An election year usually doesn't see a lot of significant Congressional action. The side that thinks it's going to win wants to wait until next year, and so will constipate one house or both so that Congress can't pass anything.
This fall looks to be different, if only because two pieces of major action can be accomplished by Congress not acting. One piece is, of course, the financial bailout. In this case, both parties seem loath to President what he wants. Maybe something is going to happen, but it really looks like the financial market is going to have to sort this out for itself, and that's probably for the best. I would add, though, that a period of turmoil right now can't be good for the Republicans.
The other thing that is happening, largely behind the smokescreen of the financial crisis, is that the Democrats are about to let the ban on offshore drilling and shale oil development lapse. It's unclear how much that will mean. The removal of major legal impediments doesn't mean that Democrats will not find some other way to prevent the development of these resources next year, and they are certainly going to try. But this is progress.
There is no doubt that the U.S. should work on energy conservation. Likewise, there is good reason to invest a little in alternative energy sources like wind and biofuels. But so far the latter are soaking up energy rather than giving it back, and there is no prospect that that will change in the near future. On the other hand, the U.S. apparently has more oil locked in shale than Saudi Arabia has underground. Shale oil is more expensive to get at, but it is the pattern of American industrial development that what is prohibitively expensive eventually becomes cheap. And of course, the oil offshore is still cheap. For the rest of my life and yours, the world will be powered by petroleum and uranium. We had probably better get used to that idea, and deal with it.
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