A timely book that should be read cover-to-cover by everyone in national office in Washington DC regarding America’s energy future from a White House cabinet insider
LIGHTS OUT!
Ten Myths About (And Real Solutions To) America’s Energy Crisis
By Spencer Abraham with William Tucker
Drawing on the very latest thinking from experts in industry and academia, as well as his own time spent as Secretary of Energy in the Bush Administration and as a United States Senator, Spencer Abraham offers a fresh look combining myriad energy sources including nuclear, clean coal, solar, wind, natural gas, biofuels and conservation measures to help solve one of the most pressing problems facing America today: our looming energy crisis. His insightful approach is laid out in his new book, LIGHTS OUT! Ten Myths About (And Real Solutions To) America’s Energy Crisis.
Although a highly credentialed Washington veteran, the former Senator and Cabinet member radiates—both in his book and in interviews—a candid and refreshing style that’s serious but never solemn, engaging but never condescending. The topic is serious, though, and Abraham’s concerns over it are as well and thus the book is intended as a clarion call for America regarding these challenges. LIGHTS OUT! remonstrates that we won’t solve our problems by adopting a one dimensional strategy and that too many myths that have emerged regarding our energy situation undermine our ability to effectively deal with these threats. This is the first book to really lay out a politically realistic and achievable plan for ensuring our energy and environmental security.
Having played a direct role in the formulation of U.S. energy policy for over a decade both in the U.S. Senate and as Secretary of Energy, Abraham watched with great frustration as players on all sides of the political aisle made mistakes that contributed to our energy crisis. Abraham himself, in a refreshing candid bit of self-deprecation, also admits he should have done some things differently during his time in office regarding this situation. With that still fresh in his mind he has laid out a plan of attack for the country to work through this mess, outlining the threats, exposing the errors, and presenting a pathway to overcome this tremendous challenge.
After all he had seen inside the DC beltway Abraham could tolerate this inaction no more. When it came to his inspiration to write the book now he says, I started working on this book during the preliminary phase of the 2008 presidential campaign as I once again witnessed the failure of the political process to look in a substantive way at energy issues. I realized we were likely headed toward a continuation of the old politics of energy in which first one side and then the other makes incremental gains in their agenda while the nation suffers. My hope is to help refocus and improve this debate in the future. Writing this book has been challenging and it has forced me to take a hard, critical look at my own views on energy and my performance as Energy Secretary and to do the same with respect to the performance of others. The result is a book that tried to outline both the failures of the past and a plan for the future, while recognizing that there is plenty of blame to go around.”
Of course the healthcare issue has captured many headlines these past few months; however, the national debate over global warming continues, as does the argument concerning energy dependence and independence that our nation needs. LIGHTS OUT! is sure to be one of the most talked about political issues books of 2010, and a topic that needs attention and can no longer be ignored for our nation’s well being.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Spencer Abraham is the former Secretary of Energy and U.S. Senator (R-Mich). He now runs his own consulting business in Washington D.C.
LIGHTS OUT! Ten Myths About (and real Solutions to) America’s Energy Crisis
By Spencer Abraham w/William Tucker
Publication Date: July 6, 2010
Price: $24.99, cloth
Pages: 256
ISBN # 0-312-57021-7
Ten Myths (& Solutions) About Energy
- We Can Achieve Energy Independence: America’s oil production is 5 million barrels a day but our consumption is nearly 20 million barrels a day. We are importing 60% of our oil. Until we end our foreign dependence America must us renewable energy and alternate forms of fuel.
- If Gas Prices Rise Abruptly, It Must Be Due To An Oil Company Conspiracy: Easy to claim that however the truth is oil and gas prices are only now catching up to the overall rate of inflation over the last quarter of a century, since most other liquids (milk, boutique bottled water, etc) already sell for well over $3 a gallon.
- Global Warming Is A Hoax: It’s unrealistic to think that we can ever know with absolute certainty that global warming is really happening since scientific proof involves controlled experiments. Nor is there any argument that the earth’s temperature has risen over the past three decades. The real question is whether the two are related. Regardless of which side you come down on, though, the notion that all the scientific evidence suggesting Carbon Monoxide is a potentially serious issue is a hoax is absurd.
