I agree that we need to get real about energy policy. But I worry that this may be another knee jerk reaction by Congress (which they are notoriously prone to doing with lots of negative unintended consequences)
I cannot understand why anyone would oppose nuclear power. It seems to me that it would be the environmentalists dream energy source: clean, efficient, no "greenhouse gases" etc. The left-wing in this country has to understand that their position of simply decreasing demand isn't going to fly anymore. Let's be honest: wind and solar aren't going to provide even 1/100 % of the energy our Country needs.
I certainly don't relish the thought of seeing wells and machinery all over the beautiful landscape of eastern Utah and western Colorado but I certainly don't want to have only 3 options for travel:foot, bike or gov't provided mass transit. I know one thing: nothing cures high prices like high prices

Too bad Bishop's plan isn't elaborated here, but it sounds like he's putting America's faith into oil and fossil fuels that will take years/decades to develop. Digging and drilling for diminishing resources may give us a few years of mild relief, but we'll be back in the same boat we are now -- escalating energy prices hurting small businesss and average consumers. We need a GOP that is willing to put its faith in American innovation and entrepreneurship to change the game and get us off price-skyrocketing fossil fuels. Oil, regardless of where it is dug up, has an international commodity price the supports terrorism and dictatorships -- all of which requires us to invest into more military options to keep us "secure." Why can't the GOP steer subsidies and incentives away from oil/fossil fuels to renewables, such as wind, solar, and geothermal, that will be obtained from America's rural communities and where dollars can stay in America's heartland to boost local economies without emitting pollution? Plug-in cars are just around the corner -- that will be the ticket to making local electricity a viable substitute for oil. We should be preparing for it now!

Energy issues are not pearl harbour, they're more like a frog in a frying pan. The heat increases gradually and the frog doesn't leave and then it's too late. Or maybe it's like our willingness to ignore the methodical way cigarettes kill more people than all other causes of preventable death combined. Anyway, what pearl harbour did was change not only the politicians' minds but it galvanised public resolve, as well. At once we recognised the problem and agreed to the sacrifice and effort towards the solution. Energy availability won't be like that. We need real leadership or our frog will cook.

Has anyone suggested that we charge high gas consumers more for their gasoline. The power company already does that to my electric bill during the summer months. You pay one rate for the first 400 kwh, a higher rate for the next 600 kwh, and the highest rate for everything over 1000 kwh per month.

I am against rationing, but what about charging drivers $3 a gallon for their first 20 gallons per month, $4 for their next 80 gallons, and charge everyone who uses over 100 gallons a month $5 a gallon. (obviously the numbers used are for example purposes only)

This would put added pressure on those who have either wasteful habits or have positioned themselves to live a high energy lifestyle to conserve more without punishing those who have a more energy conservative lifestyle.

I was a proponent of nuclear power until I started reading about the waste disposal issue. One of the waste products is plutonium, one of the most toxic substances know, that has a half life of about 100,000 years. The subject of energy is a complicated one, and I feel most of the discourse is being carried on at about the 9th grade level, this article included.

Why should oil producing nations take payment in US dollars that have lost half their value without asking for twice as many dollars? Isn't this how the free global commodes markets work?

You didn't pay for the war. Our debt climbed as home loans defaulted causing a liquidity crisis so you now are paying at the pump. Nothing is free in life. If conservatives could only learn this and learn to divide by two to see that in Clinton dollars you are paying about $2.10.

So what do you want, the A-Rabble to attack the statue of liberty?
Get real and quit living in a fantasy world.