Fuel to the fire.

• Author: Wells, Neil
• Position: LETTERS - Letter to the editor

With regard to Jeffrey Leonard's article about the country's energy policy ("How We Could Blow the Energy Boom," November/December 2012), it's worth pointing out that humanity has so far never failed to screw up an energy boom. It has also never avoided screwing up the environment at the same time. This is true whether we are talking about firewood, charcoal, whale oil, coal, nuclear, or petroleum.

The chance of getting this one right is infinitesimally small. What will happen is that we will collectively rush to produce, therefore ensuring overproduction combined with deleterious environmental effects, a temporary glut with cheap prices that leads to a crunch with high prices later, rapid depletion of an invaluable but finite resource, and abandonment of research into sustainable alternatives.

The Republicans controlling my state...