Free Our Light

Manny Lopez of the Detroit News reports that there is a grass-roots effort, called "Free Our Light," whose focus is on getting Congress to repeal the ban on incandescent bulbs:

"The light bulb ban is an outrageous government limitation on consumer choice and intrusion into the home of every American," Myron Ebell, director of Freedom Action, said in an interview for TheMichiganView.com.

His goal now is to get millions to sign an online petition to be delivered to Congress to force a repeal of the bulb law. [link to online petition added]

The petition reads as follows:

The undersigned demand that you repeal the ban on incandescent light bulbs beginning in 2012 that was enacted in 2007.

Although I am not familiar enough with Freedom Action to state definitively, right now, whether I could support it as an organization, I do support this goal and urge my readers to sign this petition, and to spread the word about it. This is particularly important since there have, apparently, been false reports that a lifting of this ban is being considered.

Rep. Upton, now Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has said that his committee will hold a hearing on the ban, but he has not promised to repeal it, as was erroneously reported in the press in December. The 2007 law makes the sale of standard incandescent 100-watt bulbs illegal as of January 1, 2012, 75-watt bulbs as of January 1, 2013, and 60- and 40-watt bulbs as of January 1, 2014.

That said, I do not support the goal of lifting the ban in isolation. In particular, I regard a bill like HR 91, which proposes to repeal the ban on incandescent bulbs, as a symbolic first step at best, because the entirety of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 should ultimately be repealed. By what right should any aspect of how Americans produce and consume the energy we need to live our lives be dictated by Washington?

I'd love it if this year's Edison Hour (aka "Human Achievement Hour") could be more an act of celebration than a show of defiance. Repealing this ban would be a small step -- in the right direction, for a change.

-- CAV