When Pennsylvanians were polled as to what issue is the most important to them this election season, a whopping majority (58%) say it is the economy. No where is that more evident than the costs of energy.

Transportation has become almost problematic. Filling-up one’s fuel tank costs at least $40, which has made visiting mom budget-worthy. But at least it’s not as bad as the $4.18 / gallon for diesel gas.

Keeping ourselves warm this winter was just as difficult. With oil prices approaching $3.30 / gal., heating bills are becoming almost as large as the mortgage. Real estate clients of mine are actually asking, “How much oil is in the tank?” when buying a home as if it is an investment. And with electric rates set to increase an additional $400 next year, winter parkas may become standard fashion for loungewear.

The proposed solution to the problem – corn-based ethanol – will not only be a dirtier source of carbon emissions, but an inefficient one (one full tank of ethanol can feed one child for a full year) set to kill our wallets with expediting costs of food.

Our government needs to be involved in Alternative Energy like it was in the Manhattan Project. In 1941, our nation feared a German atomic bomb. Our government set aside $2 billion ($27 billion in today’s standards) and employed 700 of the best and brightest scientists to develop the bomb first. Upwards of 130,000 people came to work on the project, and within 5 years, we had our weapon.

Today, our enemy is not the Nazis; it’s the increasing costs of a fossil fuel-based economy. Pennsylvania should become a leader in a clean energy revolution by developing a “Harrisburg Project.”

We’ve already begun. Governor Ed Rendell has proposed $850 million for the Energy Independence Fund, a government subsidized program that helps fund alternative energy experimentation and start-up companies; a substantial amount of money for a program, but not enough. We should be openly courting alternative energy companies so an alternative-energy-focused Pennsylvania could be as potent of an energy power as Saudi Arabia, and an economic powerhouse.

Securing a viable source of alternative energy within the next decade should do several things for Pennsylvania:

1. Create jobs in the energy sector, many of which will probably be located in all corners of the state.
2. Provide some incentive for people of all ages to remain in our state.
3. Pacify the increased energy bills that are forcing many people out of their homes.
4. Eliminate our need to rush to the Middle East for oil. (With 201 deaths, Pennsylvania has given the fourth-most sons and daughters in the current war)
5. Level burdensome gas prices.
6. Defray rising food costs (since PA clean fuel has not been shuttled down the broken path of ethanol).
7. Defrock the rampant partisanism that has plagued Harrisburg and D.C. by using a bipartisan push to help out consumer and producer.
8. Proudly display a state that once specialized in coal pollution as a leader in clean fuel power.

The next time you watch the dollars tick by at the gas station, observe the oil truck as it parks in front of the house, or receive your electric bill, ask yourself “How much longer can I bear this?”

Each time I ask, I realize my breaking point is reaching atomic levels.