HAS US president George Bush, the die-hard neo-conservative former
Texan oil man, gone green? His state of the union speech attacked his
country’s "addiction" to imported oil. Instead, he proposed all manner
of alternative clean fuels and technologies that his administration was
funding research into.
But Bush’s 2005 energy bill, approved by the Republican-dominated
House, gave 93% of $8 billion in tax breaks to companies involved in
fossil fuels and nuclear energy and only 7% to renewable energy
research. He gave billions to oil companies to ‘incentivise’ oil
exploration while companies such as ExxonMobil are making billions in
profits because of current record highs in oil prices.
The energy bill also opened the door for such companies to get leases
to drill for oil in the Alaskan wilderness, thereby threatening pristine
natural habitats.
Moreover, there is little incentive for capitalists to switch
producing petrol-driven automobiles to electric or fuel cell-powered
vehicles. Clearly oil will account for nearly 100% of fuel for transport
in the foreseeable future. Only a workers’ government with a socialist
energy/transport policy can end capitalism’s addiction to the ‘black
gold’.
