A look back at Al Gore on Meet the Press

A day after Al Gore faced questions from Tom Brokaw on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” let’s look back and see how it went.

As the transcript shows, here are some of Brokaw’s questions and statements:

• “What you have outlined, in fact, is a goal that may not be achievable.”
• “What would electricity cost in terms of the transition while it's under way?  Most estimates are that it would cost a lot more money, and that would have a devastating effect on Main Street and especially on rural America.”
• “There's going to have to be some pain, some sacrifice on the part of the American taxpayer, isn't there?”

Those are good points to bring up. But of course, we had a couple other questions we wish would have been asked too.

Comments

[michael revels]

clean coal?how maney of you who think this is a good idea has ever even seen a picture of mountain top removal and the devistation and contamanation that spreads for miles down stream on all sides off what used to be a mountain.coal,oil,and natural gas companies have one mission.keep the stock prices high and the profits flowing their not bad people they just dont want to lose their great paying jobs.i dont blame them.there is nothing green about coal minning.even if it burns as clen as mamas kitchen and smeels like roses.of course i doubt this will get posted but i had to try

[A Keene Byrd]

Let's start with WV,we have enough coal to last 500+ years. The problem with any safe method of harvesting the coal results in a trade off of safety of those near the site. Develop publically owed unit which buys all the coal in WV; any person who has lived in WV in the past 5 years is quanteed 500 shares;10years=1000shares,etc
They can sell or keep as they please; essentially every WVirginian becomes a millonare
Set up the largest clean coal burning Power Stations (burn@1500 degrees F.) in the World. The whole State of WV becomes a Power Station and only those people who want to
stay and pioneer the greatest engeneering feat ever devised by man would stay. This is nothing more than building The Hoover Dam. We have the American know how to do this now; but not if we hesitate and let the 'Al Gores" take over this Country.
What do you say, America?

[Joe C]

Also Gore on Meet the Press
-"We're building up CO2 so rapidly that we're seeing the consequences scientists have long predicted. And the only way to take responsible action is to get at the heart of the problem, which is the burning of fossil fuels. And the quickest and easiest way to back out the coal, which is the worst of the problem, and oil, is to look at electricity generation. And there, there have been two important changes. Number one, the cost of the new solar electricity options, wind power and geothermal power, not to mention efficiency gains, have come down and they're coming down as the demand increases the attention paid to innovation. The other change is that oil prices and coal prices have been skyrocketing"
anyone who is actually serious about energy and the environment should be aware of developments beyond the average. the Australian Solar Tower, GENIE generators in development by Magnetic Power Inc, and Johnson Electro Mechanical Systems's three highly useful inventions that look far beyond today.
the simple fact is that coal is the past and though useful, is very dangerous to the welfare of the human race. though convenient and simple, coal most useful position is that of a crutch helping us move into a new era of truly clean, not just cleaner-than-it-used-be, energy.