January 7 - The price of crude oil recently crossed the $100-a-barrel point. While we don’t know whether prices will continue to increase or fall to a more reasonable rate, the oil market is volatile, with geopolitical factors playing a large role. The compromise energy bill passed by Congress does not go far enough in encouraging domestic production or providing incentives to promote America’s energy sources of tomorrow – ranging from nuclear to clean coal, to new cutting-edge alternatives like bio-fuels and using switchgrass to produce ethanol. But we can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good, which is why I supported the compromise bill even though there are some things not included that are disappointing and there are things in there that shouldn’t be. My hope for the new session of Congress is that we can work together in a bipartisan way to encourage greater use of alternative energy in an effort to lessen our dependence on foreign oil, regardless of the price per barrel.