- Nuclear Plants Are Just As Unsafe As They Were At Three Mile Island: Since the accident at Three Mile Island in 1979, the nuclear industry has improved their safety regulations astronomically. Reactors run for years without having to be shut down. In the past twenty-five years all of America’s reactors have experienced less than 50 shut downs total. Which is why Abraham has no hesitation saying it’s time America built more nuclear power plants.
- Renewable Energy Is Universally Popular And Completely Safe For The Environment: For all the seemingly great ideas like wind energy, there are arguments from other groups, such as animal rights organizations, which have an argument it is harmful for wildlife where the wind turbines would be places. For those that argue that solar is the way to go there is the argument that these large panels will block out light for the area underneath them thus having an effect various ecosystems. And hydroelectricity has its share of enemies for those who fear the environmental effects damming can cause. Essentially there is a cost, in many ways, to the argument that renewable energy is free energy that bears no environmental impact.
- We Are Entering An ‘Age Of Natural Gas’ That Will Follow The Ages Of Coal And Oil, And It Will Largely Solve Our Energy Problems: By some estimates we may have enough natural gas to last 125 years if we use that energy buried in the shale formations of the Barnett Shale formation and the huge Marcellus formation, among others, but we must be careful as “bubbles” can occur, in this case, the speculated amount is greatly overrated. It’s worth using but best not to put all our eggs in the natural gas basket just yet.
- Raising CAFE Standards 30% Will Produce A 30% Reduction In Oil Consumption: When the Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency standards were first adopted they helped raise auto average mileage from 15.8 miles per gallon to today’s 27.5, a 73% jump. But our oil consumption has also risen 33% during that period and the number of miles Americans drive per year during this time frame has nearly tripled. Greater fuel efficiency may have actually encouraged some of this increase tempting drivers to travel more.
- Electrical Transmission Lines Cause Cancer: It is the NIMBY factor (Not In My Back Yard) that led to the myth that close exposure to power lines cause cancer. With this fear there has been a huge lag time since America updated its power line grid. It is now a frail and outdated grid (remember the 2003 eastern US and Canada blackout?). Electrical engineers are now referring the America’s electrical grid a “a third world grid.” Time to upgrade.
- All The Government Has To Do Is Choose The Right Energy Technology And Subsidize It: We tried this idea with ethanol. Farmers loved this notion of another form of revenue until everyone saw how much energy was required to grow the crops that would be turned into ethanol never mind the price of food going way up because of this. Even tropical farmers have been burning rain forests and switching crops in order to ship bio-diesel to Europe and America, proving that for every magic bullet solution there are numerous hidden costs and consequences.
- All We Need Is A New Manhattan Project To Solve Our Energy Problems: The belief that we don’t have to build better power lines, dig for oil and natural gas, refine coal to be a clean energy source, or build more (and safer) nuclear power plants since all we need to do is put our top scientific minds in a room and let them figure this out is not realistic. Today, we don’t even have a theory that suggests where to look for some new source of energy we haven’t tried yet. There is no such “Manhattan Project” style easy fix in the offing. We must instead improve greatly what we already have.
About Spencer Abraham
Born in East Lansing, Michigan, in 1952, Spencer Abraham holds a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard University Law School, and is a 1974 Honors College graduate of Michigan State University. In 1978, while at Harvard Law School, Abraham helped found the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. It became one of the official journals of the Federalist Society, which was founded in 1982. Before launching his political career, Mr. Abraham was a law professor at Thomas M. Cooley Law School.
Abraham was elected chairman of the Michigan Republican Party from 1983 to 1990. He was deputy chief of staff for Vice President Dan Quayle from 1990 to 1991. He later served as co-chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) from 1991 to 1993.
