Op-ed by Mary Grady

Generally here at NNN we stick pretty strictly to local issues -- but energy is one of those big sprawling issues that happens on all different scales, and policies made at the national level trickle down to have an impact right here in R.I.

The rabid support for more oil drilling just seems certifiably insane. As one New York Times commentator noted, it's as if the crowds were crying out for more IBM Selectric Typewriters. Sure they were great in their day, but haven't we evolved beyond that? Where are the crowds chanting in support of all the brilliant technological options we have, and we have more of them every day, that can slice our energy use drastically just by improving efficiency (there is no reason any of our cars should be getting less than 50 mph), and moving forward to clean, cheap new sources of energy like solar, wind, and tides. These technologies have been in development for decades and all that's stopping them is economies of scale and the huge subsidies that go to big oil -- billions of dollars to continue to support an antiquated, dirty, inefficient, overpriced and volatile energy system.