Kerry was right.

Tom Oliphant:

According to the US Energy Information Administration, here is what the world has to look forward to on the oil- supply-and-demand front for as far as official eyes can see: More of the same -- very tight supplies and unending pressure on already exorbitant prices.

This is the only sensible context for judging the pathetic response to an unfolding crisis -- the energy legislation that cleared Congress last week after a four-year political struggle. Its impact on the unfolding crisis will be zero, by even its supporters' admission.

[snip]

To do stuff like this responsibly, there would have to be a reliable stream of revenue -- and it could have been tapped simply by diverting existing revenues from the royalties energy companies are already paying the government. The flow of funds would have been at least $2 billion annually, enough to carry out the alternative policy.

That, oversimplified, is what one of Congress's most effective leaders on energy and environmental matters proposed. Senator John Kerry was right last year, and his ideas remain to mock the outrage of what has actually transpired.