Americans everywhere are feeling the squeeze of rising energy prices, from the low-income family that endured a tough winter without heat to the truck driver who takes a blow to the wallet at every stop along the highway. Farmers are watching profits dwindle, and consumers are seeing food prices climb week after week.

In the campaign to take America from oil dependence to renewable energy, John Kerry has been an innovator. He charted a clear course forward by proposing his “three bold new ideas� for energy independence. He stressed that the government has to be proactive in urging American businesses to build more cars that can run on ethanol, and to sell ethanol fuel at more gas stations around the country. He proposed tax credits to pioneering automakers and a boost in federal funding for energy research. And with his wife Teresa Heinz Kerry, Senator Kerry wrote and published This Moment on Earth, a book that shed light on the ingenuity of everyday Americans as they work to solve local environmental challenges.
But John Kerry has also been a man of action. Last month he secured $1.5 million for M.I.T. to develop cost-effective solar energy technology. Just this week, he brought half a million dollars to Boston to fund the installation of solar panels on city buildings and schools. These victories are just the latest part of the Senator’s consistent record of environmental advocacy in Congress. That’s why the League of Conservation Voters awarded Senator Kerry one of the highest scores in the Senate on its 2007 National Environmental Scorecard.

John Kerry worked as an organizer in Massachusetts for the original Earth Day in 1970, the event when, as the EPA says, “American environmentalism dawned as a popular movement.â€� He hasn’t slowed down since. His long leadership in this area proves he is the best champion for the environmental priorities of Massachusetts. His pull in the Senate is critical to bringing resources to support energy research in our state – such as the remarkable advances underway at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, where students have developed a method of producing cheaper biofuels more quickly.

In Berkshire County last week, Jim Ogonowski called for “real leadership to help us gain energy independence.� Maybe it’s time for Jim Ogonowski to support Senator Kerry. I know I do. John Kerry is just the kind of man I want in the Senate when Democrats take the White House and win a workable majority in Congress. Then his bold approach to energy policy can finally become reality.