Thanks to George Flint for his voice on alternative energy needs (Sept. 25), and to John Howe for his 10 years of research and development on a plan for sustainability during the crisis ahead. Peak oil is predicted for this fall, after which oil and gas prices will soar.

President Bush has just called for Americans to start conserving. Too little and way too late. His time for action has come and gone and, while he promised a new energy plan for our future, he delivered the opposite. The Department of Energy budget was severely reduced, with depleted funds for alternative energy research, and the list goes on. Every department that should serve the country has been rendered useless, with the fox having been placed in the henhouse in each case.

Everything Bush has done has prolonged our dependency on fossil fuels.The timing couldn’t be worse. Oil industry lobbyists control the White House and the rich get richer from obscene profits.

The recent hurricanes have given us an idea of what’s to come.

Most interestingly, while Bush has carried on as usual, he and his wife have built a solar house with geothermal heat pumps on his Crawford ranch. He knows what’s coming. But he’s an oilman through and through, and has chosen not to let us in on what’s ahead.

It’s a shame he did not follow through for the country the way he has planned for himself as the oil runs out.

Carol Waldeier, Waterford