Energy portion of Bayh's speech which is posted here:

http://www.commongroundcommonsense.org/for...topic=48709&hl=

Concrete steps are long overdue to promote energy independence. I have introduced legislation with Senators Lieberman, Brownback and others to reduce our dependence on oil by 7 million barrels a day in 20 years. We call for:
•The development and mass marketing of hybrid technologies;
• More pumps for alternative fuels at gas stations;
• Fuel-efficiency standards for trucks; and
• Tax credits for manufacturers to retool facilities for advanced technology and alternative
fuel cars and trucks.

The President proposes reducing our imports of Middle East oil by 75 percent over the next 20 years. I propose eliminating them entirely in 10. We already have bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate. If the President is serious, he should support our bill.

+++++++++++

Although Bayh gets a portion of the solution of our energy challenges right, he, like just about everybody in Washington when it comes to energy, he is still missing the mark. The exception perhaps being Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md) who criticized the SoTU for not addressing efficiency and conservation (Bartlett has also started a Peak Oil caucus in the House)

We need alternative fuels and more efficient vehicles, that's for sure, but the fact of the matter is that there is no combination of alternative fuels that can replace oil and what it is able to do with respect to our auto and truck centered transportation system. In other words we'll never be able to run our interstate highway system and our mostly truck-based freight distribution system on ethanol and biodiesel and just more efficienct vehicles.

A holistic approach to our energy challenges is sorely needed. Although we have improved a lot since the 1970s, America still wastes a huge amount of energy every year, and the fact of the matter is that it is far cheaper to save energy than it is to buy it.

This is going to mean providing more alternatives to the automobile. The vast majority of Americans have no choice but to drive for just about everything but vacations. This isn't the result of "market choices" made by Americans as many like to think, it's the result of distortion of the transportation marketplace by government policy, just like the government has distorted the energy marketplace with a counter-productive system of subsidies.

We need to rebuild our intercity passenger rail system, expand urban mass transit, and expand freight rail capacity.

We need policies that encourage efficient land use patterns, we need national green building standards for buildings and homes. When you consider that green buildings not only save energy but productivity green office buildings and student performance in green school buildings increases by 15% and almost 25% respectively, green buildings are a no-brainer.

A couple of excerpts from the book Natural Capitalism by Paul Hawken, et al:

-- Poor building design has resulted in the misallocation of $1 trillion in capital in the US for unneeded HVAC capacity and unneeded power plant capacity.

-- Better community design can reduce driving needs by 60%.

Long story short: focusing on fuel and vehicles will never be enough. We need more than that and we need more leaders in Washington who don't fear Jimmy Carter's cardigan sweater and speak out.

"America's dependence on foreign oil is one of the gravest threats to our economy and national security. We cannot confront the challenges of the future without a real strategy to reduce our dependence on foreign oil."

- Evan Bayh

You can find more about Bayh and energy independence here:

http://www.evanbayh.com/

EB is moderate 4 sure...but if he
can get there it would be a GREAT
improvement, perhaps the best we can get.

I don't see anything different on his site. Tom Udall gets it, see my topic on Udall in this forum. Bayh needs to talk to Udall as he formulates his ideas for his possible presidential run.