are high and ethanol is competitive with gasoline, ethanol producers still get the subsidy.

Third, we need new technologies and strategies to use existing resources in a better way. Gov. Vilsack expounded on clean coal: He clearly sees that coal will be a significant component of America's energy future, and since we will be using it, we need to use it intelligently.

Gov. Vilsack expects three things to happen if we implement his energy strategy. First, the U.S. can retain the moral high ground and its position of leadership in energy and commerce. Second, we can generate a more competitive and healthy economy. We can create job opportunities here that cannot be shipped overseas. Third, the U.S. will be safer as it diminishes its dependence on foreign energy.

Mr. Vilsack wrapped his energy vision into a vision of common purpose. America currently has no sense of national community, no common cause that pulls all citizens together. Gov. Vilsack proposed that tackling our energy problem could be the issue that calls everybody together to common purpose. He finished with an altered version of the Athenian Oath, which can be summed in it last sentence: "Thus in all these ways we will transmit this City, not only not less, but greater and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us."

Energy and energy security is clearly something that Gov. Vilsack has given quite a bit of time to thinking about. In this he might be two steps ahead of every challenger he gets for the '08 Dem nomination, other than Gov. Richardson. But Gov. Vilsack still must live in a politician's world of ugly compromise and this came out clearly during his Q&A session when he tried to navigate through a minefield of free- vs. protectionist trade, farming subsidies, subsidies for inefficient but politically-crucial crops, and related issues.

As the session wound down and the huge pink elephant in the room was still being ignored, I asked him the question that needed most to be answered, especially if we have any hope of going to a hydrogen world: "what about nuclear?" As if on cue, before the Governor could get three words out about compromising on nuclear, somebody from the peanut gallery prejudged his reply (and got the Governor's meaning backward) and started yelling. It was a perfect reminder to Gov. Vilsack: if you're going to try to pave this road, be prepared for the snakes and monkeys.