Independence Day

Sadly, the American people are still not free of tyranny. Now, it's our energy system.

William S. Becker is a former U.S. Department of Energy central regional director who administered energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies programs, and he also served as special assistant to the department’s assistant secretary of energy efficiency and renewable energy. We invite you to join the discussion on Facebook and Twitter. A cartel is “a group of independent market participants who collude with each other to improve their profits and dominate the market.” The longstanding collusion between the fossil energy industry and its supporters in Congress fits the definition. As a leading carbon polluter, the United States has a moral obligation (and a business opportunity) to be at the front of the pack in a global transition to clean energy. Renewable resources provided only 12.2 percent of total U.S. energy and 20.1 percent of our electricity last year. One wonders how long the American people will tolerate the tyrannical rule of the carbon cartel. Exxon could have alerted everyone and contributed to solutions, but the company covered up its findings. The American Lung Association (ALA) says more than 137 million Americans, 40 percent of us, still live where breathing is unhealthy because of pollution from vehicles and power plants. Bush and his successors thought the solution was to produce more of the domestic variety. As energy analyst Pavel Molchanov of Raymond James explains, “Oil and gas companies do not want to drill more. They are under pressure from the financial community to pay more dividends, to do more share buybacks instead of the proverbial ‘drill baby drill.’” We are still addicted to the fossil fuels we began using more than 160 years ago, despite modern alternatives that are ubiquitous, clean, inexhaustible, less expensive and more democratic — as well as better for public health and the environment.