Congress's priorities. The budget, then energy.

In the rush to find bipartisan issues for the Congress and the White House to work on, some are offering words of caution on energy policy.
The New York Times in an editorial today warns against making energy a priority in the lame-duck Congress. It highlights two bills which would open federal land in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska to oil and gas drilling. One Democrat proposal would use royalties to help rebuild Louisiana's battered coastline. The other would open up the entire coastline.
Waiting seems to make sense. A lot of changes are taking place in Congress which seem likely to alter the energy balance in the new Congress.

For example, California Republican, Richard Pombo, was defeated in his bid for re-election. He was the author of the bill that favors opening up the coastline to drilling.

In the Senate, California Democrat Barbara Boxer will be the new chairman of the Environment and Public Works committee. She is already promising action on global warming.

Instead, the New York Times suggests Congress would do better to focus on passing important budget measures. Let the new Congress concentrate on coming up with better legislation less weighted in favor of the oil industry and more geared to consumer demands for better fuel efficiency and alternative sources of renewable fuels.

Congress might do well to look at what Silicon Valley is doing. Newsweek magazine has an interesting article, 'The Color of Money,' looking at the large new amounts of investment capital flooding into green-tech companies. The article looks at one of Silicon Valley's top venture capital firms, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

The article says investors will pour $2.5 billion into green-tech start-ups this year, up from only $1 billion in 2002, according to the Cleantech Venture Network.

Click here to read the NYT editorial.

- David Adams