As gasoline prices once again begin their summer climb (current estimates are as high as $3 per gallon in the Midwest) and with California beginning to drag the rest of the country down in an electricity shortage, it might be a good idea to form some sort of energy policy for the nation.

Last week Vice President Dick Cheney, in front of a group of Associated Press reporters, had the courage to state that conservation alone cannot save the United States from its energy woes.

In short, the message was: we must produce more, produce our own and produce it cheaply and ecologically.

Now I don’t want to say I want the environment destroyed, because I don’t.

I do however want to be able to turn a light on to read a book, turn on my TV to watch the news or work on my computer so that I can get my homework done.

Plus, I don’t want to take out a second mortgage on a home just to pay for gas for my car so I can go to work.

The current plan dictated by Cheney is to explore for oil and natural gas in the coastal tundra of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the return of the nuclear industry back in the business of producing electrical power for the masses.

This is a good start, but I would add a few more things to the blueprint.

 Grants and tax credits to the biggest three auto makers to develop cars and light trucks that have better fuel efficiency by 2007.

Then set SUV standards to the previous levels there were for cars and light trucks.

If they can’t do it, then I’m sure our friends in Tokyo can.

 Increase the number of fuel refineries throughout the country.

This way, more fuel can be readily available to the market for gasoline and heating oil purposes.

 Consolidate to only two federal gasoline cocktails. Each state regulates which gas goes in which areas.

Don’t believe me – have a chemistry major look over gas from here and gas from Milwaukee.

The best option would be the Los Angeles area winter and summer blends.

This cuts down on refinery downtime and better consumer prices and air quality.

 Increase federal funding and grants to fuel cell technology and the eventual mass distribution of this to the general public.

The Europeans already have started this technology and have created two variations: a gasoline-hydrogen mix and 100 percent hydrogen mix, which has exhaust that is good old water. Someday, we’ll all be fueling our cars on this stuff. Thanks, NASA!

 Bring back nuclear power. Sure, this already is in the plan, but I wanted to educate why it should be.

It’s been 20 years since the last brand new U.S. nuclear power plant went online.

In that time, we have seen the rise of Apple Computer, the creation of the Microsoft giant, DNA get mapped and a sheep cloned.

Can someone please tell me how we can’t make nuclear power safe in this country?

So, in a nutshell, those are my ideas, well, most of them.

Word constraints don’t allow me to go into the ANWR issue, but considering the proposed site is only 3.125 square miles in an area (the size of the state of South Carolina) and the temperature makes Lambeau Field in December look like a tropical paradise.

As for the caribou argument, since the Alaskan Pipeline was put in, the amount of caribou has exploded.

Most wildlife threats have been accounted for.

Think about that while you’re gassing up this summer.