Just one day prior to the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Tom Brokaw interviewed the current Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi (Democrat - California) on NBC's Meet The Press.I found her below 'transcript-ed' ENERGY related comments on U.S. Offshore Oil Drilling + Natural Gas to be the most interesting and noteworthy/worthy of taking note (I especially perked UP when I heard her state she's a believer in natural gas as a viable alternative energy transition fuel..oh yeah, she also disclosed a $50-100K position in natty gas stocks!) :
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NBC's Meet The Press Transcript (8/24/08):
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26377338/page/2/
Tom Brokaw: But the bottom line is, as speaker, you're prepared to preside over legislation that would reactivate offshore oil drilling ?
Nancy Pelosi: I'm prepared to preside over legislation that will take a comprehensive approach to it, include that, let it compete, and see where we come down on it. And if that, in fact, is a, a, a, a good alternative, then that is something that we should do. But not to misrepresent to the hard-strapped American people for gas prices and other reasons in our economy that if we do that, it's going to reduce the price at the pump. It simply will not.
Mr. Brokaw: Well, I think most people understand that, but at the same time, if we work our way off carbon-based fuels, in the meantime, this is not going to happen overnight.
Rep. Pelosi: No, it isn't, but you could--again, you could reduce the price at the pump immediately with...(unintelligible). You can have a transition with natural gas. You can have a transition with natural gas. That, that is cheap, abundant and clean compared to fossil fuels. So, so there is a way to transition this instead of doing more of the same. The Bush administration, two oil men in the White House, they want us to believe that the status quo is what we should do and more of it--and more of it, when it will just only keep us in the same place that we are now.
Mr. Brokaw: You just mentioned natural gas, and you emphasized it as well in your last radio address...talking about the energy plan. And then we read in The Wall Street Journal that you and your husband have made a substantial investment in the plan that T. Boone Pickens has put forward, which has a heavy emphasis on natural gas as well.
Rep. Pelosi: But let me see if you call substantial 03 three percent of our investments.
Mr. Brokaw: Oh, it's what, between 100 and $200,000?
Rep. Pelosi: No, no, it was between $50 and $100,000, and it's part of an, you know, entrepreneurial package. This is the package we sign up for, this is what they invest in. But that's not the point. I'm investing in something I believe in. I believe in natural gas as a clean, cheap alternative to fossil fuels.
Mr. Brokaw: But you're also in a position to influence where the emphasis will be in where we're moving.
Rep. Pelosi: Well, that's not--that is, that is the marketplace. The fact is, the supply of natural gas is so big, and you do need a transition if you're going to go from fossil fuels, as you say, you can't do it overnight, but you must transition. These investments in wind, in solar and biofuels and focus on natural gas, these are the real alternatives. You have to ask yourself why, why is the administration not doing this? This is the challenge of our generation. It's a national security issue. President Nixon said we must end our dependence on foreign oil. President Carter said it's a moral equivalent of war. It's a national security issue, it's an economic issue, it's an environmental health issue, and it is a moral issue to protect this environment.
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* FYI, California will vote in November ('California Proposition 10' aka the California Alternative Fuels Initiative) on spending $5 Billion worth of government bonds to fund the replacement of 70,000 trucks and 150,000 cars with vehicles that run on natural gas and other clean energies
Data Courtesy: MSNBC.com
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