Oh, don't worry. Those new taxes will go to subsidize new and exciting fuels like Ethanol (Europe studies the possibility of requiring more Ethanol in their gas, and discovered there isn't enough cropland to supply even their energy needs, no less minor matters such as feeding people). And don't forget pie-in-the-sky unproven technologies and "renewables" that may someday be part of the energy mix, but will do next to nothing to power the economy of today.
The facts are simple: the American economy will take decades to switch from fossil fuels to other sources of energy. We have an economy and a power grid that keeps us warm, fed, our houses lit, and allows us to get back and forth to work, school, day care, and all our destinations. We aren’t about to all stop using cars next year.
Americans deserve better than this from their leaders. For the next decade or three, oil will power our economy. The resources are there to be used, and the only barrier to more energy independence for Americans is American politicians.
Does anybody really still believe that government can successfully tax, regulate, subsidize, and mandate our way to continued prosperity? That's what Congress and many State Legislatures and Governors are promising, and it is a fool who believes them.
Government has a proven track record of backing the wrong technologies (solar was supposed to be supplying our homes with electricity by now if you believed Jimmy Carter, and fusion is forever 20 years from being the source of energy of the future). Government is just not the best innovator. Name the Government equivalent of Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs, or Bill Gates. It is innovators like these guys who will bring the next big thing to market, not Congress.
Get government out of the way. Use American oil reserves that are just waiting to be drilled, and free the market to work as it should. Modern drilling technology is environmentally friendly, safe, and a heck of a lot more reliable than promises from politicians, whether they be the Presidents of Iran and Venezuela, the King of Saudi Arabia, or your local Congressman.