The final part of “MidEast Oil Forever?” (subs. req’d) — also available here (PDF) — discusses pollution prevention.

I think the discussion still holds up, and as you can see, I am no Johnny-come-lately to the global warming issue. What is particularly sad about the Bush administration, is that while they eschew the anti-clean-technology rhetoric of Reagan and Gingrich — indeed claim to be pro-clean-technology, they have gutted some of the best clean tech and energy efficiency programs. In particular, they have slashed the budget for the Energy Department’s major pollution prevention effort, the Industries of the Future program (described briefly in the article), and the President has proposed zeroing it out entirely.

This Administration’s energy and climate policy make the final sentence of this article, sadly, as true as ever: “Only a misbegotten ideology could conceive a blunder of such potentially historic proportions.”

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After the Introduction and an explanation of “The Coming Oil Crisis” and “Abandoning the Solution” the next part of “MidEast Oil Forever?” (subs. req’d) is a discussion of the “The Renewables Revolution.”

One of the great energy tragedies of the 1980s is that President Reagan gutted the renewable energy R&D budget (and the entire clean energy budget) — a stunning 90% cut in key technologies — just as America was assuming technological and marketplace leadership in core areas like wind and solar power.

One of the great energy tragedies of the 1990s is that the Gingrich Congress blocked the Clinton administration’s efforts to significantly ramp up renewable and clean energy funding, which could have restored US leadership in technologies that even then were obviously going to be the foundation of major job-creating industries in the coming century.

Wow — I just stumbled across an online PDF of “MidEast Oil Forever?” that isn’t behind a firewall. Hmm. I guess I didn’t need to post it online myself. Well, I only have one more major section after this, so I’ll just post them both today.

Here is what we wrote on renewables:

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