Rasoul: renewable energy will fire up the economy

By Bob Stuart

Published: August 5, 2008

Sixth District Congressional Democratic candidate Sam Rasoul thinks renewable energy can provide both energy independence and an economic bonanza for a U.S. economy smarting from manufacturing losses.
Standing at the headquarters of The Augusta Free Press with a backdrop of Waynesboro’s Invista plant, Rasoul focused Tuesday on renewable energies that he said would fire up the economy.
Rasoul wants to invest in wind, solar, biomass, geothermal and other renewable energies.
He said that would create jobs both in the manufacturing and service sectors.
“We can manufacture wind turbines and solar panels here. We can also create service-oriented jobs with the installation of these,’’ he said.
Incumbent Sixth District Republican Bob Goodlatte, who is in his eighth term, has focused his energy policies on expanded drilling. He introduced a bill last week that could lead to the waiver of a federal moratorium on oil and gas exploration and drilling off Virginia’s coast. That area, he said, is rich in recoverable oil and natural gas.
“While the majority in Congress has succeeded in strangling any efforts to tap into traditional energy resources in America, our nation’s citizens have suffered,” Goodlatte said in a news release.
Rasoul called for a national revolution on energy. He compared America’s race to space during the Kennedy administration to the current energy crisis.
“If we can put a man on the moon in less than a decade, we can become energy independent in the same time,’’ he said.
America’s car industry needs hybrid technology, and the U.S. rail system needs an upgrade so freight can be moved more quickly on it from the Gulf Coast to the Northeast, Rasoul said.
Rasoul said it is also a question of national security given America’s dependence on foreign oil. The U.S. imports more than two thirds of its oil.
Supporters of Rasoul at Tuesday’s press conference included former Waynesboro Democratic Chairman Erwin Bohmfalk and current Chairman Chris Graham, co-publisher of The Augusta Free Press.
Bohmfalk, owner of Waynesboro’s Purple Foot Restaurant, said he feels the pinch of the increased costs from food to refrigeration.
Graham said Waynesboro has gradually felt the loss of manufacturing jobs, and it’s time to make use of green technology jobs.