Feingold says oil spill should have major role in shaping the future

The British Petroleum oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico should be a game-changer in the way Americans look at fossil fuel, according to U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis.

Feingold believes this ecological disaster will push people toward hybrids and other types of energy.

“If the oil spill isn’t a wake-up call, Americans must be dead,” he says. “While there will still be a need for some oil, the U.S. needs alternatives to oil drilling.”

Feingold says the United States should have learned from the Arab oil embargo in 1973-74 that it’d be smart to get off the oil addiction. His Republican Senate opponent Ron Johnson agrees, but only to a point.

“Research and development into alternative energy is a good thing,” says Johnson. “Moving toward nuclear power would be a good thing, so we can end our dependence on foreign oil. But, we need to be realistic. One point to make is whether we drill or not in the Gulf, other countries will.”

Johnson also favors drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge, now off-limits to oil exploration.

Tags: news, wisconsin, oil