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Energy -1979 Less Talk and More Action From President, Congress, State and Local Officials

The energy crisis has been with us for years. Those who are in positions of leadership have done little constructive to alleviate the situation. High officials have done what they usually do when facing events they don’t know how, or don’t want to handle. They form commissions “to study” the situation. The federal government event went so far as to set up a new Department of Energy, which as built a massive new building, hired many employees, and is presumably working on solutions. Little has been accomplished. The only thing the public knows is that the price it pays for all forms of energy goes up and up. High prices for gasoline, heating gas and oil and electricity does not stop consumption. All it does is cost Americans more money to exist. Without leadership, the public, as willing as it may be, is helpless. By and large, most people want to cooperate, but don’t know how. RECLAMATION During World War II, programs were set up to reclaim many scarce and necessary products. There has been no such unified drive in this crisis. Yet reclaimation would not only save energy, but conserve valuable resources as well. PAPER - There are sporadic efforts by service organizations to run paper drives. The amount of paper and newsprint which is burnt and disposed of in the trash in one day is enough to save acres of forestland. GLASS - Bottles are broken on beaches and roads and line the highways. METAL - Many companies are already recycling aluminum saving money for themselves and conserving our metal supply. OIL - There is a program now which urges service stations to save oil drained from cars for reuse.

Most of these conservation efforts could be set up with a minimum of expense and trouble. All they need is strong leadership, and the cooperation of the public and manufacturers. With all the commissions and authorities already being paid for by our taxes, it would seem that one could be used to head up this program and make it effective. These conservation efforts could save on energy, as well as on our limited resources of wood, metal and other products. It would have the added advantage of helping solve another worrisome problem - trash disposal. All over the country, communities are spending millions of dollars disposing of such wastes, and finding fewer and fewer landfills. SEWAGE RECLAMATION Millions are being spent in programs to handle sewage. Municipal Sewerage Authorities are busy setting up new plants. Instead of adding to our massive pollution problem in our ocean, bays and rivers, more thought should be given to a permanent solution of waste disposal. There are cities in this country which are already using their wastes to provide energy. Other byproducts are being sold for fertilizers. To start such plants would take planning and money, but in the long run, they would be worth it. Why is there so little being done? TRANSPORTATION While the authorities deplore our massive use of private automobiles, their only solution is to increase taxes on gas and registration. This does nothing to cut down usage - all it does is add to the cost of living. Most Americans have little option but to use automobiles. Instead of encouraging the use of public transportation, they discourage

it by building more and more highways. They ignore proven methods of public transportation. The railroads are being permitted to sell rights of way and tear up roadbeds. Airlines are subsidized, buses and trucks use public highways, but railroads, the most efficient means of transportation, are completely neglected. Government should do everything in its power to assist the railroads in becoming once more the lifeline of the country, for both freight and passengers. There are many areas of the country, and South Jersey is one, where the automobile is the only feasible method of

transportation. To conserve on our dwindling energy resources, we must have a crash program on fast, efficient, safe and economical public transportation, not only here, but all over the country. INNOVATIONS

There seems to have been little interest in harnessing energy from natural sources. We spend billions on exploring space, but only a pittance on exploring ways of extracting energy from the wind, the sun, and the tides of the sea.

TO OUR LEADERS:

Show us some leadership! We are tired of hearing speeches and reading articles about our energy crisis, with nothing being done. There is little we can do either as a nation or as individuals about the course other countries, especially the oil-producing ones, take. But we can do something about conserving what we already have. Why don’t we try? J. Pearson Cunningham