Following his stint at the NRCC, he was elected to represent Michigan in the United States Senate in 1994 and he served until 2001 when he was defeated for re-election. At the time of his term in the U.S. Senate, he was the only Arab-American (Lebanese decent) in that chamber. According to the New York Times, State Republicans attributed his loss to “scathing advertisements by a wide range of special interest groups, including advertisements that criticized Mr. Abraham’s support for a relaxation of some immigration restrictions.” During the campaign the Federation for American Immigration Reform ran an ad asking “Why is Senator Spencer Abraham trying to make it easier for terrorists like Osama bin Laden to export their war of terror to any city street in America?” The media denounced these commercials as “vengeful.” Abraham was a constant advocate of large-scale immigration and worked relentlessly to lessen immigration controls and regulations. In 1997, he received the “Defender of the Melting Pot” award from the National Council of La Raza.
During his time in the U.S. Senate, Mr. Abraham served on the Budget, Commerce, Science and Transportation, Judiciary, and Small Business Committees. He also chaired two subcommittees: Manufacturing and Competitiveness, and Immigration. Abraham authored the “H1B Visa in Global and National Commerce Act,” establishing a federal framework for on-line contracts and signatures; the “Government Paperwork elimination Act,” and the “Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act,” which protects Internet domain names for businesses and persons against copyright and trademark infringements. In 1999, Abraham co-sponsored S.896, a bill to abolish the U.S. Department of Energy, which would have transferred control of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in large part to the Defense Department.
After leaving the U.S. Senate, Abraham was appointed Secretary of Energy by the incoming administration of George W. Bush, a post he maintained throughout President Bush’s first term. On November 15, 2004, Abraham announced that he would resign from the position as Secretary of Energy, which took effect with the swearing in of his successor Samuel W. Bodman on Febraury 1, 2005. In 2004, Lebanese Ambassador Farid Abboud awarded Abraham the National Order of the Cedar.
After leaving the DC political beltway, Mr. Abraham was a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, an influential conservative think tank based at Stanford University from 2005 through 2007. After leaving office, Abraham opened The Abraham Group, a Washington DC based international strategic consulting firm, which he continues to run with great success, to this day. In 2006, Abraham accepted the appointment as Chairman of the Board of Areva Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of the French nuclear energy company. On July 24, 2007, he was announced as an “ambassador to official Washington” in the Fred Thompson presidential campaign.
He is married to Jane Abraham, co-chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party. They have three children, a son and two girls, Betsy and Julie.
Praise for LIGHTS OUT!
“Spencer Abraham is not short of interesting material to write about. Lights Out! discusses the myths and facts of the global energy challenge while proposing clear-minded, practical solutions. Most enlightening and frustrating are the contradictions of establishing the appropriate long-term energy strategy within the short-term constraints of politics. Mr. Abraham is in a unique place to tell this story, and he doesn’t disappoint. The book is an interesting mix of folksy story-telling, technical analysis, and political intrigue.”
—Jacques Nasser, Chairman, BHP Billiton, former CEO, Ford Motor Company
“Secretary Abraham shines the ‘light on’ on practical common-sense solutions for America’s energy needs. His book is an important history and timely contribution to the seemingly endless national debate. Read this and act or it will truly be Lights Out!”
—John Engler, former Governor of Michigan, President and CEO of the National
Association of Manufacturers
“A very insightful and comprehensive assessment of the energy challenges facing our country with thoughtful roadmaps for the future by someone who understands first hand the technical as well as the political challenges to implement policies and solutions. Excellent read, with a good sense of humor, for the interested general public.”
—Dr. Charles Elachi, Director, Jet Propulsion Lab, Cal Tech
“Spencer Abraham pulls no punches as he takes on both the myths and the realities of our comprehensive energy enterprise. This is a straight-talking “must-read” for anyone who wants to understand the enormous complexities and tough choices that face our society as we face the energy crisis that touches our daily lives, effects our environment and gets to the heart of our national security.”
—Vice Admiral Richard H. Truly, U.S. Navy, (Ret.), former astronaut, NASA
Administrator and Director, National Reneweable Energy Laboratory