Senator Harry Reid was a YouTube star yesterday when as part of an interview on solar power he lashed out at the coal and oil industries. 

"Coal makes us sick. Oil makes us sick. It’s global warming. It’s ruining our country, it’s ruining our world. We’ve got to stop using fossil fuel."

I would like to point out to Senator Reid that coal also supplies 48.6% of electricity in the United States AND is our most abundant domestic energy resource.  Natural Gas, another fossil fuel, provides another 21.5%.

The good news for Senator Reid is that nuclear energy currently provides 19.4%, so if he is truly concerned about fossil fuels he can drop his NIMBYist opposition to Yucca Mountain and as leader of the Senate push for full funding of the 70 new technologies (from carbon capture and sequestration to economically viable fuel cells) that were to be developed in the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

If we take fossil fuels out of our energy supply and we do not develop sufficient alternatives to supply our economy; we risk great economic harm.  Sound bites are nice, but you know what would be better, sound action.