Peter Morici attacks President Barack Obama for pursuing an energy policy which seeks to develop alternative energy sources ("Obama's bad bet," April 3). He brings up the Solyndra debacle, begun under theGeorge W. Bush administration, as evidence that we should just "drill, baby, drill" and deal with the environmental risks engendered. The problem with Solyndra was ultimately a political one, and it certainly should not be taken as evidence that we should stop seeking alternative energy sources.
Exxon Mobil Corp., which seems to know a bit about the energy and the economy, is among the corporations working on algae as a fuel; and our Navy is already using alternative fuels for its planes, hoping to eliminate the need for gasoline eventually, to cite two of many organizations that seek alternatives to fossil fuel.
The professor does like hybrid vehicles, perhaps because they do use some gasoline. He neglects to say that hybrid technology was invented in 1899 and took about 100 years to reach the level of efficiency it has achieved today. President Obama in 2009 announced $2.4 billion in grants to subsidize hybrid car development, and governments around the world continue to invest in improving hybrid technology.
Under the current administration, the U.S. has for the first time in many years become a petroleum exporter. This great nation is quite capable of excelling in terms of energy using "all of the above."
Nelson Goodman, Annapolis