Sirota: Post-Hurricanes: Will we leave ourselves vulnerable until next tim

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http://www.workingforchange.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=92F36ED7-D215-4773-BB0617DD6695B425

9.26.05
Post-Hurricanes: Will we leave ourselves vulnerable until next time?

The Associated Press reports that President Bush has "turned his attention to the nation's energy industry" after Hurricane Rita. Thankfully, "preliminary assessments show little damage to most refineries" - but here's the big question: will the President take steps to make sure America's energy infrastructure is protected in advance of the next storm? Or, will we merely breathe a sigh of relief, do nothing, ignore the hard decisions, and wait like a sitting duck for the next storm to roar in from the Gulf and create an energy crisis that we know we are susceptible to?
Who knows when the next big storm will come - it could be next week, it could be five years from now. But we know it will come. And that brings up the question of leadership: will America's government take the necessary steps to make sure we are adequately protected IN ADVANCE of a known threat? As my magazine cover story released tomorrow will show, the Bush administration did not take those steps when it came to protecting New Orleans from a disaster everyone knew was likely in the event of a direct hurricane hit. Will we make the same mistake when it comes to protecting our energy assets?

There are two very concrete steps our government could take right now. First, we could pass laws forcing the oil companies to strengthen the barriers and protective infrastructure around their assets. Lord knows they have enough cash on hand to make these minor improvements. Or, we could repeal tax cuts for the richest 1 percent and for the oil industry that are slated to go into effect in the next few years, and use those billions of dollars to publicly-fund that protective infrastructure ourselves. Remember, the Bush administration is trying to give the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans $336 billion in new tax cuts over the next five years. It is also trying to give the profiteering energy industry billions in new tax breaks/subsidies, even though the industry is rolling in cash. We could secure America's energy assets for a fraction of that money.

The decision about whether to put profits/tax breaks over national security is THE fundamental question of leadership facing the White House and Congress right now, especially for a president who claims to be strongest on national security. Will President Bush put the interests of his big donors over the interests of America?