Bill Richardson: A plan for American energy independence

By BILL RICHARDSON
Governor of New Mexico

If three-dollar-a-gallon gasoline hurt our family budgets in the days after Hurricane Katrina, what will $10 a gallon do to our pocketbooks?

Unfortunately, that astronomical price is not so farfetched. World economic leaders recently mapped out several scenarios that would send oil prices spiraling, including civil unrest in Nigeria, instability in Iraq and elsewhere in the Persian Gulf, as well as rapid growth in demand from China and India. These are not remote possibilities; they are probable developments that we must plan for before it is too late.

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