Articles by Joseph Romm

A column from Romm

In his State of the Union address, President Bush threw away the last opportunity he had to save his historical legacy. He continued his business-as-usual do-nothing approach on global warming, which is the gravest threat facing the American way of life. As I wrote earlier in a column for the Center for American Progress web site:

Weak brew

Bush's much hyped U-Turn on climate wasn't even a Double U-Turn. All he said was:

Lots of talk, little action

The media is abuzz that Bush will unveil new energy proposals in the State of the Union address. But it really is a "dog bites man" story.

Has any president ever talked so much about a problem while doing nothing to address it? The President's sweeping rhetoric on energy independence, unfortunately, has never been accompanied by serious policies -- he has actually cut funding for the key energy-saving technologies -- which is one reason our dependence on imported oil has kept rising throughout Bush's presidency. So we should take any new words in the 2007 address with many, many grains of salt.

Here are the relevant excerpts about energy from Bush's previous State of the Union addresses:

The Internet may give a boost to energy efficiency.Com and Get It

The emerging new economy created by the Internet is producing more than just a business revolution — it is also generating enormous environmental benefits. The Internet can turn buildings into websites, and replace warehouses with supply-chain software. It can turn paper and CDs into electrons, and replace trucks with fiberoptic cable. This means significant energy […]