By Howard Greninger
TERRE HAUTE — With a strong dependence on foreign oil, a national policy change is needed to encourage increased development of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power, some U.S. military veterans said Thursday as part of the “Veterans for American Power Tour.”
The bus tour started in Indiana on Nov. 30 in Valparaiso and stopped in Terre Haute on Thursday at One Planet Solar and Wind, a Terre Haute solar and wind distribution and contracting business at 2350 Wabash Ave.
The tour ends today in Evansville before going to West Virginia for five days and will resume in early January in the western United States.
It is sponsored by Operation Free, a coalition of veterans political action committees such as VetPAC and security groups such as The Truman National Security Project and The National Security Initiative. The coalition seeks support for Senate Bill 1733, the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, also known as the Kerry-Boxer bill.
Ed May, a resident of Jeffersonville, served in the U.S. Army from 1980 to 1992, serving during Desert Storm. He was among three veterans riding in a 50-ft long vinyl-wrapped logo-covered bio-diesel tour bus.
“It is time for America to have a national energy policy that also relates to national defense. When we crossed the berm into Kuwait, I could see on the horizon hundreds of oil well fires,” May said.
“And I realized at that point, we weren’t there to liberate Kuwait, we were there to liberate the oil. Our civilization, our society has to have oil right now to do the things we do every single day. We also have to protect those sources, and unfortunately they are in countries that don’t like us,” May said.
May said he remembers long lines at gasoline stations during the 1970s, caused “when OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) cut the spigot off because United States policy upset them. There was talk then that we would get America to clean and renewable energy, from the Nixon administration up through [President Jimmy] Carter. I thought at that time something was going to happen,” May said.
But the effort was put on the back burner by the 1980s, he said.
“That is why a national policy is needed to move the country to more renewable energy. I would like to see incentives, tax help and a reason for companies to invest in solar and wind. I would like to see the first step,” May said.
Glenn Kunkel of Akron, Ohio, served in the U.S. Marines from 1998 to 2008. Kunkel said he thinks current use of fossil fuels is leading to climate change which can cause droughts, crop failures and famine. Such effects, he said, can destabilize governments and result in increased terrorism activities in Afghanistan, Sudan and Somalia.
“If we don’t change our energy policy, as we should have done 30 years ago, we will face multiple kinds of threats,” Kunkel said.
Phillip Roberts, owner of One Planet Solar and Wind, said efforts such as the Veterans for American Power Tour “is important to the [solar and wind] industry and very important to what we are trying to do on the local note. Local note stems out to a national note,” he said.
“It does help us continue on the domino effect with renewable energy. This is an important step in our generation to restructure and repower America,” Roberts said.
The veterans urged Hoosiers to contact Sens. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and Richard Lugar, R-Ind., to support the Kerry-Boxer bill. More information can be found at www.operationfree.net.
Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com
