Dependence on Foreign Energy Lowers National Security.

John Deutch, Former Director of Central Intelligence and Former Undersecretary of Energy, U.S. Energy Dependence Undercutting U.S. National

Security, Council Task Force Warns, Council on Foreign Relations, Oct. 2006.

America’s dependence on imported energy increases its strategic vulnerability and

constrains its ability to pursue foreign policy and national security objectives, finds a
Council-sponsored Independent Task Force. “The lack of sustained attention to energy issues is

undercutting U.S. foreign policy and U.S. national security,” says the report. At the same
time, energy suppliers—from Russia to Iran to Venezuela—are able and willing to
use their energy resources as leverage to pursue their strategic and political
objectives. “Because of their oil wealth, these and other producer countries are free
to ignore U.S. policies and to pursue interests inimical to our national security,” says the
report. Dependence also puts the United States into competition with other importing

countries, notably China and India.

Dependence of Foreign Energy Causes Terrorism

Julia Parmley, Udaily, University of Delaware, U.S. must end dependency on oil, 2007

Depending on volatile countries in the Middle East for oil poses a threat to national
security, Gal Luft, co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, said Wednesday evening, April 5, during a Global Agenda series
lecture at UD. “The reality is most of the world's oil is concentrated in areas and countries

that are unstable, corrupt, dictatorial and, in some cases, deeply resentful of the
United States,” he said. “Seventy-one percent of the world's oil reserves are in the hands
of Muslim countries at a time in which our relationship with the Muslim world is at
an all-time low.” In his lecture, Luft said lack of oil in the U.S. increases its dependency on
other countries. Although the U.S. possesses only 3 percent of the world's oil, it
consumes 25 percent. Luft, co-chairperson of the Set America Free Coalition, said the U.S. is supporting
terrorism by paying Middle Eastern countries for their oil. “We are funding those
countries that are the richest proliferators of radical Islam,” he said. “We are fighting the
war on terrorism, and we are paying for both sides of the war. On one hand, we are
sending our troops and daughters all over the world to fight for freedom and
democracy. At the same time, every time we arrive into a gas station, we end up
sending dollars and cents to those who don't like us.”

Micro- Dams cause little impacts to the environment.

Janet Sawain, Project Director of Worldwatch Institute, American Energy: The Path to Renewable Energy, Pg. 32, Sept. 2006

a significant share of U.S. hydro plants

The vast majority of the nation’s hydropower comes from large-scale facilities, but

today are micro-scale systems. Rather than using a large dam and storage
reservoir, micro- and small-scale projects generally use “run-of-river” designs that
produce electricity by diverting only part of a stream. Most consist of small turbines
that rely on water pressure or velocity to generate power. Small hydro facilities often have difficulty
gaining affordable grid connections, and power purchase agreements with utilities are generally required for independent power producers to operate such

systems. And even small hydro is hindered by the perception that it can adversely affect fishing. But environmental impacts can be
curtailed though good system design and appropriate construction and operating
practices. Small-scale hydro systems cause little change in stream channel and
flow, and thus have minimal impact on water quality, fish migration, and surround
habitat.

Global Warming is a serious issue.

Bryan Walsh, Environmental staff writer, Time, April 28, 2008, Retrieved July 6, 2008,
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1730759_1731383_1731363-1,00.html

"We are now faced with a similarly momentous challenge: global warming. The
steady deterioration of the very climate of our very planet is becoming a war of the
first order, and by any measure, the U.S. is losing. Indeed, if we're fighting at all-and
by most accounts, we're not-we're fighting on the wrong side. The U.S. produces
nearly a quarter of the world's greenhouse gases each year and has stubbornly
made it clear that it doesn't intend to do a whole lot about it. Although 174 nations
ratified the admittedly flawed Kyoto accords to reduce carbon levels, the U.S.
walked away from them. While even developing China has boosted its mileage
standards to 35m.p.g., the U.S. remains the land of the Hummer. Oh, there are
vague promises of manufacturing fuel from switchgrass or powering cars with
hydrogen-someday. But for a country that rightly cites patriotism as one of its core
values, we're taking a pass on what might be the most patriotic struggle of all. It's
hard to imagine a bigger fight than one for the survival of the country's coasts and
farms, the health of its people and the stability of its economy-and for those of the
world at large as well."

Global Warming causes catastrophic problems

Stefan Lovgren; for National Geographic News; Warming to Cause Catastrophic Rise in Sea Level? Updated April 26, 2004

From the melting of the ice cap on Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's tallest peak, to the loss of coral reefs as
oceans become warmer, the effects of global warming are often clear. However, the biggest danger, many
experts warn, is that global warming will cause sea levels to rise dramatically. Thermal expansion has already
raised the oceans 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters). But that's nothing compared to what would happen if,
for example, Greenland's massive ice sheet were to melt. "The consequences would be catastrophic," said
Jonathan Overpeck, director of the Institute for the Study of Planet Earth at the University of Arizona in
Tucson. "Even with a small sea level rise, we're going to destroy whole nations and their cultures that have
existed for thousands of years."